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Rex and Staff put Tom Moore to Work at Practice

A semi-special guest at the Jets’ practice today at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center was Tom Moore. “Semi-” because Moore is, after all, a consultant for the Jets, but “-special” because he hasn’t come to the complex much since training camp, instead breaking down Jets practice videos and advancing the Green & White’s next opponents primarily from his Hilton Head, S.C., home.

“Tom came in late last night and we put him out there, put him to work,” head coach Rex Ryan said at his daily news conference following practice. “It’s always good to have him in there, his knowledge and perspective. … He and Schotty talk all the time, they send emails back and forth. We got him out of the house and he’s here today. I’d like to get him around here more. I’m going to try to keep him here. We’ll see if his wife will let him.”

Moore is, however, retired, so we’ll see how well that goes. But as an on-site consultant, you can be sure that Rex, OC Brian Schottenheimer and even DC Mike Pettine will bounce some ideas off of the former offensive coordinator for Peyton Manning and the Colts.

Offensively, of course, one trend the Jets sure want to cure is their slow-starting engine. Dating to Game 4 of 2010 at Buffalo, the Jets offense has generated one first-drive touchdown and two first-quarter TDs.

The Jets have picked up the pace in the last three quarters — their 20.3-points-per-game average over Quarters 2-4 in their first 11 games puts them on a 323-point pace for those quarters, which would be their most since the 1998 team scored 338 points over those three quarters. But still, a faster start in the final five games would make things easier during the Jets’ uphill stretch run.

“We’ve tried a bunch of things,” Ryan said. “I haven’t asked him that specifically, but maybe I will while he’s here.”

As for the defense, the Jets are doing some very nice things this season. They’re eighth in the NFL in total yards allowed, seventh in passing yards allowed, fourth in opponents’ third-down conversion rate, and third in opponents’ passer rating. But closing out games? After the Tim Tebow Broncos rescued their Week 11 game over the Jets on their final possession and the Bills almost did the same Sunday, Ryan and Pettine are seeking answers to that question.

“If you’re going to be a true dominant team on defense, you’ve got to close those things out,” Ryan said. “Are we a dominant defense? I don’t think there’s a dominant defense in the league this year. But are we pretty good? I think we’re pretty good. I think we’re capable of being better.”

Maybe Moore, whose Colts offenses frustrated the Jets defenses a few times over the years, such as in 2006 in the Meadowlands and in Lucas Oil in the 2009 AFC Championship Game, has a few pointers for the Green & White defense this time around.

“The players really respect Tom. He talks to the defensive guys, the offensive guys. It’s good to have him here,” said Rex, who added that after Moore was on hand for the Jets’ October win over the Chargers, he’s “trying to get him to come to the game” against the Redskins at FedEx Field on Sunday.

Injury Reports

The Jets injury report following today’s practice was identical to Wednesday’s, with Mike DeVito (knee) the only DNP and Vlad Ducasse (knee) the only player limited during team drills.

The Redskins’ report grew by two players to 13 today, with WRs Jabar Gaffney (foot) and Terrence Austin (hamstring) added to the list as limited in today’s practice. Also, LB London Fletcher (ankle), who didn’t practice Wednesday, was limited.

No Flex-ing Next Week

The Jets’ home game next Sunday, Dec. 11, vs. Kansas City will remain as originally scheduled with a 1 p.m. ET kickoff.

Tom Moore Helping the Jets Fly

Report: Bob Sanders Visiting Green & White

Former Colts safety Bob Sanders is visiting with the Jets today, according to ESPN 1050 New York.

The recently released Sanders (5’8″, 206) has visited the Jaguars and Bills as well this offseason. Sanders, an Iowa product, was named the AP’s NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2007 but has played in only nine games the past three seasons while battling injuries.

In all the 30-year-old Sanders has played in 48 games in his seven-year career and has compiled six interceptions, 373 tackles, 3.5 sacks, two forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries. He has never played 16 games in a season, but in the two seasons that he played in more than six games for the Colts, he was a Pro Bowler, in 2005 and ’07.

Two More Transactions

The Jets announced two more player departures late this afternoon when they waived DE Vernon Gholston, the sixth overall pick of the ’08 draft, and terminated the contract of veteran tight end Ben Hartsock.

