NEW YORK -- Playoff dreams are like Santa Claus.

You've got to keep believing.

After a season filled with downs and ups, this weekend has turned into the Big Apple Holiday Football Extravaganza at Giants Stadium.

	Curtis Martin has rushed for over 1,000 yards all eight season he's been in the NFL.

What was going to be the start of a dark run for New York after the Yankees quick and unexpected exit from the first round of the baseball playoffs suddenly can become just the third time ever and first since 1986 that both the Giants and Jets make the playoffs at the same time.

The Giants face the Philadelphia Eagles on Saturday, a win over their NFC East rival putting them back in the tournament as a wild-card team.

Then, just over 24 hours later, the Jets host the Green Bay Packers, needing a win and just some very conceivable help on the scoreboard to get an invitation, too, maybe even as a division champ.

Both New York teams were left for dead, more than once, this season.

Both were saved by their coaches, making crucial decisions at critical times, giving their teams a reason to believe.

Herm Edwards benched Vinny Testaverde, the war horse who had the best season of a long pro career four years ago, taking the Jets to the brink of a Super Bowl before an AFC championship game loss in Denver. Edwards went with Chad Pennington, who has only played like one of the best young quarterbacks in the league.

Jim Fassel demoted Sean Payton, the coordinator who was a whiz kid when he took over for Fassel two years ago, making all the right calls to get the Giants to the Super Bowl. Fassel, who shares most of the blame for too many games his team shouldn't have lost, started calling the plays himself, taking advantage of Kerry Collins and Tiki Barber and Amani Toomer and Jeremy Shockey, reviving an offense that couldn't put the ball in the end zone.

Each coach timed his move perfectly, making sure that his offense was facing a weak defense when he made the switch, practically guaranteeing maximum impact.

"I kept believing, knowing we had a good football team and it was just a matter of getting it," Edwards said. "It's perseverance."

Edwards delivered his message, relentlessly positive, in a preacher's cadence, in team meetings and through the media, insisting his players wouldn't quit through the long season.

"You have to really have inner strength to keep your composure and I'm pretty good at that," Edwards said. "I think that's one of my strengths. I won't get all caught up in things. I just get caught up in 'just try to win the game.'"

Getting Curtis Martin healthy didn't hurt, either. Martin, hobbled by ankle injuries during the Jets 1-4 start, rallied for another 1,000-yard season, one of the proudest accomplishments of his impressive career.

Fassel, whose teams have a history of playing well in December, kept the Giants focused, too.

"We never lost our confidence," said Giants linebacker Michael Barrow. "We were just waiting on our break. We kept believing."

	“	I kept believing, knowing we had a good football team and it was just a matter of getting it. It's perseverance. ”
		— Herm Edwards, Jets coach

Barrow gives all the credit to Fassel, who was on shaky ground after consecutive losses to the Houston Texans and Tennessee Titans just a month ago and who coached last weekend in Indianapolis with Bill Parcells' shadow suddenly looming over him.

"The tests and trials he's been through here have made him better," Barrow said. "I don't know what Parcells was like, but Fassel can motivate you. I love him and the players all love him. Unlike most coaches, he looks after his players. He treats every player like his son. Well, some of them like stepsons. But there's not a player on our team that wouldn't lay it on the line for him.

"I don't think that has anything to do with the equation," Fassel countered. "I take pride in our improving as we go along, and they've done that. But I'm never an issue."

The Jets bounced back from a terrible loss in Chicago to beat New England on the road last weekend. The Giants beat a team with a winning record for the first time this season when they topped Indianapolis, in the RCA Dome, then heard the improbable news from Cincinnati, that the Bengals had beaten the New Orleans Saints and put the Giants fate in their own hands.

"That was just a blessing from God, like another Christmas present," Barrow said. "You pray all the time. That's all you can ask for."

Two years ago, the Giants rode a five-game streak into the playoffs and on to the Super Bowl.

Last year, the Jets beat the Oakland Raiders, on the road, on John Hall's 53-yard field goal in the last minute of the season to earn a wild-card slot.

Now they have the chance to walk into the postseason, together.

That beats sitting at home, playing Madden 2003 on the new PlayStation 2 that Santa brought.

All they've got to do is believe, and win.

And New York football fans can have a very happy new year.