"Jason Taylor waited a long time for this, but he wasn't ready to bask in it for long.

Taylor, the Jets linebacker who was signed in the offseason after a long career with the Dolphins, hadn't played in a playoff game since 2001 before last night and he hadn't won one since 2000.

"It feels great, but we're not finished," said Taylor, who had the Jets only sack in last night's 17-16 AFC wild-card victory. "They don't give away a hat or a T-shirt for this. This is just one step toward where we want to go."

The 36-year-old Taylor hinted in a pregame interview with ESPN that if the Jets win the Super Bowl this year he will retire, saying he has joked with teammates that if they see him hoisting the Lombardi Trophy "take a picture, because it'll be the last time you see me."

"This is it," Taylor said in the interview with ESPN that aired yesterday before the game. "I was telling my wife [the other day] on the way to work, 280 days or 290 days you work at football throughout the course of the year for this, to get to January and have a chance to play in the playoffs."