JT: Let’s Do It Again

Jason Taylor, another former Defensive Player of the Year, released by the Jets on Tuesday, told The Associated Press today he would like to play another season with the Green & White.

“I want to play in New York for sure,” Taylor told AP before the Honda Classic pro-am golf tournament. “I told Rex yesterday, if I’m going to play, I want to play with the Jets. If they’ll have me, I think I would enjoy doing it again.”

The 6’6”, 250-pound pass rusher played for the Dolphins for 12 seasons and the Redskins for one before coming to the Jets last offseason.

Taylor filled in while OLB Calvin Pace rehabbed his broken foot and played in the OLB rotation all season, making a few game-changing plays. His late strip sack of Tom Brady secured the Jets’ Week 2 victory over the Patriots, and his safety helped the Jets defeat the Steelers in Week 15 at Heinz Field in Taylor’s hometown of Pittsburgh.

Curtis Brings His Lunchpail, Feasts on Colts

Another career snapshot of Curtis Martin, who is in the running to be a first-ballot inductee into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Feb. 5 in Dallas:

On Dec. 3, 2000, the 8-4 Jets were in need of just a few more wins to make the playoffs. When the  Indianapolis Colts (7-5), then their AFC East rivals, came to town, Curtis Martin knew that he and the Jets needed to make a statement.

On the Friday before the game, Martin and quarterback Vinny Testaverde gave the team a heartfelt speech after practice. The generally quiet Martin lit a fire and then sparked a 27-17 victory at the Meadowlands with a franchise-record rushing effort.

“I do more talking than what it appears,” Martin said after the game. “When it’s necessary, I’m not a guy who wastes words. I speak when I need to.”

Martin also rolled for a career-high and Jets-franchise record 203 rushing yards on 30 carries. During the first half alone he ran for 152 yards, including 93 second-quarter yards. Martin’s consistency and ability to move the chains helped the Jets muster 26 first downs for the game, 11 on the ground, and eat up a whopping 41:25 of the game clock against Peyton Manning and the Colts.

Not only did Martin bruise through the offensive line with power but he also did it with speed and style, as he ripped off runs of 55 yards and 36 yards in the first half, which helped boost his average to 6.8 yards per carry on the day.

No. 28′s most important work, however, came in the fourth quarter as the Green & White’s 20-0 lead had dwindled to 20-17. Taking advantage of an Indianapolis turnover, Martin ran over right tackle for a 2-yard touchdown with 3:17 to go that put the game out of reach.

“The thing that I am happy about is I feel I had a major part in this win,” Martin said. “We brought our lunchpails to work and we worked hard on the running game and it paid off.”

Visit the Curtis Martin for Hall of Fame page

CHREBET: Runaway Train and Turf Monster

Wayne Chrebet’s 20th blog of the season for newyorkjets.com:

I bet some of you didn’t see that one coming. One huge step closer to getting to Dallas to play in this year’s Super Bowl. Who would have thought that the Jets could go into Indy and New England and beat Peyton Manning- and Tom Brady-led teams? The Jets did. That’s who.

Beating the Colts is one thing, but winning in New England in mid-January is near impossible. Not that I thought that the Pats were unbeatable. Just takes a complete effort and game plan to do that.

How great was it to see Brady with that blank expression on his face? To set the record straight, he didn’t lose the game. The Jets won it. You can say it’s so uncharacteristic of him to throw an interception. Bad throw. Yes. But Harris saw the play before it even started. So you know, I think he is one of the most underrated linebackers in the league. But wow! He got caught from behind by Alge Crumpler. Alge is pushing 300 pounds.

I only joke because Harris made fun of himself in the postgame interview or I wouldn’t have mentioned it. The worst part about a play like that is that you have to watch it in front of everybody in films the next day. And it’s not a one-time thing. It’s rewind, watch, rewind, watch, slow motion, watch. When I played, we would fine a guy if something like that happened. I got fined for tripping and falling with nobody around me. Caught the turf monster. Not a graceful fall, but one where your legs come over the top of your head.

Hey. It happens to the best of us. When you win, you can laugh about things like that.

Next stop, Pittsburgh. Different kind of matchup. They are very good on both sides of the ball. The Steelers will play the revenge card. “Oh, they beat us in our house, not going to happen again.” Whatever.

There’s one difference between these two teams right now. One has the respect around the league. One is fighting for it. Did you hear Bart Scott’s interview after the game on the field? He was angry as heck. I watched it again on YouTube. My kind of guy.

