While it may seem all doom and gloom after the Jets lost for the third straight game and fourth time in the last five and the playoff may be out of reach, a quick look shows the path is still very much possible.
The NFL Playoff Scenarios website recently posted every team’s simplest path to the playoffs. Of course, that’s every team that’s still alive, of which the Jets most certainly are.
These paths also certainly aren’t the only way into the playoffs, but they are seen as the easiest.
For the Jets, it’s much simpler than you might imagine. They don’t quite control their own destiny, but all they need besides winning the rest of their games is for New England to lose just once.
NYJ loses the head-to-head to NE, but if NE loses a game, and NYJ wins out, the NYJ win includes a win over MIA. NYJ would have head-to-head over MIA, and record over NE.
This would put the Jets and Dolphins both at 10-7 with the Patriots 9-8 at best. The Jets would then beat out Miami thanks to the season sweep in this scenario which would get them into the playoffs. It’s also not like the Patriots have a cakewalk schedule remaining. They finish with the Bengals, Dolphins and Bills. It’s hard to imagine the Patriots will go 3-0 in that stretch.
That Week 18 game in Miami has been, for a couple weeks now, feeling like a playoff game and potentially for both teams. As long as the Jets can take care of business against the Jaguars and Seahawks, it very well might be.
The Jets also aren’t completely eliminated with a loss Thursday. But their road would nearly come to a dead end if they do. In fact, if they do lose Thursday, they can potentially be eliminated.
A Jets loss coupled with wins by the Chargers, Dolphins and Patriots as well as either a Ravens win or a Browns loss would officially mark the end of the road for the Jets in 2022. So Thursday isn’t 100 percent must-win for the Jets, but it sure is close.