As 2nd-stringers wait

be vying for the No. 1 overall pick.

And yet entering Week 14, the Jets remain mathematically in playoff contention. McCown is playing the best football of his career and is the main reason the team is in this position.

Bowles has no choice but to continue playing him. Petty and Hackenberg must accept that fact.

“As a competitor, you obviously want to play. But at the same time, for his career and what he’s gone through, how do you not root for a guy to finish it out right?” a gracious Petty said at his locker Wednesday in Florham Park. “As productive as he’s been, you want to see that. I’m young, and I’m going to get my shot. I know that for a fact. So I’m just going to keep working.”

Hackenberg has yet to take a regular-season snap since the Jets drafted him in the second round of the 2016 draft. The 22-year-old avoids getting “frustrated” over his lack of playing time because it’s a “counter-productive way to do it.”

“Just waiting for that opportunity. I know it’s going to come,” Hackenberg said. “I just need to continue to keep working on it and developing those things that I need to develop and be as prepared as I can when that opportunity does come. It starts with a plan each week, trying to set goals for myself and continuing to get better in those areas, taking extra time when I can to throw or work mechanical things. And then…develop a plan for the offseason and really attack that.”

McCown’s message to both Petty and Hackenberg: Stay patient.

“At this position, knowledge is power. The more that you can learn and really have a full grasp of things before you get your shot, the better off that you will be,” McCown said. “For them, I watch them work every day and they work really hard on the practice field and in the film room, so I do believe that wholeheartedly — that when their next opportunity comes, they’re going to be better for it because of the work that they put in right now.”