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Ryan on ’12 Sked: The Good, the Bad, the Balance

Rex Ryan felt strongly both ways when he spoke about the Jets’ just revealed 2012 schedule on a conference call with beat reporters this evening.

On the one hand, the Jets coach said it was a good thing to get the dates and times of their 16 opponents just a day after the veterans first reported to the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center to begin their voluntary strength and conditioning period.

“Yesterday I was really excited to finally have the team in our building, have a chance to talk to them,” Ryan said. “But I’m even more excited now. When that schedule comes out, now you start to visualize who you’re playing and it’s even more exciting. Now you realize the 2012 season is upon us.”

But Ryan was not seeing less challenging games on an easy schedule. They all looked tough.

Having the season opener at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, Sept. 9, at 1 p.m. vs. the Buffalo Bills, 6-10 a year ago?

“Opening up at home is a good thing, but playing Buffalo, they’re a tough team,” Ryan said. “They’re much improved. They’ve got that big pass rusher [Mario Williams] coming in.”

Three consecutive home games from Games 4-6? Not bad, except …

“San Francisco [Sept. 30] and Houston [Oct. 8] back to back, they’re two of the more physical teams in the league,” Rex said. “That’s definitely a tough stretch.”

And a favorable second half with an opponents’ schedule strength of .453? That would be fine, too, but for the little matter of three of their last four games being on the road, at Jacksonville (Dec. 9), at Tennessee (Dec. 17) and at Buffalo in the regular-season finale (Dec. 30).

“Yeah, you see that little clump of games right there — whooo, that’s a tough December,” he said. “But you’re coming into some decent weather, Jacksonville and Tennessee, and I kind of like having San Diego come to our place in December.”

One other eye-catcher is anywhere New England appears on the schedule. The Jets will play the Patriots at Gillette Stadium on Oct. 21, and then the teams will get back together on Thanksgiving night at MetLife on Nov. 22.

“Oh, man. That one’s going to be a beauty, there’s no doubt,” Rex said with a laugh about the Turkey Night affair with the defending AFC East champ and the conference’s Super Bowl representative. “It’s a late-night one and our fans will be ready to roll. I know New England’s obviously a tremendous team, so it’s going to be a great challenge for us.

“The last time we played on Thanksgiving, we had success,” Ryan added about the 2010 holiday night game at their new stadium, the 26-10 victory over the Bengals. “That’s good. Hopefully history will repeat itself … and I hope my wife’s got the green-bean casserole ready for after the game.”

Summing it all up, Ryan came to a standard coaching observation: “I think it’s a real balanced schedule. It looks good. We’ll see what happens.”

Landry: Signing with Jets ‘the Right Thing to Do’

It must be dizzying, to be an NFL free agent having just signed on the dotted line with a different team than the one you broke into the pro game with five years before. New faces, new home office, new part of the country.

Yet LaRon Landry looked as comfy in his molded plastic office chair in a meeting room at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center on Monday as if he were stretched out in his Barcalounger back in Virginia.

“This feels like home,” Landry, the former Redskins safety, told me within hours of signing a deal to join the Jets and patrol the deep middle of their offense this coming season. “This was the right thing to do.”

Landry knew a little bit of what to expect, and for that he and the Jets can thank his brother, Dawan.

“Dawan’s older by two years … I’m the better one,” he said with a proud sibling’s smile. “Rex Ryan and Dennis Thurman were coaching my brother in Baltimore. He said they were players’ coaches, they’re about winning.

“But ultimately it was my decision to make. I had to come out here and see for myself. It’s a nice facility. The Jets have a great owner and a great coach. It’s home here. I’m glad to be playing in a defense where my ability will be used to help my teammates. I’m all about winning, too.”

Landry exudes football, muscularity and competitiveness. He’s a friendly guy with a strong handshake and an edge to him that hints at his hard-hitting reputation that he brought with him from LSU as the Redskins’ sixth pick of the 2007 draft.

I asked him what number he’d be wearing as a Jet.

“I’ve always been 30,” he said. ” ‘Dirty 30.’ That’s what I’ve been since my freshman year in college.”

Dirty in a good way, though, I suggested.

“Yeah, dirty in a good way,” he agreed.

