Jets and Giants probably can’t keep this up, but who cares?

The New York Yankees are eliminated from the MLB playoffs. That means New York can fully enjoy its football renaissance.

It has been a long time coming for the Giants and Jets to have any success. The Giants haven’t won a playoff game, with just one appearance, since Super Bowl XLVI. That was more than 10 years ago. The Jets haven’t been to the playoffs at all since the end of the 2010 season.

It’s totally fair to wonder if the Jets and Giants, with their combined 11-3 record, are legit. It’s also fair for their fans to tell you they aren’t listening to any of that nonsense.

Last season, the Jets and Giants combined for eight wins, and they’re already past that with 11 weeks to go this season. The question about the viability of these starts shouldn’t matter. A 6-1 or 5-2 record that’s fraudulent is a heck of a lot better than a well-earned 4-13 record.

Now that we’ve appeased the New York fans who should unapologetically celebrate the Giants or Jets, let’s be real. It’s hard to imagine either team keeping up this pace.

The Giants are on a heater of fourth-quarter comebacks. They have six wins, and trailed to start the fourth quarter in four of them. They were tied to start the fourth quarter in another. That’s unsustainable. But it’s fun. The Giants are getting solid play out of Daniel Jones, who is working with a skeleton crew at receiver, and timely plays from a defense that isn’t full of stars. Saquon Barkley is the one obvious star on the Giants, and he’s carrying the team. In another era, he’d be in the MVP conversation. There’s really not a ton of talent around him.

Perhaps the most important thing is the Giants believe. Confidence is hard to quantify, but the Giants clearly have it. They don’t flinch when they trail in the fourth quarter. Brian Daboll has totally changed the culture in his first season in New York. That’s why he’d be a near-unanimous pick for NFL Coach of the Year if the vote was held today.

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Jets coach Robert Saleh might get any non-Daboll votes. After a rough first season and a slow start to this season, the Jets have come alive. They can depend on a defense that, with NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year candidate Sauce Gardner at cornerback, has grown up fast. The Jets were awful on defense last season. They’re probably top 10 this season. The Jets offense is far behind (and will get further behind with rookie Breece Hall out for the rest of the season due to a torn ACL), but they’re doing enough so far. A subpar passing offense will probably be the reason they go on a losing streak, unless second-year quarterback Zach Wilson starts to do a lot more. But the Jets have banked five wins as they try to figure out a passing game. Many teams wish they could say the same.

The Jets and Giants probably aren’t going to keep winning 78.6 percent of their games, and that’s OK. It’s has been a long dry spell for football fans in New York.

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