Jets lament putting selves in deep hole

Bart Scott stood in front of his locker after the Jets' 29-14 loss to the Giants, answering questions about yet another game in which they failed to play up to expectations.

"You can't keep playing Russian roulette," the linebacker said. "You keep playing that way and don't take care of business, that's what you have to deal with."

The Jets (8-7) essentially rolled snake eyes Saturday, blowing a golden opportunity to remain in control of their own playoff fate.

If they could have won their final two games, they would have been nearly assured of making the postseason for a franchise-record third straight year. Instead, they will need a lot of help to punch a playoff ticket.

The only way the Jets can reach the postseason is to beat the Dolphins (5-10) Sunday in Miami, have the Bengals lose to the Ravens and have the Titans lose to the Texans. On top of that, either the Raiders or Broncos must lose or tie. The Raiders face the Chargers and the Broncos take on the Chiefs.

"We had a good opportunity to control our own destiny," quarterback Mark Sanchez said. "It's completely our fault. Hats off to the Giants for playing better than us and earning the victory.

"We just had too many mistakes. You hate having to watch other teams and seeing what happens and hoping for certain teams to win. That's never a good thing, but at the same time, we're mathematically still in it.

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"That's the way we have to approach it. We have to win our game. That's the one thing we can control. After that, we'll see what happens."

Not much good happened in Saturday's meltdown.

The Jets, who were averaging 4.2 yards on 10 first-half carries by LaDainian Tomlinson and Shonn Greene, abandoned an effective running game for the bulk of the second half. Sanchez, who threw a career-high 59 passes and completed 30, dropped back to pass 64 times (including five sacks), was intercepted twice and lost a fumble in the end zone that the Giants recovered for a touchback.

Sanchez also was sacked in his end zone for a safety, giving the Giants a 22-14 lead with 2:13 to play. He easily could have been picked off three more times and had two fumbles reversed after replay reviews.

The Jets weren't very effective on third down, either, going 4-for-21. They averaged 3.7 yards on their 89 plays.

There also were a couple of defensive breakdowns, none more backbreaking than Victor Cruz's 99-yard touchdown catch that put the Giants ahead for good at 10-7 with 2:12 left in the first half. He caught the ball at the Jets' 11, immediately eluded two potential tacklers and jumped over a third around midfield.

"We were embarrassed," said linebacker David Harris, whose interception set up Sanchez's 1-yard TD run that cut the Giants' lead to 20-14 with 7:17 left. "You can't not have a good day tackling. That 99-yard pass to Cruz, that was demoralizing."

So, too, is knowing they're on the brink of heading home next week because of their inconsistent play.

"The biggest thing we've got to do is come back in and get working," center Nick Mangold said, "and we've got to get a win. Playoffs are a long way off with the work that we have to put in, and the game we have to play next Sunday. Miami-Jets games are always tough, no matter what the records, no matter what's going on. So we are preparing for a heck of a game."

And hoping for a bit of a post-Christmas miracle. "It's frustrating relying on other people," safety Eric Smith said. "We had it in our hands and we let it go. Now we have to rely on other people to get us in."

Said Rex Ryan: "A lot of things have to happen. All I can say is we are going to compete to win. We are going to go down to Miami, they're going to get our best shot and we'll see if it is good enough, and then we will see what happens, if we can make it or not."