The Jets and their fans are eager to have a new safety to help clean things up when the Green & White go up against the top tight ends, in particular the Patriots’ Rob Gronkowski/Aaron Hernandez tag team. Landry is well aware of that aspect of his new home office.

“I like a challenge. I like being physical,” he said. “With that said, you know about the tight end situation the Patriots can bring with their mismatch. I’m up for it. It’s all football. The lines on the field don’t change. The grass — well, the grass and FieldTurf don’t change.”

Another part of football is that sometimes elusive perfect health. Football watchers clucked over Landry’s last two seasons with Washington. After three years of missing only one start and ascending to the top of some independent ratings groups among NFL safeties, he played in barely half of the ‘Skins games in ’10-11 due, it was said, to a problem Achilles tendon.

Landry corrected that misunderstanding for any concerned fans and reporters.

“The Achilles was a significant injury the year before last,” he said. “Last year it was a bone injury in my heel instead of the Achilles. They thought it was the same injury as the year before but it was a misdiagnosis type of deal.

“I feel great. I’m fine. If it was an issue, if it was something that couldn’t be corrected, I wouldn’t be here.”

That being said, GM Mike Tannenbaum talked with reporters this afternoon on a conference call and said there’s still medical and training work for Landry and the Jets’ teams to do this offseason.

“We’ll be intelligent in our approach. We don’t want to put any limits on LaRon,” Mike T said. “We’ll be smart about it and work with him to make sure he’s ready to go on opening day.”

Landry is an interesting dude. Redskins fans were well aware of his pet, a white-faced Capuchin monkey he named Gucci. And he’s into Twitter, recently passing 40,000 followers on his page under the nom de tweet of @MrLandry30. On his page you can read some of his football aphorisms and follow exchanges with his fans, some of them friendly and some more of the sparring variety. It’s all about the edge.

“It’s about me playing with passion. Passion comes with attitude,” he said. “Being a Jet, they will get everything out of me. I’m a passionate player.”

On the Airwaves

Sorry for the late notice but three Jets will be doing interviews on New York radio stations this afternoon. Tannenbaum will be on ESPN 1050 at 3:30 p.m. ET, Landry will come in right behind Mr. T at 3:45 on ESPN 1050, and Mark Sanchez is scheduled for 5:40 p.m. on WFAN 660.

Jets Will Put On Their Sunday Best: All White Unis

The Jets will don white pants and white jerseys Sunday night at MetLife Stadium when they play host to the New England Patriots in their key divisional matchup.

They sported the same look against the Patriots in a pair of home wins the past two seasons. In Week 2 of the 2010 campaign, the Green & White went on an 18-point second-half run and captured a 28-14 decision in the Meadowlands. Mark Sanchez had an excellent day at the office, completing 21 of 30 for 220 yards as the Jets scored their first ever victory at their new stadium.

In the last ever meeting between the two rivals at the old Meadowlands and the second game of the Rex Ryan era, the Jets used a stifling defensive effort to gain a 16-9 Week 2 triumph over the Pats in 2009. The Patriots committed 11 penalties in that contest, a game that a number of current players and coaches still boast as the loudest they’ve ever played in.

“I know the first year that we beat New England, our fans, we gave them a game ball and everything else. They were the difference,” said Ryan this week. “Two good football teams going at it, but they were the difference. It affected their communication, they had penalties and they had to use timeouts and all that.

“That’s a challenge that I’m taking to our fans this week. We’re here, we’re undefeated at home and let’s make it miserable.”

Since 2000, the Jets have worn their white-on-white ensemble five times at home and own a 3-2 mark. But this is no whiteout — the Jets want to see plenty of green in the stands and they want Jets Nation in the seats early.

“The fans know what this game means to this organization,” said ILB David “Hitman” Harris. “They’re going to cheer from the first whistle to the last whistle. Our fans are the greatest fans in the NFL and we just have to go out there and do our part.”

“I’m expecting to the stadium to actually rattle,” said DL Marcus Dixon. “I know in Seattle they have their 12th Man — I want to top that. I feel like our fans can do that.”

Revis Ranges Far and Wide on ‘Four Quarters’

The Jets, Bills and Pats are tied atop the AFC East with 5-3 records. After trampling the Bills in Buffalo, the Jets get another shot at the hated Patriots Sunday night at MetLife Stadium. So who’s the team to beat in the AFC East?

