EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – The Raiders did not fix everything Sunday.

They did something more immediately useful.

They bought themselves the right to keep trying.

By beating the Jets, snapping a four-game losing streak and getting back to .500, the Raiders reset the conversation around their season. At 4-4, they can legitimately talk about being in the hunt. They can keep playing Kirk Cousins with a purpose beyond postponing Fernando Mendoza’s arrival. They can consider whether the trade deadline presents an opportunity to add help.

For another week, staying the course has some credibility.

That was hardly guaranteed when they walked into the locker room at halftime after allowing the Jets to run for 140 yards.

At that point, the Raiders looked like a team running out of explanations. Getting pushed around had become a weekly occurrence, and now the Jets were taking their turn.

Something had to change.

“At halftime, our guys were not happy,” Raiders coach Klint Kubiak said. “We made some adjustments and the guys just played harder.”

Sometimes, the most consequential adjustment is an honest, angry assessment of what is happening.

The Raiders had plenty to be angry about. But they followed that frustration with a response, limiting the Jets to 27 rushing yards after halftime and giving their offense a chance to finish the job.

“We got an interception and we forced them into two punts,” Kubiak said. “I mean, it’s a four-quarter game.”

For a team that had spent a month finding ways to lose, finding its footing before it was too late was the key.

Maxx Crosby described it as taking a stand.

“It really comes down to winning your one-on-ones and outworking the man in front of you,” Crosby said. “And that’s what I felt like we did.”

The difference was noticeable.

“We came out with an attitude in the second half,” Crosby said, “and I feel like we played a lot better collectively.”

Nobody should confuse that response with a permanent solution.

The Jets still finished with 167 rushing yards on 27 carries, an average of 6.2 yards per attempt. That remains an unsustainable way to play defense, particularly with the 49ers and Seahawks looming.

Kubiak did not pretend otherwise.

“It’s a part of our team that we have to address,” he said. “We have to continue to find ways to improve that because it’s hurting us.”

But there is a difference between addressing those problems at 4-4 and explaining them after a fifth consecutive loss.

One keeps the season open. The other would have demanded a much harder conversation about what the Raiders were trying to accomplish.

That conversation can wait.

Cousins earned another week directing an offense that helped deliver a needed victory. The Raiders earned another chance to evaluate their roster through the lens of competing now. Being buyers should remain a consideration if the right opportunity presents itself, although one win hardly justifies abandoning discipline.

The point is they have options.

“It’s been a tough four weeks so we needed that one,” Cousins said, “and we’ll enjoy the flight home now.”

The relief was understandable. So was his appreciation for what the victory preserved.

“It’s great to get a win, to be .500 in November now, and to be playing meaningful football is important,” Cousins said. “It doesn’t get any easier from here, and we understand the challenge ahead.”

Sunday did not erase the preceding month. It did provide evidence that the Raiders could absorb another difficult afternoon, respond together and come out with something to show for it.

Special teams contributed. The offense delivered. The defense finally pushed back.

“We have things that we have to get better at on both sides of the ball,” Kubiak said, “but we’re a team and teams win games.”

For once, that sounded like a description of what happened rather than what needed to happen.

The Raiders still have a ton to clean up.

But they boarded their flight home with a victory, a viable season and a reason to keep moving in the same direction.

For this team, after this month, that qualifies as a reset.