The Jets enter the week with three straight wins, but head coach Adam Gase refuses to look past New York's next opponent.
Week 13's road trip to Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati for Sunday's 1 p.m. game against the winless Bengals (0-11) presents a favorable opportunity for the Jets (4-7).
Despite how the last loss went down with Nov. 3's 26-18 stumble on the road at the hands of the Miami Dolphins, who were 0-7 entering the game, Gase believes the Jets have grown from the past month.
"No, because that was a different situation to me," Gase said Wednesday. "It's a different group of guys right now. I think our guys have done a good job staying consistent, especially the last three weeks, practicing, executing, so that's what we need to focus on."
From the consistency of quarterback Sam Darnold to the improvement by safety Jamal Adams, the Jets have clicked on offense and defense throughout the past three weeks with wins over the Giants (34-27, Nov. 10), Washington Redskins (34-17, Nov. 17) and Oakland Raiders (34-3, Nov. 24) highlighting the streak.
With the Bengals, the Jets can get one game closer to the .500 mark -- including a chance for revenge Dec. 8 against the Dolphins (2-9) -- before the schedule gets real down the stretch.
The end of the 2019 season finishes with tests against the AFC North-leading Baltimore Ravens (9-2) Dec. 12, Pittsburgh Steelers (6-5) Dec. 22 and Buffalo Bills (8-3) Dec. 29.
"That's exactly what we talked about -- just, 'Hey, we've had a good quarter so far. We've got a chance to finish it off,'" Gase said. "Really, our goal at the end of the week is to be 1-0, put us at 4-0 for the quarter. That's tough in the NFL. Any time that you can go 4-0 in a quarter, that's a great accomplishment."
To get there, the Jets have to take care of business against the Bengals, who switched quarterbacks back to veteran starter Andy Dalton after they completed their three-game experiment with rookie Ryan Finley.
"To me, he's always been the type of guy that's been consistent throughout his career for the most part, where it's, he's been good with the ball in his hands," Gase said of Dalton, who completed 204 of 338 passes (60.4 percent) for 2,252 yards and nine touchdowns to eight interceptions in his first eight games. "I know there's been times where he's had a couple rough games, but for the most part, he's been effective. A lot of guys don't think that way, they kind of just think of focusing on trying to win that one game instead of worrying about long-term. I think he's focused on, 'How can I help our team get a win?'"