“We are,” said Jets CB Darrelle Revis on the latest installment of “Four Quarters” which was filmed in front of a live audience and will air Thursday on newyorkjets.com. “We believe that — even in the three-game losing streak. We have a lot of confidence no matter what’s going on.”

Revis, who has four interceptions and has been the NFL’s best defender at the season’s midway point, believes the Green & White have “great character” and it shone through when the chips were down.

“It’s very tough at work. The coaches are mad and you’re mad because we’re losing,” he said. “Through that time we just worked together and we took it one week at a time.”

The Jets’ last loss came exactly a month ago, Oct. 9, when they dropped the 30-21 decision to the Patriots in Gillette Stadium. Revis, a defensive captain, has been instrumental in their climb back to the top. His 100-yard interception return against the Dolphins in Week 6 broke up a lethargic start on Monday night and he added another pick for good measure in the 24-6 drubbing.

Then New York’s AFC representative again held serve at home in Week 7 as Revis completely flipped the script against the Chargers, intercepting Philip Rivers in the fourth quarter when the ‘Bolts were driving and had a 21-17 lead. His 64-yard return put the Jets in the red zone and led to the game-winning score. Rex Ryan’s club improved to 4-0 at home with the 27-21 “W” over the Chargers and Revis made absolutely gigantic plays in three of the triumphs. His Week 1 fourth-quarter pick of Cowboys QB Tony Romo set up Nick Folk’s winner from 50 yards out.

“We’ve been doing great at home. You want to be undefeated at home,” he said. “You get to perform in front of some unbelievable fans we have and show them a great job. That’s what we’ve been doing this year at home games.”

Under Ryan, the Jets own a 2-0 home mark against the Pats and they knocked the Men of Belichick out of the playoffs at their house last January. Wes Welker, on pace for a 1,900-yard season, had five receptions for 124 yards back in October and he’ll figure to see a lot of No. 24 this weekend.

“He’s having an unbelievable season. I respect him a lot as a player,” Revis said. “We had our battles in the past and I love covering him. He’s very competitive. I call him the ‘Energizer Bunny’ because he never stops. You can slam him and throw him around. I’ve tried every trick in the book and he just keeps on chucking and keeps on coming after you.”

The Jets hope to maintain pressure on Tom Brady all Sunday evening. They sacked Brady four times in defeat last month and racked up five sacks of him in the divisional playoff win.

“To get Tom Brady out of his game, you have to pressure him. You have to get guys in his face all the time and get him a little bit jittery in the pocket,” said Revis. “If you don’t, he can sit back there and pick you all day, throw the ball all day.”

Prolific as usual, the Pats rank No. 1 in the NFL in pass offense and average 325.6 yards per game. But Revis leads the Jets’ No. 7-ranked pass defense, a unit that absolutely smothered the Bills in the pasting last weekend.

“We’re playing tighter coverage. Kyle Wilson has stepped up a lot this year. He’s had an unbelievable season and he’s only going to get better,” said Revis. “The safeties are playing tighter coverage. I think everybody is doing his job very well.”

After eight games, the Jets have already eclipsed their interception total from a year ago with 13 compared to 12. Conversely, Brady, who threw only four interceptions in 2010, has been victimized by 10 picks.

“We just tried to improve on turnovers. That’s the biggest thing on defense,” said Revis. “We’ve been doing it and we’re going to continue to do it. If we can just carry on with that year after year, that’s what we want to do as a defense. We want to be aggressive and we want to make turnovers. We struggled last year a lot, but I think guys, being in this system a couple of years now, we kind of understand the defense.”

Everyone knows the Green & White have the personnel to thrive in man coverage and that starts with Revis. But Ryan and defensive coordinator Mike Pettine don’t just do an excellent job with their overload blitzes — their disguises in the back end have paid healthy dividends as well.

“We do play a lot of man, but we do play a lot of zone as well. When we play zone, we disguise it very well. The safeties do a great job — Brodney Pool and Jim Leonhard and those guys. They might show one side and then run over to the other side when they hike the ball,” said Revis. “Everybody is just focused on their job and doing what they need to do to help the team win.”