This is the hungriest I’ve seen the Jets team in a while. The best way that I can explain it is that right now the Jets are a runaway train. They don’t care what’s in their way. Their quarterback is outplaying future first-ballot Hall of Famers and their defense is causing complete havoc. Would you want to get in their way?

Mangold: ‘We Don’t Want to Be Close Again’

After tasting the agony of defeat in last year’s AFC Championship Game, the Jets figure to be better off from the experience as they begin preparations for Sunday’s matchup with the Steelers.

“It will help a little bit, I think, understanding how far we got last year, how close we were, and we don’t want to be close again,” said C Nick Mangold. “I think guys understand that and feel that this is our opportunity. We’ve made good strides from last year and we’re looking forward to getting out there and playing the game.”

In this year’s playoffs, newcomers Antonio Cromartie, Santonio Holmes and LaDainian Tomlinson have all made significant impacts.

Cromartie’s 47-yard kickoff return late against the Colts may be remembered as the most critical return in franchise history and he followed that up with a solid outing in coverage as the back end was phenomenal against the Patriots. Holmes has seven receptions for 66 yards in two games, including a key catch on the game-winning drive in Indy and then a wonderful 7-yard scoring grab as the Jets came up with an answer when the Pats closed to 14-11 on Sunday. An invigorated Tomlinson has averaged 4.8 yards on his 26 carries and he leads the team in postseason scoring with three total TDs.

Wayne Hunter took over at RT for Damien Woody (Achilles) on Sunday and the Jets’ offensive line didn’t miss a beat. A seven-year pro, Hunter benefited from three starts to close the season when Woody was hobbled with a knee injury.

“Thank God he got to play in those games and didn’t have to come into this game cold turkey,” said RG Brandon Moore. “Wayne’s ready, he’s making the most of his opportunity and I’m just happy for him.”

The Jets suffered a major blow at safety when Jim Leonhard broke his tibia in practice on Dec. 3, but the Green & White have adjusted well and received great play from Eric Smith and solid contributions from Brodney Pool.

Rex Ryan’s crew is not short on confidence. They believe they’re a better team than the one that won nine games in the 2009 regular season before whipping the Bengals, surprising the Chargers and holding a second-half lead on the Colts until Peyton Manning threw a 4-yard TD pass to Pierre Garcon with 8:08 left in the third quarter of the conference championship game in Indy on Jan. 24, 2010.

Fast forward to this January and Manning and the Colts were controlled in the wild-card round before Tom Brady and the Pats were beaten down in the divisional round. The Jets may have surprised the prognosticators again, but they have not surprised themselves.

“We trust in what we do. We understand that you have to have confidence in the ways we go about doing things — the way we prepare, the way we practice, and the way we play games,” Mangold said. “If you don’t have that confidence, then you’re going to be wishy-washy and it’s not going to work out so well for you. I think it’s more of a confidence thing. You can see it being construed as arrogance, but to me it’s more of trust for each guy that they know that the other guy is going to get the job done.”

The Jets may have exorcized some franchise demons at Gillette Stadium by extinguishing a Patriots team that routed them by 42 points on Dec. 6 and has has dominated the division with seven AFC East championships the past eight years. But the playoff goal of this club was never meant to be an exorcism.

“Our goal wasn’t to just to go up there to win and then call it quits,” Mangold said. “Our goal is to go to the Super Bowl and it’s going to take a lot of effort. It’s going to take even a better effort this week to be able to do that.”

For the second consecutive year, the Jets will face an AFC Championship opponent that they beat in the regular season. The Jets topped the Steelers, 22-17, in Week 15 at Heinz Field, but they’ll need even a better effort if they’re going to touch down in Texas.

“For the AFC Championship, if you can’t get up for that you might as well not even be in the building,” said Mangold. “It’s a great challenge for us. It’s a team that’s playing really well and I think it’s going to take all of us for 60 minutes to be able to get the job done.”

Sendoff on Saturday

The AFC Championship Rally in Times Square Thursday beginning at 5:30 p.m. is not the only event for fans preceding the Jets’ game at Pittsburgh on Sunday night.

Fans also will be invited to form a fan tunnel and send the team off to the Steel City from the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center on Saturday morning. This event, also being sponsored by Hess, JetBlue and Pepsi Max, will run from 9 a.m.-noon in the training center’s business parking lot. More details on this event will follow on newyorkjets.com as soon as we get them.

