An argument can be made that the New York Jets will make the playoffs.
Just don't expect Rex Ryan to make it.
"I'm not going to guarantee a playoff spot," said Ryan during his Monday news conference, via the New York Daily News. "The fact that we're one game under .500, I think you're probably not in the playoff conversation."
At 6-7, the Jets, despite their myriad faults, have the easiest schedule remaining of the teams still in contention for a wild-card spot. None of the teams they face to end the season (at the Tennessee Titans, vs. the San Diego Chargers, at the Buffalo Bills) has more than five wins through Week 14. The Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals both have a game on the Jets in the race for the AFC's No. 6 seed. They face each other Week 16, however, and have much tougher schedules to close out the season.
The Jets need to win out and get a lot of help, but it wouldn't be the first time one of Ryan's teams has made an improbable surge into the playoffs.
"If we don't turn the ball over, we're going to be a tough team to beat," Ryan said. "The only way we can affect it is to win our games and then we'll see what somebody tells us."
Follow Kevin Patra on Twitter @kpatra.
