Jets regain playoff mojo with 'huge' victory

PITTSBURGH—Rex Ryan usually shoots from his hip. On Saturday night, he spoke from his heart.

Addressing the Jets at their team meeting following a stressful and bizarre week—New York had lost a second consecutive game, doubt in quarterback Mark Sanchez seemed to be seeping into the locker room, and its strength and conditioning coach was suspended indefinitely for tripping a Dolphins player—the often boastful Ryan made an emotional appeal to his players.

New York Jets coach Rex Ryan, right, and Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin meet after the Jets' 22-17 win. (AP photo)

"I'm not a real big rah-rah guy," said outside linebacker/end Jason Taylor, a 14-year veteran, "but seeing the emotion and expression he had, it obviously made you sit up a little bit. He spoke from his heart and wore his emotions on his sleeve (Saturday) night."

Picking up on their coach's motivational talk, the Jets came out Sunday afternoon and converted words into action. From Brad Smith's game-opening, 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, to Sanchez's 7-yard bootleg run for a touchdown, to Taylor's tackle of Mewelde Moore in the end zone for a safety late in the fourth quarter, the Jets did just about everything to beat the Steelers, 22-17, in a must-win game.

"Oh, we needed it huge," Ryan said. "There's no question. ... We knew what we were coming into. We knew it was going to take everything we had and that we had to play our very, very best. And we did."

The victory raised the Jets' record to 10-4 and erased any doubt—at least for the moment—that they're a playoff-worthy team. Their faith was tested by an embarrassing 45-3 loss to the Patriots followed up by a 10-6 defeat to the Dolphins, but the Jets apparently never lost faith in themselves.

"As players, we're just so focused," Smith said. "Media, people outside of our locker room had a lot to say about us—good, bad, mostly bad. This team is different. It's just focused on what it can control. We just work hard and play hard; that's all we know how to do."

Even after Taylor's safety gave them a five-point lead—and possession, after an ensuing punt with 2:45 left—the Jets needed a last-second defensive stand to close out the victory. The Steelers got the ball back with 2:08 remaining, and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger led them all the way to the New York 10, where he had two shots in the final nine seconds at a touchdown. But both passes went incomplete, and the Jets held on for a win in one of the league's toughest road venues.

The Jets' challenges aren't over, however. Next week, they must travel to Chicago and face the NFC North-leading Bears. They finish out the regular season at home against Buffalo.

Ryan has been pushing the Jets as a Super Bowl team since last spring. Even after they allowed a stunning 378 yards of offense to the Steelers, he envisions them going to the playoffs.

"We're going to make them, one way or another," he said. "We don't care. We're going to take care of it ourselves.

"One thing we talked about is how resilient our team is. You (reporters) get tired of (hearing) it. I don't care. This football team is resilient. We had some adversity, obviously, that we were dealing with but our team responded.

"This win may surprise a lot of people, but it never surprised us."

Now that's the Rex Ryan we've grown to know and love.

What We Learned

There’s life in the Jets yet

After losing their last two games -- scoring only nine points total -- and falling two games behind New England in the AFC East, the Jets found themselves in a must-win situation Sunday. They responded with a winning effort that was ignited on the opening kickoff, which Brad Smith returned 97 yards for a touchdown.

The Jets were coming off a week of controversy, during which their strength and conditioning coach was suspended because of a tripping incident and rumors circulated that the coaches’ confidence in quarterback Mark Sanchez. But they responded in a way that coach Rex Ryan had hoped and registered their first victory ever (after seven previous defeats) in Pittsburgh.

In addition to Smith’s kickoff, there were two other big plays by the Jets. Sanchez ran a naked bootleg for a 7-yard touchdown and defensive end Jason Taylor tackled running back Mewelde Moore in the end zone for a safety with 2:38 that proved pivotal. Because of that safety, the Steelers need a TD in their last-minute drive instead of a chip-shot field goal. The drive ended at the 10-yard line.

The Steelers wasted an opportunity

Pittsburgh would have clinched a playoff berth with a victory Sunday. Instead, they’re now tied with the Ravens for first place in the AFC North. But Steelers Nation needn’t panic.

The Steelers’ final two regular-season games are winnable—vs. Carolina at home Thursday and at Cleveland on Jan. 2. It would help if they could get star safety Troy Polamalu back in their lineup. The game-changing safety missed Sunday’s game because of a strained Achilles tendon and a calf injury—and his absence was noticeable.

Suisham is sweet

The Steelers made a savvy in-season personnel move in mid-November when they signed kicker Shaun Suisham off the street to replace the inconsistent Jeff Reed. Suisham, who played previously for the Cowboys and Redskins—he also was cut by the Browns and Rams without ever playing for either team—has found a home in Pittsburgh. And the Steelers have found a kicker they can count on.

Suisham’s 42-yard field goal near the end of the first half tied the score, 10-10. Suisham, a native of Canada who came to went to camp with the Steelers in ’05 but could not unseat Reed, is still perfect for the Steelers, converting all 10 of his field-goal attempts, including 7-for-7 from 40-49 yards. Reed, who played nine seasons with Pittsburgh, missed seven field-goal attempts this season before he was cut.