A Drive That Captures the Offense’s Ambitions

Before we move totally away from Indianapolis and on to New England, here’s one more thing of beauty from the wild-card win over the Colts on Saturday night. It has to do with that drive that bridged the third and fourth quarters, that glided from one end of Lucas Oil to the other, that kept the Jets in position to advance to the divisional round against the Patriots.

It was the most impressive drive in franchise playoff history. So say the numbers.

Seventeen plays? The most for any drive in the Jets’ 24 playoff games, one more than the 16-play TD drive before the half in the 2002 divisional game at Oakland.

Eighty-seven yards? The most yardage for any of the Green & White’s 294 playoff possessions, beating out the 85-yard touchdown march that put them ahead to stay in the second-quarter of the first game of the 1982 “Super Bowl Tournament” at Cincinnati.

Nine minutes, 54 seconds? The longest drive, the biggest chunk of possession time out of the 400 minutes, 40 seconds the Jets have possessed the postseason rock, topping the 9:17 of the last touchdown drive of the 41-0 romp over the Colts in the ’02 wild-card game.

“The biggest thing to me was the execution on the drive,” said wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery after today’s first practice of the week at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center. “The guys just locked in and were moving the chains. We said if we continue to do that, we’ll go down, get in the red zone and score. Everybody was locked in. We were a little off in the first half but we got those things taken care of.”

The only drawback to the drive is that it didn’t win the game for the Jets, it only gave them a 14-10 lead with 9:49 to play. Had it finished with 0:00 to play, it would henceforth be known as “The Drive.”

So perhaps italics will have to serve: The drive broke down thus: LaDainian Tomlinson carried five times for 16 yards, Shonn Greene five for 10, Brad Smith one for 8 out of the Seminole. And Sanchez, who no question was off the mark in the first half, found his groove especially on this possession, completing all five passes for 47 yards and four first downs, two to Dustin Keller, one to Braylon Edwards, one to Tomlinson, even one to TE Ben Hartsock. Sanchez even kept for 6 yards to the Indy 15 on third-and-1.

LT applied the crowning touch with his 1-yard standing-up touchdown run.

“I don’t know if it was special or it showed our identity,” said tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson, “but it just was a reflection of good football being played. It lets you know, it lets us know, it lets everybody know that we do that, we can do that against a quality team.”

It surely was a required piece in the Jets’ latest road conquest, setting up the endgame so that if Peyton Manning and the Colts were held to field goals — which they were — then the Jets could win it with a field goal of their own — which they did. And it also was the centerpiece of a long closing kick that frustrated the Colts in their home corral. Before that was the merely superb 10-play, 63-yard touchdown drive to open the second half, and before that was the 13-play, 60-yard drive that ended with Mark Sanchez’s interception.

In the game’s final 34:25, the Jets held the ball for 22:40 and let Manning & Co. work with it for 11:45. Talk about keeping the ball out of the Hall of Fame quarterbacks. This was a chapter in the textbook.

And the point of all this fond reminiscence is that maybe the Jets can do it again, will need to do it again, will in fact do it again against another HOF QB on Sunday in Foxboro.

It’s another weapon of ours,” said Greene. “We think we can do that with our running style with me and LT going back and forth and our offensive line pounding them and Mark getting completions here and there. It should be a tough task for us but I think we can get it done.”

That’s in fact what’s been missing in the Jets’ two most recent visits to the town with two spellings (Foxboro and Foxborough). In 2009 Sanchez and his offense mounted an 11-play, 80-yard touchdown drive but that was the best of a turnover-laden lot as the Jets had the ball for only 20:06. Six weeks ago in the 45-3 loss, they opened each half with a drive of double-digit plays but only two marches reached even field goal range.

Sanchez surely knows he can’t turn the ball over as he has in those two visits. But he and his offensive mates also know that they won’t have to worry about TB if they hit their stride on the road once again in five days.

“One of the things Schottty [Brian Schottenheimer, of course] kept saying is that we’re not playing Peyton Manning or Tom Brady. We’re playing the defenses of the teams they play for. If we focus on things the way we need to, the game’ll play out the way it’ll play out.”

“If we can get that going again,” said Greene, “I think we have a good chance of winning this game.”

