Cole Tessler ’11
Staff Writer

The Jets are keeping their playoff hopes alive with a 26-3 blow out against the Bucs Sunday.

In Kellen Clemens’ first start since the 2007 season, he did a decent job managing the game with no turnovers. He did nothing though to prove he was a legit starter in the NFL with 12 for 23 and 111 yards in the air. He kept throwing the ball to the ground for the receivers, but was barely on target.

The two key reasons why the Jets won was the running game and their tenacious defense.

The Jets running game carried the load for the Jets offense with, Kellen Clemens horrible performance, gained 175 yards on the ground and had two touchdowns from Thomas Jones.

Shonn Greene, Jets second string rusher, seems to be developing a problem holding onto the ball as Greene had another lost fumble bringing his count to three. Jets need to limit turnovers in their last three games so it will be important for him to hold onto the ball.

The Jets Defense, on the other hand, was outstanding. They had three interceptions on Bucs’ QB Josh Freeman, three sacks, and only allowed 124 yards allowed to the Bucs offense.

Amazing games for Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis are starting to become routine. He had three pass deflections, three tackles and another interception that sealed the deal for the Jets. He has yet to have a receiver he was covering get over 60 yards.

Although the Jets are on a three game winning streak and now tied for a wild card spot, chances for the playoffs are looking pretty slim.

In the Wild Card race, the Jets are tied for one spot but with three other teams and all the other teams have tiebreakers with the Jets.

This means, even though they have the same record, they need to have a better record then all of those teams which will be hard in the last game of the season.

In the division race, the Jets need the Dolphins and Pats to lose at least once and the Jets need to win the rest of those games in order to win the division.

The Jets next three games may seem hard as they play, Falcons, Colts then Bengals. But when you look into it, they really aren’t.

The Falcons are all banged up and missing their two best players, Matt Ryan and Michael Turner, so that game should not be that hard.

Then they face off against the Colts who are currently undefeated, but they already clinch a first round bye and I will doubt they will risk their best players to injury against a ferocious Jets defense. The same thing with the Bengals, they will most likely have clinched by the last game of the season so I’ll doubt they will start their best players.

The key to the next three games are turnovers. The Jets are 6-0 when they win the turnover battle.

Even if the Jets win the last three games the Jets still might not make the playoffs.

Let’s just hope the Jets get some luck. But remember, we still are talking about the same old Jets here, so don’t expect it.