Jets, After Days of Negative Talk, Try to Shift Focus to the Positive Ben Solomon for The New York Times Coach Rex Ryan insisted that just one win might act as a catalyst for the Jets, who have lost four of their past five games. FLORHAM PARK, N.J. - After all that, the Jets are still scheduled to play Sunday. "We're bringing our mitts, and here we come," Rex Ryan declared Friday. At the end of 72 hours that were bizarre - even by Jets standards - Ryan opened a news conference by responding to Rob Turner, a former Jets lineman who plays for the St. Louis Rams, the opponent Sunday. Turner called the Jets "the Chicago Cubs of football" and did not mean that as a compliment. Ryan playfully tried spinning it that way, saying he expected the Jets to be as polished as the famous old double-play combination of Tinker to Evers to Chance. "And if they want to play two, that's fine, also," Ryan said, referring to the saying made famous by Ernie Banks, the former Cub. The Jets (3-6) would probably welcome a chance to play a doubleheader against the Rams (3-5-1) because they have fallen far behind in the race for an A.F.C. playoff berth. The Jets also still believe, to a man, that they can play much better. "We've got to find a way to stop hurting ourselves," the veteran safety Yeremiah Bell said. Ryan used words like "great" and "enthusiastic" and "flying around" to describe practices this week. He did so even after the Jets were routed by Seattle last Sunday, Tim Tebow was called "terrible" by an anonymous teammate in a Daily News report Wednesday, and Woody Johnson, the owner, declined to offer a vote of confidence Thursday to Ryan or Mike Tannenbaum, the general manager. "The energy has been right there - it's been great," Ryan said of practices, "but again, we haven't had that carry over to Sunday." The Jets profess to be more baffled by that development than they are about their backup quarterback or their bosses" futures. They are putting in extra work, and the mood in the locker room remains positive. They think they can win Sunday. Referring to the carnival-like sideshows that have swirled around the team, D'Brickashaw Ferguson, the veteran tackle, said: "We've put that in a bottle and threw it away. Put it in the trash. Bell and Ferguson each used the term "self-inflicted wounds" when talking about the Jets" pitfalls. Austin Howard, the right tackle, said the Jets were even more focused on doing what they can to get better - working longer on technique, watching more film. Just one victory, Ryan insisted, might act as a catalyst. The Jets were 4-6 in 2009, Ryan's first year, when they beat Carolina rather unconvincingly, 17-6, to start a run in which they won six of seven games before losing in the A.F.C. title game. Center Nick Mangold said of the playoffs, "That's a long way down the road." But Bell also acknowledged the season is getting shorter. The Jets are helping their opponents win. Ferguson said when he has watched the Jets on film, they make plenty of good plays, but there are still too many "things we got burned on." He said, "I feel like there's a sense of urgency, but I feel like we can do things we need to change it, or fix it." The Jets are not pretending they are playing well and have been the victims of bad luck. They have lost four of their past five games, two by at least 21 points and another in overtime. They are nowhere near where they want to be. "You can't just run over every team in this league," Howard said. The Jets are relatively healthy, and they are, as Ryan said, "desperate for a win." Tebow, a lightning rod even though he does not play much, has injured ribs, but his psyche is still intact. He showed up at his locker and was quickly surrounded by a group of reporters who wanted to know about his ribs. He said he expected to play. Then he was asked how he made it through another week in which he became a focal point. "I don't know if I feel better or worse," Tebow said, smiling. I feel the same. I feel great.