Rex Cetera

Head coach Rex Ryan took a break from his media schedule and did not talk with reporters today. He, Sanchez and the rest of the Jets will return to their normal Wednesday schedule on Wednesday, of all days. Even with some decent snowfall expected for North Jersey, we’re expecting to stream Ryan live on newyorkjets.com as usual around 2-2:15 p.m.

The shame of the precipitation headed the Jets’ way is that Blake Hoerr and his grounds crew did a phenomenal job of scraping the turf field clear of last Friday’s snow, just in time for today’s practice and tonight’s new snow. Will the Jets work outside tomorrow, Thursday or Friday in preparation for the elements of Foxboro? No doubt they will, but which days remains up in the air.

The area around Gillette Stadium is expected to get a heaping helping from this snow event, but the weather on Sunday is forecast to be cloudy, breezy and in the mid 30s, with no snow expected.

A Glorious Indy Finish for the 60-Minute Men

The Jets are the NFL’s new 60-Minute Men.

After Adam Vinatieri gave the Colts a 16-14 lead with just 53 seconds on the clock in their AFC Wild Card matchup, most of America probably wrote the Green & White off. There wouldn’t be enough time for Rex Ryan’s club to move downfield quickly, especially on a night when second-year passer Mark Sanchez was far from accurate inside Lucas Oil Stadium.

But Pat McAfee kicked off and Antonio Cromartie, handling kick return duties with Brad Smith slowed by injury, raced 47 yards out to the Jets’ 46. With two timeouts still at their disposal, the visitors had plenty of time to get in Nick Folk field goal range.

“I never lost confidence,” said Rex Ryan of his thoughts after Vinatieri’s strike. “I thought, ‘We have enough time,’ and then we had the big return from Cromartie.”

Sanchez quickly went to Braylon Edwards for 9 yards and the Jets called timeout. Edwards (four catches, 62 yards) bobbled the ball on the way down, but it was ruled on the field and after a booth review that the rangy wideout had made a reception before falling on his own fumble. Then Sanchez went to Santonio Holmes for 11 and the speedy target (4-46) got out of bounds at the Colts’ 34.

“He has a lot of resolve,” said WLB Bart Scott of Sanchez. “I think he plays better in pressure situations when a lot of the thinking is gone and it’s just reacting. He’s moving, he gets in a groove. The tempo gets him in a groove. I think he sees the field a lot better sometimes and he gets in a rhythm.”

After the clocked was stopped, the Jets decided to run LaDainian Tomlinson up the middle for 2 yards. Then the Colts inexplicably called for a timeout and allowed offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer to devise a play.

Turns out Schotty handed the keys to Sanchez. It was up to No. 6 to select a call off the two-minute play sheet (which consisted of about a dozen plays) that he liked.

“He had a few different plays ready,” said the 24-year-old QB, “and he knew what I liked and I think he had a pretty good idea of what I was going to call. It was a good learning experience for me and it’s great to know that he has that trust in me.”

After making the play selection, Sanchez threw a great back-shoulder toss to Edwards for an 18-yard gain to the Colts’ 14. Corner Jacob Lacey was in coverage, but he could only helplessly watch Edwards elevate, grab the rock at the top of his jump and then come down with two feet in bounds.

“You have to have those in your toolbox and you go to it in your time of need,” said Sanchez, who became the first Jets QB to win three playoff games. “We needed it. I knew I could have made that throw last year — I don’t know if I could have made that call last year.”

Sanchez, who finished 18-of-31 for 189 yards with one interception, missed on a long pass to Edwards on the Jets’ next-to-last possession that would have cemented the game. But he didn’t miss this time around and it set up Folk for his first playoff game-winner and third career GW from 32 yards out.

“Go make it look like an extra point and that’s what I tried to do,” said Folk. “It went right down the middle.”

“We put him in a good spot and that’s what he does,” added Sanchez. “He’s done a great job for us down the stretch and he kicked one when we needed it. I don’t like to look at him. I just hung out with Coach Cav [QBs coach Matt Cavanaugh] for a second, just looked over his shoulder, not watching the game, watching the crowd to see what they would do. And they weren’t very happy, so I knew it went in.”

Jets Nation celebrated throughout the land. And because the Green & White saw this one through till the end, the 60-Minute Men will take their fight on to New England next Sunday.

