12/22 — There are just no simple answers.

The Jets, a team many pegged for the Super Bowl a month ago, lost their third game in four Sunday in Seattle. They no longer control their own destiny and are in third place in the AFC East, a game behind both the Patriots and the Dolphins with one game remaining in the 2008 regular season.

“They played good,” said DE Shaun Ellis of the 4-11 Seahawks. “We just didn’t get it done. I don’t have any answers. We just lost.”

Just like a snowflake that fell Sunday in Western Washington, no game is the same. But this defeat resembled a couple of other contests the Jets played on the left coast as the points were hard to come by and the home team made all the critical plays.

What happened?

“I can’t really say right now,” said an emotional David Bowens.   “The main thing is we got outscored, so however we prevent points or we get points — those are things we didn’t do today. Right now it’s hard to say what we did bad or what we didn’t do good. We’ll just go watch film tomorrow and see what’s going on.”

After back-to-back wins over the Patriots and the Titans, the Green & White were 8-3 and the talk of the National Football League. But there was that home hiccup to Denver in the rain and the slide continued a week later in the Northern California sun against the 49ers. The Jets averted disaster last week when Ellis scored a late defensive TD, but then they slipped once more in the Seattle snow.

“I don’t know if 'collapsed' is the right word. We didn’t finish the deal — we didn’t finish the deal,” said veteran RT Damien Woody. “That’s the easiest way that I can really comprehend this thing. It was all right there in front of us, but we didn’t close the book on the thing.”

If the Jets are to change their ending, they have to somehow find a way to regroup and beat the Dolphins at home. And even if they complete that mission, they’ll need the Patriots to lose to the Bills in Buffalo or the hot Ravens to fall at home to the Jaguars.

“We still have a game to play and that’s a positive thing about the NFL,” said WR Laveranues Coles. “Anything can happen. We just have to get back to what we do and come up with some things during the week and beat Miami.”

While the Jets haven’t gotten the results they’ve desired, they haven’t quit. Head coach Eric Mangini sees their work ethic on a daily basis and he didn’t unload on his players when he met with them in the losing locker room.

“He’s proud of the way we’ve been working, man. We just haven’t been getting it done,” said WR Jerricho Cotchery. “Everyone has put in a lot of work and it’s not translating into Sundays. It’s not translating at all.”

J-Co said third downs have been “killing” New York’s AFC representative offensively as nobody was looking for excuses on this wintry day.

“It was rough conditions but it was good football weather,’ Coles said. “They had to deal with the elements the same way we had to deal with the elements.”

“We practiced in it Friday,” added Bowens. “They played on the same field as we did and they won, so that’s an excuse.”

The Jets, who endured lengthy weather delays on both ends of their cross-country trip and didn't return to their Florham Park complex until 5:30 AM EST, are in the middle of a December storm. But they still can get to 10 wins next week and maybe they’ll get a little help, too. 

“Our guys know what is at stake, have worked extremely hard, they’ve said the right things and have been good teammates,” said QB Brett Favre. “It just didn’t work today. If we could play like we did against New England and Tennessee every week, we’d be hard to beat. I don’t have all the answers.”