Herm Edwards' five keys to a Jets win

Former Jets coach and current ESPN NFL analyst Herm Edwards thinks his ex-team has a pretty good shot at knocking off the Steelers Sunday and earning its first trip to the Super Bowl berth in four decades.

"They've got a great chance," Edwards told Newsday. "They're a team that can play good enough defense. The quarterback has shown some maturity in the playoffs. They've won on the road. They've beat Pittsburgh there this year, which they hadn't done [before]. So they're a very confident group.

"Now will it be easy? No, it's not going to be easy and it shouldn't be."

Edwards said these are the keys to the game:

1) Mark Sanchez must take care of the ball

"I think in the playoffs, period, it's the quarterback that makes the least bit of errors who generally wins. Those are the teams that move on because you are playing against good defenses for the most part in the playoffs, and that's what happened last week. The quarterbacks that made errors, those teams did not move on. Why? Because [when you are] playing against good defenses, the offense that gets the ball back on a turnover or an error generally scores points. If you look up the games, that's how they play out."

2) Eliminate negative plays

"Offensively for the Jets, it's going to be about staying out of negative plays because Pittsburgh can force you into negative plays, especially if you try to run the ball early. Their receivers are a matchup problem for the corners of Pittsburgh, especially if they play eight in the box and they play middle close with a safety. Their corners are not bump-and-run guys. They like to play off and they are fire-zone guys. They are good corners. They are solid corners. But the receivers the Jets have in [Braylon] Edwards and [Santonio] Holmes present a little bit of a problem."

3) Don't be predictable on offense.

"You've got to try to run the ball. I'm not saying you've got to throw it all the time. I don't think you can do that, but I just think every once in a while on first down, you've got to throw the ball. You've got to go get some yards, you've got to make it second-and-5, help your offense. You don't want to get behind on the chains with this defense, and you've got to know where 43 [Troy Polamalu] is at. He's the difference maker. He's going to make a play. He's the guy that is unaccounted for and the fact that you can run something and you think you've got him accounted for, but you don't, and he goes and makes a play because he is so instinctive. He's kind of like the wild card."

4) Jets RT Wayne Hunter (starting for the injured Damien Woody) can't slip up

"That's going to be the key because LaMarr Woodley and James Harrison are good linebackers. The Steelers make their hay with their linebackers and their defensive coordinator, Dick LeBeau, is one of the best coordinators in the NFL. You've got to get a hat on those linebackers because they are physical. They're tough.''

5) Stick with the formula that got them here

"The Jets are built to play in the playoffs. They've got a good defense that doesn't allow a lot of points and they can run the ball. That's what gets you into the playoffs. They've been there before. They were there last year and they went on the road and won. So this is a confident team. They've had to slay some dragons. They had to beat Indy in Indy, they had to beat New England in New England, and all that does is give them more confidence."