Fans Travel Well for Jets-Colts WC Game

Jets fans are much in evidence in the Circle City these days. They dominated a restaurant or two in downtown Indianapolis and belted out more than a few “J-E-T-S” chants, much to the consternation of the locals.

And they’re expected to be in evidence in the just now filling up Lucas Oil Stadium, along with more than a few Jets and Jets-related celebrities. Expected in the stadium: ex-Jets QB Boomer Esiason, working the game for Westwood One Radio;  former Jets Jason Fabini, a Hoosier himself, and Marvin Jones; Marty Schottenheimer, father of the Jets offensive coordinator; Jets fans and funny men Ray Romano and Kevin James, and Fireman Ed Anzalone, who should be visible about six rows up behind the Jets bench during the game.

Will the Jets be treating all their followers to a Saturday night delight in Indianapolis? That’s the idea.

But of course, the Colts stand in the way. And they stood tall in this venue a little less than a year ago when Peyton Manning and the Indy offense roared from 17-6 down to 30-17 ahead and on to the Colts’ Super Bowl date with the Saints.

And Lucas Oil can be a deafening place to play, even with Jets fans scattered throughout the building. But the Jets have shown their mettle on the road in their two seasons under head coach Rex Ryan. They have gone 6-2 away from New Meadowlands Stadium this season and 13-5 in 2009-10, including last season’s playoff run.

And while it’s not necessarily a green badge of courage, the Jets have become familiar with the trappings of being a road playoff team. Tonight is their eighth consecutive postseason match on the road, or ever since they defeated the Colts, 41-0, at home in the 2002 playoffs. In the previous seven games, their record is 3-4, with the wins coming after the 2004 regular season at San Diego and last season at Cincinnati and San Diego.

Also worth considering is that while the Jets appear to be in better health than in recent weeks, the Colts are suffering. They have put 17 players on IR this season, and of the 11 players listed on this week’s injury reports, reports are that RT Ryan Diem, LB Clint Session and DB Kelvin Hayden will not be available.

Still, the ‘Shoes have Manning and the Jets have Mark Sanchez, sore-shouldered but ready to reprise his role as a young NFL QB rising to the challenge on the NFL’s second-season stage. It should be an exciting evening for Jets fans.

Inactives

The Jets’ inactive list for tonight’s game has a few surprises. DE Vernon Gholston has been deactivated, a CD (coach’s decision). RB Joe McKnight, who starred in the backfield last week vs. Buffalo, is also IA. So are CB Isaiah Trufant, OL Vlad Ducasse, DTs Jarron Gilbert and Marcus Dixon, and TE Jeff Cumberland. (Kellen Clemens is the third QB.)

With the two D-linemen down, the Jets have four DL activate for this game — starters Shaun Ellis, Sione Pouha and Mike DeVito, and DT Trevor Pryce, back and available. Ryan and DC Mike Pettine have gone heavy on the back end as they anticipate defensing Manning passes to his receivers.

Also for the Jets, Dwight Lowery will stay at safety in the starting lineup, although Eric Smith is back from his concussion and available for the first time in four games. And Damien Woody is back in the OL starting lineup at RT, after also sitting out three games following his knee scope, with Wayne Hunter returning to his role as the backup at both tackle spots.

Update, 7:47 p.m.: The Colts’ inactive list contains several more starters, further depleting their ninth consecutive playoff effort. DT Antonio Johnson is inactive, as are Session, Hayden and Diem, as mentioned above, plus S Al Afalava, Gs Jamey Richard and Jaimie Thomas, and T Joe Reitz. Indy does not designate a third QB.

Uniforms

The Jets are wearing their white jerseys and white pants for this game. As you know if you’ve followed the numbers in these pregame blogs, the Green & White fare very well in white & white. They’re 7-3 in that combo this season (although 1-2 in their last three) and 13-5 in all white in the Ryan regime. The Jets wore their road whites in both games at Lucas Oil Stadium last season, the 29-15 Week 16 triumph and the AFC Championship Game loss.

Game Captains

Ryan tabbed six players as his gameday captains: DE Shaun Ellis, CB Darrelle Revis, G Brandon Moore, TE Ben Hartsock, P Steve Weatherford, TE Dustin Keller.