Rex, Schotty, Jets Have Balancing Act vs. Pats

On Sunday at Buffalo, Rex Ryan received high scores from the judges, especially for the degree of difficulty, when he executed a flying butt bump with Santonio Holmes on the sideline following Tone’s fourth-quarter TD snare.

Today Ryan talked about the Patriots and his next event in the NFL head-coaching decathlon: performing on the offensive balance beam.

“It is a balancing act, no question,” Ryan responded to the question of whether to have coordinator Brian Schottenheimer keep on grounding and pounding with the Jets’ clearly improving running game or to attack early and often through the air against New England’s 32nd-ranked pass defense when the Pats visit MetLife Stadium on Sunday night.

“If you win, you balanced it correctly. If you don’t, you were wrong. I’m OK with that, I can accept that. We do have some targets, we do have some weapons. Obviously we have Santonio, Plax, Dustin, the backs out of the backfield. Certainly it’s something we’ll try to do. But we also want to run the football.”

Some would argue that the Jets’ shifting to overland mode at New England four games ago and not going up top on the then also-ranked last pass defense in the league didn’t help in the Jets’ 30-21 loss that day.

But it can be argued that beginning with Game 5 at Foxboro, the Jets returned to a formula resembling the one that moved the ball well in 2009-10. Or in the words of RB Shonn Greene after today’s practice, “Obviously we have our identity back.”

■ In the Jets’ first four games, their rushers averaged 71 rushing yards per game, 3.1 per carry, 1.2 before first contact, 1.9 after first contact. In their last four, the numbers are 120 yards per game, 3.9 per carry, 1.8 BFC, 2.1 AFC. Not great numbers, but a start on the road back.

■ In the first four games, the Green & White had 14 rushing first downs. In the last four they’ve had 28.

■ Ryan likes to measure his offense’s effectiveness in terms of rushing attempts plus completions. In the first four games the Jets averaged 43.3 A+Cs per game, with a season-low 30 coming in Game 4 at Baltimore. In the last four, they’ve averaged 48.0 per game, with a season-high 59 coming in Game 8 at Buffalo.

■ In the first four games the Jets were 2-2 and trending down. In the last four they’re 3-1 and feeling feisty again.

Needless to say, a number of reasons could account for the one-game improvement in the W-L record from the first quarter to the second, but he and others still feel “very comfortable and confident” in the return to their roots.

Said Greene: “The offensive line’s doing a great job, all the backs are working hard for yardage. We know what we’re going to do and we’re going to stick to that. It’s going to be physical Jets football.”

And said Ryan about the temptation to have Mark Sanchez match Tom Brady pass for pass on Sunday: “I just want to win. I don’t care what it takes. If it means we’re going to have to throw 50 times, so be it. … And to run the ball effectively is the biggest thing we can do for our team.”

Injury Report

The Jets’ first injury report of the week may look a little lopsided with three players not practicing and two limited in team drills, but don’t let those appearances fool you.

“I feel pretty good about where we’re at,” Ryan said. “I think we’re healthy. We’re going to be just fine.”

The DNPs were WR Plaxico Burress, who put his sore lower back behind him Sunday to post team-leading and season-high totals of five catches and 79 yards against the Bills; KR Joe McKnight (toe) and S Brodney Pool (knee). Limited were DT Marcus Dixon (shoulder) and LB Josh Mauga (back). Eight players were listed as full participants, including three who’ve sat out a few recent games — DT Mike DeVito (knee), DT Kenrick Ellis (ankle) and CB Isaiah Trufant (hamstring).

Click here for the Jets’ full I-report.

For the Patriots, it looks a little more dire, but looks can be deceiving here as well. Four players are listed as DNPs — S Patrick Chung (foot), LBs Brandon Spikes (knee) and Dane Fletcher (thumb), and OL Ryan Wendell (concussion). And nine were limited at today’s practice at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass. — WR Wes Welker (rib), RBs BenJarvus Green-Ellis (toe) and Kevin Faulk (knee), LBs Jerod Mayo (knee) and Gary Guyton (shoulder), CB Kyle Arrington (foot), T Sebastian Vollmer, WR Taylor Price (hamstring) and our old friend DE Shaun Ellis (rib).

Bills Down, Patriots Up Next for Improving Jets

Rex Ryan’s message today to his players and to beat reporters is that it was a nice business trip up to Buffalo for their 27-11 win over the Bills the day before, but bigger business lies ahead.

