FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Rex Ryan did his best to offer up his usual blend of defiance and optimism Monday, less than 24 hours after the New York Jets suffered their fifth straight loss by falling to the Denver Broncos, 31-17.

But Ryan certainly sounds like a man who knows there’s 11 weeks left in his tenure as the Jets’ head coach.

On Sunday, Ryan reportedly told Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning that “it’s been an honor” to coach against him.

And on Monday, Ryan accidentally referred to cornerback Dee Milliner in the past tense when discussing the latest injury suffered by the second-year player, who is out for the season after tearing his right Achilles in the first quarter Sunday.

“Dee Milliner was going to be — is going to be — an outstanding player,” Ryan said.

If he is, it’ll almost certainly be under a different coach. The Jets needed to at least compete for a playoff berth this season in order for Ryan to return for a seventh season in 2015, but only one team — the 1970 Cincinnati Bengals — has ever come back from a 1-5 start to reach the postseason.

The Jets’ rigorous schedule lightens up a bit after a game with the New England Patriots on Thursday. But it’s difficult to envision the increasingly undermanned Jets — who also lost left guard Brian Winters to a season-ending knee injury on Sunday — following in the footsteps of the 1999 squad, which recovered from a 1-6 start to finish 8-8 in Bill Parcells’ third and final season as head coach.

Nor, if the Jets could make an unlikely run at .500, is it likely that general manager John Idzik could be convinced to once again bring back a head coach he inherited upon arriving with the Jets in January 2013.

But Ryan — who said last week he realizes he’d be fired if the Jets couldn’t turn things around — knows fretting over his seemingly inevitable demise won’t help anything. And so he’s still presenting a brave face, both to the Jets and their frustrated fans.

“My message is pretty simple: ‘Hey, we might be counted out, we’re not dead,'” Ryan said. “We are going to fight our tails off.”

The Jets did just that on Sunday, when they fell behind 24-7 early in the third quarter yet had two chances to drive for the game-tying score in the final six minutes.

But given the talent deficit at which the Jets are operating on both sides of the ball, moral victories seem to be the only thing they will accumulate the rest of the season. The Jets rushed for just 31 yards on Sunday, which is bad news for a team that needs a potent running game to give often overwhelmed quarterback Geno Smith any chance to succeed.

And there’s no cure for the cornerback woes facing the Jets, who will have to employ backups and castoffs as starters the rest of the way.

“We’re trying everything we can,” Ryan said. “It just hasn’t happened for us yet.”

And it almost certainly won’t happen in time to save Ryan.

REPORT CARD VS. BRONCOS

PASSING OFFENSE: C — Geno Smith had nowhere to go but up after getting benched at halftime against San Diego on Oct. 5. But while he was better on Sunday (23-of-43 for 190 yards, two touchdowns and one interception), he was still hampered by poor decision-making, a splintering offensive line and a generally woeful cast of receivers, which is bad news on a day in which Smith tied a career high with 43 pass attempts. Smith’s lone pick was a nearly meaningless one in the final 30 seconds — in order to score the game-tying touchdown, the Jets would have had to drive 95 yards in 56 seconds without a timeout — but he had several passes batted down and uncorked a Bubby Brister-esque shovel pass in the third quarter. Rookie tight end Jace Amaro (10 catches for 68 yards and a touchdown) enjoyed a breakout performance and wide receiver Eric Decker (six catches for 54 yards and a touchdown) certainly showed well against his former team. But the other six receivers to get into the boxscore combined for seven catches and 68 yards. The Jets fell to 3-8 when Smith throws 30 or more passes in a game.

RUSHING OFFENSE: F — The Jets rushed for 31 yards, the lowest single-game total of the Rex Ryan era. Smith “led” the Jets with 11 yards on two carries. The running back by committee of Chris Ivory and Chris Johnson had just 16 yards on 11 carries. Simply put, the Jets had no prayer against a defense selling out against the run to force Smith to take to the air. But while such a poor performance is understandable, the inability of Ivory and Johnson to do anything is no less alarming considering a varied rushing attack is the Jets’ only hope of mustering an effective offense the rest of the season.

PASS DEFENSE: B-minus — Hey, any unit that limits QB Peyton Manning to 237 yards passing did a lot right — especially since 54 of those yards came on the first play of the game, when Manning found wide-open WR Demaryius Thomas. Rex Ryan fared just fine in his chess match with Manning as the defensive guru dropped eight men into the secondary and utilized his cast of no-names to limit the usually dangerous Emmanuel Sanders and Wes Welker to a combined four catches for 44 yards. But completely shutting Manning down for 60 minutes is nearly impossible and the Broncos’ ability to churn out yardage on the ground wore down the Jets and created openings for the all-world Demaryius Thomas (10 catches for 124 yards and a touchdown) and TE Julius Thomas (four catches for 51 yards and two touchdowns). It wasn’t as bleeping easy for the Broncos as Julius Thomas screamed following his second touchdown catch, but unfortunately for the Jets, they didn’t make it hard enough.

RUSH DEFENSE: C-minus — It’s only fair to grade the Jets on a curve here, since they basically gave the Broncos free rein to run as often as they wanted. Still, it wasn’t a good sign that RBs Ronnie Hillman (100 yards) and Juwan Thompson (38 yards) combined for 138 yards on 32 carries. It’s the second straight week the Jets have been victimized by backs that began the season buried on the depth chart, which is more evidence that the rush defense’s reputation far outstrips the reality.

SPECIAL TEAMS: C — To paraphrase Casey Stengel: Can’t anyone here field a kick? WR Walter Powell, who took over as the punt returner after WR Jalen Saunders was released following a spate of muffs and near-muffs, was declared down by contact when he fumbled a kickoff in the first quarter. He wasn’t as fortunate in the second quarter, when he fumbled a punt that was recovered by the Broncos. The fumble didn’t result in any points for Denver and Powell ended up averaging 25.5 yards on six kickoff returns, so his job is probably safe for another week. So, too, is the job of punter Ryan Quigley, who averaged 45.6 yards per punt on seven attempts. Kicker Nick Folk remained perfect this season by converting his only field-goal attempt, but who else was hoping to see him try a 63-yard field goal at the end of the first half?

COACHING: B-minus — Ryan not only designed a game plan to limit Manning but also coaxed a spirited effort out of the Jets, who looked pulse-less a week earlier against the Chargers. Coming back from a 24-7 deficit to twice have a chance to tie the game earns the Jets some style points, albeit not nearly enough to save Ryan’s job in 11 weeks. One massive second-guess for Ryan: What was oft-injured Dee Milliner doing on the field-goal unit? Milliner, who doesn’t usually play on special teams, tore his Achilles on the Broncos’ first-quarter field goal and is out for the season. For once, it’s tough to blame offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg for going away from the run: After dialing up runs on four of the first six plays but “gaining” a total of negative-two yards, the Jets ran the ball just 11 times in their final 45 plays. There was no use in continuing to run into a brick wall in hopes that something changed.