I spent most of my Sunday afternoon being shocked and awed. During the 1pm games, I watched everything the pundits had been saying needed to happen to have the Jets control their own destiny happen. Pittsburgh beat Baltimore, Houston beat Miami.

Up until that point, my logical, Pessimistic Polly side was giving myself a good talking to. “They’re not going to beat the Colts dude, woman up.” I was pretty sure I wanted the Colts to win so Mercury Morris could be shut up and sent packing for another day.

Then it happened. They came out on the field, and I started praying-that just once-my team would do what it needed to do and win.

They kept it close for the first half, heading into the locker room down 9-3. After a kickoff return touchdown made it 10-9, and the madness really started.

A missed two point conversion from Indy, the pulling of all the good players by Jim Caldwell (I want to send him flowers. Seriously) and all of a sudden, the Jets were ahead, and then winning! Wow.

As for the Jets? A pretty decent outing. The defense played great as usual, and at times it looked like Painter wanted to just go home. They couldn’t seem to get to Pey Pey, but holding that offense to 15 points while he ran it is no small feat. They were even able to score on a fumble recovery by Howard University’s own Marques Douglas.

They. Ran. The. Ball. For once! After the dismal running effort last week, they came out on Sunday and netted 202 rushing yards. Topped off with a touchdown by Jones.

Even special teams played great. They blocked an extra point, Feely made both of his field goal attempts-including a 43 yard attempt, and Brad Smith’s 106 yard second half kickoff return.

So what lesson do we take from this? The Jets now really do control their own destiny. A win against the Bengals, and they secure a playoff game likely against the Patriots.

Miracles sometimes do happen. Maybe in the shape of a head coach who has been given the keys to a Porsche and wants to protect it before a big race, sometimes in the form of a bunch of other teams not handling their business, and sometimes in the form of your own rookie QB not turning the ball over.

So next week’s game has been flexed to the night game. It works for me. I’d love to see the Jets close out their season (and their time in the Meadowlands) with a win against Cincinnati and get into the playoffs.

Pessimistic Polly is going to have to go on vacation for a while. What a great way to end the holiday season. Wow.