Referee

Gene Steratore is this wild-card games referee. This is Steratore’s sixth Jets game as the man in the white hat. His first was the 2006 season opener at Tennessee, Eric Mangini’s first game as Jets head coach. His last two were the 2008 primetime triumph at New England and last season’s 38-0 rout at Oakland.

Network

The Jets-Colts game has drawn NBC’s A-team, Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth, in the booth. This is only the fourth Jets game on the network since it passed the AFC franchise on to CBS. They are 3-0 in those most recent NBC games, last year’s regular-season finale and then AFC Wild Card win, both against Cincinnati and this year’s Game 3 at Miami.

STSFE*: Westhoff Explains New OT Rules

The Jets won two consecutive overtime games this season, the first coming against the Lions when kicker Nick Folk knocked through a field goal on the extra period’s first possession to seal a 23-20 victory.

But for this postseason, those overtime rules have changed, from a standard “sudden death” style to one that allows both teams an opportunity to score. Special teams coordinator Mike Westhoff explained the new rules, which he has also reviewed with his players this week.

“I’ll talk to them about the overtime change and the way this is going to be played now in the playoff game,” Westhoff said. “It’s really pretty simple, but there is a strategic thing that is important and could be important in our game.”

Westhoff said there are a few ways to score without the other team’s offense touching the ball. If the Jets were to receive the opening kickoff of overtime and return it all the way back for a touchdown, the game would be over. Similarly, if the Jets receive the kickoff and they drive the ball down the field and score a touchdown, the game is also over.

Where the rules differ, however, is that a team can no longer end the game by taking the ball down the field with the first possession of overtime and kicking a field goal, which presents an interesting scenario for head coach Rex Ryan.

“When you get close, you’re thinking touchdown,” Ryan said. “In the game, if you have the ball, you have to be thinking touchdown. Obviously, it’s an advantage if a team kicks a field goal on you. If you have a chance to come back, then you’re basically playing four-down football until you can kick a field goal or score a touchdown. I think that’s the advantage for the team that gets the ball second or if that team scores initially. It’s the same for everybody and I think everyone knows the rules.”

Under the new rules, if the team receiving the kickoff drives down the field and kicks a field goal, the opponents would then get the chance to score a touchdown (on the ensuing return or on a drive) or kick a field goal. If the opponents score a touchdown, the game is over. If they kick a field goal to tie, it then reverts to sudden-death rules the rest of the game.

Westhoff described that scenario in a bit more detail and pointed out some of the thought process that goes into playcalling during that time of the game.

“Let’s say we had the ball in our first possession and drove down the field,” Westhoff said. “Let’s say we’re on the 10-yard line and we’re fourth-and-1. In a normal overtime game we’d kick the field goal and go home. But here you might consider going for it to get another set of downs to possibly score a touchdown and not let Peyton Manning get on the field. That’s a strategic thing that comes up in this type of game. What the league wanted to do is not let the team get the ball, drive down the field, kick a field goal, and it’s over. They wanted the other team to have an opportunity.”

It is up to the defense to make a stop if the opponents get the ball first. If the Jets’ cover team or defense were to force a safety or score off of a fumble recovery or interception on their opponent’s first possession, the game would be over.

In addition, if the opponents fumbled the ball on the opening kickoff return or turned the ball over on their first possession, all the Jets would have to do is kick a field goal to win the game, because each team had received one opportunity to possess the ball.

With all of these scenarios running through the officials’, players’ and coaches’ heads, it seems like there might be confusion, but Westhoff will make sure that all of the Jets personnel are up to speed on the rules and has confidence that there will be no problems if an overtime situation arises.

“I don’t think there will,” Westhoff said. “I think we know it fairly well and we’ll discuss it with our players. I feel confident that we’re all going to be on the same page with this and it won’t be a problem.”

*Special Teams Saturday, Friday Edition

Two Days to Go and Jets Are On the Boil

In North Jersey today it’s in the mid-30s, snow from 10 days ago is still on the ground and some 3-6 inches more snow is on the way Friday. Inside the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center fieldhouse, it was almost as cold as it was outside.

Nevertheless, said Sione Pouha, “We’re boiling.”

“Players, coaches, everybody, we’re boiling,” the expressive nose tackle repeated. “We’re chomping at the neck to play, you know? It’s just the fruits of us being excited with the opportunity we have in front of us.”

There are any number of reasons for the Jets to be geeked, pumped and stoked as this week rolls on toward Saturday night’s third meeting in 54 weeks with the Colts in Lucas Oil Stadium.

