Call them lucky if you want but Rex Ryan’s New York Jets are playoff bound!

Despite a roller coaster season of  ups and downs this team has managed to fight it’s way into a Wild Card spot on the last day of the 2009 season.

One thing is for sure this season…this is NOT your daddy’s ‘Same Old Jets’.

Not by a long shot.

Rookie Mark Sanchez led a clock-eating offense as the New York Jets clinched their first playoff berth in three seasons with a 37-0 victory Sunday night over the Bengals. In contrast, the Bengals offense was completely stymied by the Jets top-ranked defense.

The Jets’ last shutout at home was Dec. 14, 2003 when they beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 6-0.

Just a couple of weeks back we had all but written them off…head coach Ryan included!

New York appeared to be out of the playoff hunt two weeks ago after a loss to Atlanta, prompting Ryan to mistakenly say his team’s playoff chances were over during the post-game press conference.

Despite it all, the Jets found themselves the masters of their own destinies when the Sunday night game commenced, needing only to win to gain a Wild Card berth. They did not disappoint, handling the Bengals soundly on both sides of the ball.

Offensively, Mark Sanchez was 8 for 16 for 63 yards with no turnovers, Thomas Jones ran for 78 yards with two touchdowns and wide receiver Brad Smith had 92 yards rushing, including a 32-yard TD run. The Jets set a record for rushing yards in a season, finishing this contest with 257 yards rushing on 57 carries.

Defensively, the Jets dominated Carson Palmer & the Bengals. Palmer was 1 for 11 for 0 yards before J.T. O’Sullivan replaced him.

Just how badly were they dominated? One only needs to review the half time stats to get a clue. New York had 250 yards at halftime, including 190 on the ground, to 7 for Cincinnati. Cincinnati would finish the game with 72 net yards on offense.

All in all, the Jets performance was exactly what one would expect from a team that finished No. 1 in the NFL in total defense, passing defense, points allowed and rushing offense.

The victory sets up a re-match of the two teams in the first round on Saturday at Cincinnati. Many are speculating now about this second meeting; will the Jets be able to reproduce their winning effort?

Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco says his team would be ready.

“We’ll be fine, we’ll study a lot of things we can fix, especially offensively. Next week will be a lot more serious.” – Chad Ochocinco

The Jets proved to be a class act after the final regular season game in Giants Stadium history (and possibly it’s last game ever) was over. Ryan led his players back onto the field after a few minutes in the locker room, celebrating with a victory lap and high-fiving the few thousand remaining fans.

“It was great,” cornerback Darrelle Revis said. “We had to give back to the fans. They stuck with us.”

Cincinnati fell to 0-11 at Giants Stadium, including 0-8 against the Jets.