Four Academy buses, filled with coaches and players who steadfastly believe they are Supermen, begin rolling toward Newark Airport and the Continental charter that will be taking them to Pittsburgh for tomorrow night’s AFC Championship — the game that sends you home with sorrow and regret, or the game that sends you to Dallas for the Super Bowl.
So it is a bus ride back in time, 42 years back in time, when the Jets, out of a junior league called the American Football League, shocked the Baltimore Colts of the establishment National Football League and snatched the town away from Wellington Mara’s Giants.
The journey makes their hearts pound, their adrenaline flow, so much so that some of them need to keep their emotions in check, and tell themselves this is just another game, even if they know it is anything but. Because history is waiting for them at around 9:30 tomorrow night on an icy field of dreams called Heinz Field, the Lombardi Trophy the pot of gold at the end of the green-and-white rainbow.
They might as well flash “Destination Dallas” on the front of all the buses. Because that’s where Destiny’s Darlings vow they will be on the first Sunday night in February, playing in the Super Bowl at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
“Yeah, absolutely,” Matt Slauson said. “But we are very much aware of the opponent across the field. We aren’t looking ahead at all. We know that Pittsburgh is just the next roadblock. And we have to bust right through it.”
And they will.
“We are gonna win,” Slauson said.
“I believe we are a better team.”
It’s what he sees in the wild eyes of his teammates, in the meeting rooms, on the practice field, that tells him everything he needs to know, everything Jets fans need to know.
“I feel like every one of these guys should be locked up,” Slauson said. Because you look at ’em and you’re saying, ‘They might kill somebody out there!’ And it’s an incredible feeling, and I can see that every day — the sense of urgency, the energy, the excitement.”
Peyton Manning slammed the door to the Super Bowl shut on them last year. But this is a better team, with a better quarterback, who has more weapons at his disposal.
“We can do it,” Mark Sanchez said.
“You can’t play not to lose. We’ve got to play to win the game, and that’s what we’ll do.”
James Ihedigbo was asked what message he would have for Jets fans, and he said:
“Stock the refrigerator full of champagne and get ready to celebrate,” he said.
Same question for Slauson.
“Believe in us,” he said. “Believe that we’re going to win, and we’re going to get ourselves a trophy.”
Nine-thirty tomorrow night cannot come quickly enough for the Jets. The impossible dream is so very possible now. They can see it, touch it, feel it.
“Jets players in the locker room celebrating, wearing the AFC Championship hat, wearing the shirt soaking wet with champagne and celebrating and enjoying the moment, getting ready for the Super Bowl,” Ihedigbo said.
I said to Ihedigbo: “And it will happen?”
“It will happen,” he said.
And when it does?
“Having on,” Jerricho Cotchery began, and then he chuckled as he let the imagination run wild, “the AFC Championship shirt and then my hat.”
Coach Rex Ryan talked about a beat-up Ravens team that lost in Pittsburgh two years ago 60 minutes from the Super Bowl and said: “We fell short. But not this time.”
Slauson was asked why the Jets will win this game.
“I feel like we have a better offensive line,” he said. “We have a better running game. As far as our passing game, we have a lot more playmakers. We can spread the ball out more. Our defenses are really similar, blitzing a lot, a lot of really good players on either side, but I would give the edge to our guys because of our ability to penetrate and push the pocket with all of our really strong guys.”
They know it won’t be easy.
“We still have to play our game, or else we are still going to fall short, because that’s how good of a team they are,” Slauson said.
That is why ex-Steeler Santonio Holmes recognized it was time to gather the offense together before the first team period yesterday.
“Guys, we need to have our best practice of the year today,” he said. “We need to be crisp. We can’t have any penalties, no missed assignments. Let’s go out there and be absolutely perfect.”
These are road warriors.
“When we come out of the tunnel, it’s us against 70,000 screaming fans,” Brandon Moore said. “I think guys really like that challenge.”
What will the Jets mood be at around 9:30 tomorrow night?
“High-fives,” Dustin Keller said. “I think it’s going to be more so, ‘Let’s do this in the Super Bowl than having won an AFC Championship.’ ”
Destination Dallas.
steve.serby@nypost.com