It’s the next playoff game, of course, and that’s enough to fire up everyone who puts on NFL pads for a living. It’s a chance for “revenge” after last year’s AFC Championship Game loss to the ‘Shoes in this very same building.

For players such as Santonio Holmes and Antonio Cromartie, this is the first of the games they were “brought here for.”

“I honestly think so,” Holmes said. “When I got the call, the first thing Rex Ryan talked to me about was he had a chance to win a Super Bowl and I was the guy who took it away from him [in the 2008 AFC Championship Game between the Steelers and Ravens]. I know he believes I’m here for one reason and that’s to win championships.”

For guys like LaDainian Tomlinson and Jason Taylor and Trevor Pryce and Mark Brunell, it’s that and also that there won’t be many more chances after this postseason to try to win another Lombardi.

“There’s a light at the end of the tunnel,” Taylor said the other day. “The light’s coming quicker and quicker. It’s not blinding yet but you need your sunglasses on. It’s getting nearer.”

Dustin Keller, meanwhile, gets to return to his home state and show that last year’s championship game performance in  Indianapolis — six receptions, 63 yards and the TD grab to put the Green & White up, 14-6 — was no accident.

“Dustin’s a guy that goes on emotion, for sure, “but I don’t think he gets too keyed up,” said OC Brian Schottenheimer. “I think he’s a guy we like to get going early but not because he’s going to be amped up. He’s always played well against these guys, so we expect him to do the same thing.”

But a lot of it’s about Ryan and the belief he’s instilled in everyone in the organization. His strength of personality is one of the many reasons Tomlinson is now, again, in position to try to make another date with destiny as measured in Roman numerals.

“It was particularly Rex, just his vision for the team and his honesty,” Tomlinson said. “The coaches that he had around him, the players, it just felt like home for me. That was obviously the deciding factor.”

The phrase was uttered today in the locker room, I’m not sure by whom or what the context was, that Ryan writes checks that now the players have to cash. Ryan was asked about it, and once again he stated his philosophy, which is not to run down opponents but which is to build up his team.

“All I’m doing is speaking what I believe to be the truth,” he said at his final news conference before the game this afternoon. “Are there doubters? Absolutely. Are there more doubters as each day goes on? Of course. Guys question this or that. But one thing you’ve got to understand about me. I’ll be the same person today, the next day, 20 years from now. I believe in myself, I believe in the team I’m coaching, I believe we have the best organization in football. I don’t think it takes guts to say that.

“I’m going to tell you this. If somebody doubted me, I never said ‘You’re right’ and left. I’m just the opposite. I’m going to prove it to you, to whoever doubts me. We know there’s doubters, absolutely. But we also believe in each other. And we plan on going to the bank, let’s put it that way.”

I asked Pouha what was making these practices this week boiling hot.

“Oh, I’d say they’re just like normal Jets practices with a touch of playoffs,” he said. “We’ve trained for this ever since Rex got here, to get to this situation and to try to get to this Super bowl. So there’s no new doctrine being taught here.”

There can be no guarantee right now of victory or defeat in Indy. But here is a guarantee: There will be a doctrine in the house on Saturday night.

Rex Cetera

The Jets have continued the practice of using loudspeakers to simulate the decibel level the Jets are expected to face on the road. Today in the fieldhouse the level was deafening. “If it gets louder than what’s been out there — I don’t know if that’s possible,” Ryan said. “We had crowd noise blasting as loud as we can on one side, music on the other side. … You make practices as difficult as you can. That way, hopefully in the game it’s the same, or even easier.” … The new snowfall, forecast to begin for sure around noon Friday, has pushed the Jets’ charter flight out of Newark to Indianapolis almost two hours earlier in the day to around 1:30 p.m. EST. …

Health Watch

The Jets’ injury report today is identical to Wednesday’s — 14 players listed, seven as limited, seven as full, “everybody’s expected to play, period.”

Update, 4:40 p.m.: The Colts’ injury report contains a new big name. WR Reggie Wayne was limited at today’s practice with a knee injury. That makes it 12 names on coach Jim Caldwell’s report. Seven did not participate in team drills, including RT Ryan Diem (back). DT Antonio Johnson (chest) remained limited. DEs Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis, as expected, went from non-injury DNPs Wednesday to full-gos today.