Jets suddenly defending against overconfidence

CLEVELAND — When the schedule came out in April, this Jets-Browns Week 5 matchup had “Suck for Sam Bowl” written all over it.

Everyone figured this would be two winless teams meeting to see who was going to end up with the No. 1-overall draft pick and USC quarterback Sam Darnold. But a funny thing has happened over the past few weeks. The 0-4 Browns have lived up to their end of the bargain, but the Jets have won two games, ruining that storyline.

The Jets enter Sunday’s game trying to win three straight games, something they did not do all of last year.

Suddenly, the message around the Jets this week was to guard against overconfidence, a stunning development.

“We’re 2-2, we’re .500,” coach Todd Bowles said. “That’s nothing to brag about. We have to get better in a lot of areas each week.”

Bowles conveyed that message to his young team, which is feeling good about itself after the back-to-back wins. Now, they try to win one on the road for the first time this season. The Browns look hapless with rookie quarterback DeShone Kizer and a cast of no-names.

Amazingly, this feels like a trap game for the Jets, who face the blood-rival Patriots next week.

“We’re not good enough to look past anybody,” Bowles said. “Really, we’re not. We just work every day to get better from the week before.”

Last week, the Jets eked one out against the Jaguars in overtime. They blew a 10-point, fourth-quarter lead and had plenty of miscues down the stretch that could have cost them the game. But they found a way to win.

Offensive coordinator John Morton preached the same message as Bowles this week, that the Jets have done nothing yet.

“I approach every single game like we are underdogs and we are,” Morton said. “That’s the way I approach it. You have to approach it like that. Once you start thinking outside that box, as I say, don’t fool around with the football gods. You have to prepare like your back is against the wall every single game. You have to do that. That’s the way the head coach has been doing it, that’s the way I’ve been doing it and making sure these guys know, hey, this is going to be a dogfight, and it is. It’s going to be a dogfight because they’re a good team.”