Jets continue to play with fire

LANDOVER, Md.

They don't take polls in pro football, where style points are reserved for the players' postgame outfits, not a means of determining potential champions.

So the Jets did not feel the need to apologize yesterday for forging a two-game winning streak in which they twice needed late rallies against weak opponents to eke out season-preserving victories.

As Rex Ryan said last week, "I don't care if I'm known as the luckiest coach in the league.''

Still, it's fair to wonder how much longer his team can survive by waiting until the final minutes to snap out of its weekly funks.

Sunday's more-difficult-than-it-sounds 34-19 victory over the Redskins was even tougher and weirder than the one the previous weekend against the Bills.

This time, the offense followed an opening drive for a touchdown with long stretches of abject failure. It managed two first downs on its first six possessions of the second half, one on an unnecessary-roughness penalty.

Then, suddenly, the Jets scored 21 points in the last five minutes, with the go-ahead touchdown coming -- as it did against Buffalo -- on a pass from Mark Sanchez to Santonio Holmes.

Sanchez was pleased about that, but he appeared to prove himself wrong after having said several times after the Bills game that the Jets could not expect to keep winning like this.

"No question, absolutely, we have to play better,'' he said Wednesday. "It's not a winning formula.''

The formula did improve Sunday, including a turnover-free game for the offense. But as Sanchez noted, there is a long way to go.

He rattled off mistakes such as penalties for an illegal substitution, delay of game and an illegal block, and in general faulted himself for balky pacing.

"We needed a better sense of urgency and a better tempo, and that starts with the quarterback,'' he said.

(It was nice of him not to mention painfully conservative play-calling by offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer, which largely limited Sanchez to short throws until the big 30-yarder to Holmes.)

Guard Brandon Moore said the first 55 minutes were "pretty bad'' before the big finish but added, "I would rather have that than a team that can't step up and finish in the fourth quarter.''

Ryan acknowledged the obvious while putting a positive spin on the latest bit of Jets drama.

"It tells us we have to get better, because sometimes you don't like it to come down to that,'' he said. "But it also tells you about the character and the guts of this football team.''

The interesting question is this: Just how much better do they have to be against a schedule still full of potential soft spots? Because of the important conference-record tiebreaker, the two most important of those games will be against the Chiefs on Sunday and the Dolphins on Jan. 1.

Holmes said Sunday he was not aware of the next opponent on the schedule. Maybe that's a good thing, lest there be any temptation to be overconfident. Cornerback Darrelle Revis did admit after the fact that the Jets were concerned about the Redskins being a "trap game.''

Ryan and Sanchez presumably are aware that the Chiefs are up next, and know that a bigger margin for error would be a good idea. If not, well, fans planning to visit MetLife Stadium are advised not to leave early.

Linebacker Aaron Maybin, whose fumble-causing sack of Rex Grossman set up the game-clinching score, summed up the approach nicely on the black T-shirt he wore after the game.

It said: "DUH, WINNING.''