“Obviously there’s satisfaction that we accomplished our mission for that week,” Ryan said at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center late this afternoon, “and that was to get a victory against a good Buffalo team at their place. So that was a good win for us. But we put it in a four-game area to see how this division’s going to lay out.

“We’ve had to get better as a football team and we’ve gotten better. We’ll see if we’ve gotten substantially better when we play this game.”

“This game” is of course the rematch with New England on Sunday night at MetLife Stadium.

With the help of the Giants’ last-minute win over the Patriots, which concluded just around the time the Jets were deplaning from their charter at Newark Liberty Airport Sunday night, the Green & White are back in the thick of the AFC East race, tied with the Pats and Bills at 5-3.

That tired old phrase “if the season ended today” means nothing. There are eight games to play in this season. The Patriots’ edge on the Jets by virtue of their 30-21 win at Foxboro a month ago will disappear with a Jets win at their Meadowlands place in primetime.

And Ryan, while not dismissing work and corrections that need to be made coming off the Bills triumph, has every reason to feel confident. For one thing, the Ryan Jets are 2-0 against the Pats at home. In ’09, the Jets prevailed, 16-9, making them the only opponent that has held Tom Brady and New England without a touchdown in a game in the last five seasons. Last year the verdict was 28-14, making the Jets the only opponent to have held the Pats to 14 points or fewer twice in those same five seasons.

But that’s the past. The Jets know that the Red, White & Blue come marching down I-95 with a still potent offense and a pride and approach that will make them very difficult to put away in what Mark Sanchez on Sunday called “the divisional championship game.”

What is in the present are a couple of trends that the Jets have done a good job of establishing so far this season.

“Two of the things we talked about focusing on most this offseason were playing better at home and playing better in the red zone,” Ryan said. “Right now we’re fourth in the league in the red zone and we’re undefeated at home.”

The RZ effect has been strong. Sanchez’s interception was a disappointing end to the Jets’ opening drive vs. the Bills (at 10:09, it’s the Jets’ third-longest drive by clock time to end without points since 1984). But it established the concept that the Green & White could move the ball on those Bills and set the stage for three consecutive red zone TD drives in the second half.

With a game left tonight to wrap up Week 9 in the NFL, the Jets are fourth-ranked offense in the NFL in RZ TD percentage at 64.0 percent (16-of-25) and also have a 92.0 percent score rate and are averaging 5.3 points per trip inside the opponents’ 20, all of which would be 25-year bests for the franchise if they hold up for the season.

And at 4-0 at MetLife, the Jets are one of four remaining undefeated home teams in the league (Baltimore and New Orleans are also 4-0, Green Bay is 3-0) and have the opportunity to join the 1985 team as the only outfits in franchise history to open 5-0 at home.

“Now this week my shoutout’s going to be to our fans,” Ryan said. “We’re going to need them, just like the first year when we called out our fans and they made the difference in that first game. The way I see it, the fans are coming off a bye week and a road game. They’re rested. … I expect a huge performance from our football team but also from our fans. I’m excited the game’s here.”

And the hype of the next important Jets-Patriots week begins.

Injury Prognosis

Ryan feels the Jets’ health could be, well, healthy for the Patriots. WR Plaxico Burress had a strong game despite his balky back. S Brodney Pool and DT Sione Pouha left the field with injuries but returned and played well in finishing off the Bills. TE Dustin Keller and RB Shonn Greene both had head scares but both passed their concussion tests. Keller returned for the second half and Greene was held out as the Jets wrapped up the fourth quarter with LaDainian Tomlinson and Joe McKnight running the ball.

And Mike DeVito (knee) and rookie Kenrick Ellis (ankle), who sat out Buffalo, could be ready to return.

“We feel good about them,” Rex said. “DeVito was definitely close to being back. He wanted to play in the worst way. But I think he’ll be ready to go, and we’ll need him. … I’m feeling pretty good about where we’re going to be at.”

No More Keller Liftoffs

Ryan reiterated his advice for TE Dustin Keller to keep himself earthbound after catches.

“I haven’t talked to him about it [today] but I certainly mentioned to him and every teammate mentioned it to him, every coach,” Ryan said of Keller’s attempt to hurdle CB Terrence McGee early in the second quarter that ended with him jarring his shoulder and maybe his head and costing him the rest of the quarter in the locker room.

