Bart Scott: Jets don't look like playoff team

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- Bart Scott is one of the Jets' most confident players, never shy about making boastful claims whenever he decides to open his mouth.

But the linebacker doesn't seem overly convinced that the Jets will be hoisting the Lombardi Trophy when the clock hits triple zeroes in Super Bowl XLVI. Scott isn't so sure the Jets, who currently own the AFC's final wild-card spot and control their own playoff destiny, are postseason-bound at the moment.

"I don't think we're a Super Bowl team right now, or even a playoff team," Scott said Thursday. "We just have to continue to get better every week, to make sure that we're good enough to qualify. We're playing better football, but we're not playing nearly the type of football that we're capable of. You have to be playing your best football to be a Super Bowl contender."

The Jets (8-5) have looked good in their last three games, playing much better than they did during that two-game losing streak last month that prompted questions about whether they were playoff-caliber.

They've scored touchdowns on 12 straight red-zone possessions, the most by an NFL team since the Colts had 12 in a row last year. Their rushing attack has picked up, averaging 132 yards in their winning streak.

Defensively, they're finding ways to close teams out. In the last three weeks, they've outscored the opposition 30-9 in the fourth quarter.

But Scott thinks there's plenty of room for improvement.

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"We're still trying to play our best football, we're still trying to play completely as a team," he said. "You can be playing great as a unit one week or not as a unit next week. But a Super Bowl team puts it together consistently. You have to be able to play three games -- if you get in the playoffs -- three great games, to get an opportunity to win the Super Bowl.

"You just don't wake up and say, 'I'm a Super Bowl team.' You have to be able to get better, and you have to play a certain way."

Plaxico Burress believes the Jets are capable of punching a postseason ticket and making a deep run.

"I think we are leading up to that," he said. "I think we have made some strides over the past few weeks with some of the things that we're doing offensively, getting off to great starts, scoring on the first drive and finishing teams off that we need to finish off and having that killer instinct.

"As long as our defense goes out and plays as well as it has the past few weeks . . . If we can go out and score touchdowns in the red zone instead of field goals and put six points on the board, like I say, we are going to be a tough team to beat. But it's those times when we are inconsistent on third down and just not executing, that's when we get beat. But when we are disciplined, and go out and do what we are supposed to do, we are a tough team to beat."

Perhaps, but it's the five times they've already been beaten that has Scott concerned about the Jets' postseason possibilities.

"Those five losses hurt," he said. "They put us in this predicament. We put ourselves in a tough spot, not having tiebreakers against teams when we could have controlled our destiny a lot better than this. We put ourselves in this situation. We have to accept it. You learn a little bit, but you try to not have those same situations. Championship-caliber teams don't put themselves in that situation."