TAMPA , Fla. — Bart Scott knows how ugly it was. He was out there, pouring sweat on the Raymond James Stadium grass, chasing Buccaneers football players who seem allergic to the first-down marker. He saw how close-to-the-vest the Jets’ own offensive gameplan was.
“Look,” the Jets linebacker said. “On a day like that, it’s so hot on the field, you’re going up against a team with nothing to lose, you just want to make sure you’re getting off the field as much as possible. It’s not easy going from nothing but 30-degree days to 80 degrees with sun and humidity, believe me.”
The Jets weren’t about to apologize one ounce for this decisive 26-3 thrashing of the 1-12 Bucs. Not for the offense, which kept the ball on the ground two-thirds of the time; not for the opponent, which may well be the worst team in football (and in a league that also features the Rams, Browns and Chiefs, that’s saying something); not for a third straight win against three opposing quarterbacks who will never be confused for Otto Graham, Johnny U and Joe Montana.
“It’s hard to win games in this league,” linebacker David Harris said. “You don’t ask how you win or who you beat.”
So the Jets live to fight another week, officially tied in a crowded pile of 7-6 teams for the second wild card even if they hold tiebreakers against none of them. Next week they get the Falcons, who may throw Chris Redman at them, joining Jake Delhomme, Ryan Fitzpatrick and Josh Freeman as tomato cans the Jets have grown awfully healthy playing.
The last time they put together a stretch like this, Weeks 1, 2 and 3 of the season, they couldn’t wait to chirp and Tweet and explore the limits of their own excellence. Going 1-6 between three-game streaks tends to humble even the chattiest of teams.
Although their coach, given the best present on his 47th birthday that he could have asked for, still can’t help but get a few verbal volleys in.
“It’s improbable,” he said when asked about the Jets staying in the playoff picture, his tongue lodged so deeply in his cheek it looked like Sparky Lyle’s old tobacco chaw. He explained: “A few weeks ago, the so-called experts said instead of J-E-T-S it was M-E-S-S.”
The smile broadened ever wider.
“I don’t think so,” Ryan said.
He could afford to let his swagger out a little bit, having seen his defense keep the Buccaneers without a first down for the game’s first 21/2 quarters, having seen them hold the Bucs 0-for-14 on third down and limit them to 124 total net yards and force three interceptions.
For a while, it seemed that he and Brian Schottenheimer were determined to have the Jets offense keep pace with the Bucs and settle for handoff after handoff, field goal after field goal, but when they allowed backup quarterback Kellen Clemens to roam a bit Clemens responded with 111 passing yards and zero turnovers, while Thomas Jones ground out another 99 yards.
When the Jets wake up this morning, they are likely to be No. 1 in overall defense and No. 1 in rushing in the NFL. They sit at 7-6, still a disappointing number but an awful lot better view than what 4-6 looked like.
The schedule gets harder from here, with the Falcons looming, and the Colts and Bengals thereafter. For now, those are just details. Harris, who set the tone by stepping in front of a Freeman throw on the game’s first play from scrimmage, admitted whenever the scoreboard scrolled the out-of-town scores, he paid attention. They all did.
“We’re hanging in there,” he said. “We’re not dead yet.”
They still need a lot to go right, still need to keep playing well, still need help from outposts in Jacksonville or Miami or Baltimore or Denver. All of that remains as true as ever, and it can all vanish in a couple of quarters or a couple of plays at any time across the next three weeks.
“We are where we are,” Scott said, “because we spent too much of this season beating ourselves.”
And they are where they are because just in the nick of time, the Jets rediscovered their soul, and their essence: a running team, a defensive team, and no matter if the quarterback is Clemens or Mark Sanchez or Al Woodall, that shouldn’t change. Three wins in the bank. Three more to get. They’re hanging in there. Not dead yet.
Call Bart a bonehead
The Jets were trying to do what seemed the impossible: Pitch a perfect game.
“Until I made a rookie mistake and lost my head,’’ linebacker Bart Scott admitted. “To my teammates, I’m dead to them right now, and I don’t blame them.’’
On third-and-nine, with 101/2 minutes left in the third, Donald Strickland sacked Josh Freeman for a two-yard loss, and so the Bucs’ streak of haplessness was about to go on indefinitely. But then, in the mash of bodies among offense, defense and special teams, one Buc player told Scott to — direct quote — “Shut up.’’
“And I lost my cool,’’ Scott admitted. “I was dumb.’’
What he did was grab the guy’s helmet off, one of the easiest 15-yard unsportsmanlike flags that’ll ever be flung. The Bucs finally had a first down; eight plays (and one more first down) later, they also had their only points.
“He knows better,’’ coach Rex Ryan said. “I mean, we’re already coming off the field. That’s just silly.’’
“Bartholomew,’’ Calvin Pace tsk-tsked, “cost us our shutout.’’
“Guilty,’’ Scott said. “I plead guilty.’’
Oh, and also…
1. They held the local finals of the Punt, Pass, & Kick competition at halftime here yesterday, and I am firmly convinced that neither Josh Freeman nor Kellen Clemens would’ve finished in the Top 5.
2. Gus Dorais and Knute Rockne “invented’’ the forward pass for Notre Dame on Nov. 1, 1913 at West Point. So the Jets and the Bucs only set football back 96 years yesterday.
3. One of the great things about Rex Ryan: His willingness to credit anyone and everyone who helps him in all ways large and small. Yesterday he lined the offense up in what amounted to a two-quarterback formation two times, and he made sure to credit the source of those Xs and Os: John Liberati, varsity coach at Summit High, where Ryan’s son plays freshman ball.
michael.vaccaro@nypost.com