“That extra yard … we want you healthy,” the coach said. “But he does that. Sometimes a competitor, he’s trying to make a play. That’s just it. But as hard as he hit the ground, maybe he’ll think twice about it.”

Keller, who also tried a high hurdle at Chicago late last season, was asked in the locker room Sunday if he had heard Ryan’s reference to Dwight Stones, the record-setting high-jumper in the Seventies and early Eighties.

“Yeah, I heard about it … and I think I could compete,” he said of doing a little Fosbury flopping himself. “I was a little mad because I felt fine and I had to go back in and obviously do all the procedures and everything. I went through them over and over and over again.”

Despite his hiatus, Keller wound up with four catches, all moving the chains, for 64 yards, and he continues to lead the Jets with 29 receptions, 436 receiving yards, a 15.0-yard per-catch average and 21 receiving first downs. All good numerical reasons for DK to YAC it up while running rather than flying.

McKnight Named AFC ST Player of the Month

Updated, 4:35 p.m. ET

Heading into November, Joe McKnight has been on a return roll, and that roll continues today with word that the NFL has named the Jets’ second-year man its AFC Special Teams Player of the Month for October.

“It feels good,” McKnight said after practice today. “It was a long road to get here and I just want to keep thriving off of this and just keep making plays.”

McKnight took over the kickoff return duties from Antonio Cromartie with the Jets’ first game of the 10th month and promptly turned in the longest play in franchise history and the third-longest kickoff return in NFL history, a 107-yard runback for a TD that enabled the Jets to tie the Ravens early in their Sunday night affair. He also erupted for an 88-yard return to set up a 20-yard touchdown drive the next week at New England.

For the four games in October, McKnight had 11 returns for 443 yards, a rocking 40.3-yard average. Add in two September returns and his 40.0 mark is almost 10 yards ahead of the field for the league leadership in return average.

The NFL began naming AFC and NFC Players of the Month for offense, defense and special teams in 1986. In that span the Jets have gained 17 POM awards. Four of the last six of those have gone to players on coordinator Mike Westhoff’s special teams — KR Justin Miller (October 2006), K Mike Nugent (December 2006), KR Brad Smith (December 2010) and now McKnight.

McKnight is happy now to be one of Coach Westy’s big contributors.

“Coach Westhoff believes in me, so if he believes in me, I know I can do it because Coach Westhoff doesn’t give anybody the time of day,” McKnight said with a chuckle. “When he believed in me, that I could do it, that’s when I knew I could do it and go out there and make plays.”

Perhaps November will open McKnight for more plays and more honors. As head coach Rex Ryan said this week about using No. 25 on offense more at Buffalo on Sunday, “Yes, absolutely, he’ll get more opportunities this week.”

Jets Head into the Bye on a Two-Win High

After a light walkthrough and meetings today, the Jets left the Atlantic Health Training Center for some welcome time off. The bye week comes at an advantageous point in the season, as the Jets will be able to rest up before facing two division foes in back-to-back weeks.

“I think we go into the bye week with a lot of confidence,” said S Jim Leonhard. “Obviously, we wanted to get a couple of wins going in, and we did that.”

Awaiting the Jets coming off the bye on Nov. 6 are the second-place Buffalo Bills. The following week, the Jets will host the New England Patriots in a Sunday night matchup. Those two games will go a long way in determining the eventual structure of the AFC East standings.

“We’ll be ready,” said Leonhard. “We need to close this season out strong. This bye will help get us ready, get us fresh, then we come back to the grind. Mentally, once you come back from this bye week, there are no breaks. You go until the season is over.”

Now in his seventh year, Leonhard can appreciate extended time off. When he and his teammates return to practice one week from today, it will be all business through the end of the season.

“It’s going to be big,” he said. “We need to get our minds and bodies back during this bye week and come back for the grind. You never know how the season is going to play out or where you’re going to get your victories, but you know you need to start stacking them up.”

A ninth-year veteran of the NFL, G Brandon Moore knows the key to overcoming a slow start out of the bye.

“We just have to be smart in that first practice back on Monday,” said Moore. “We can’t have that you-guys-look-like-you-had-a-week-off look. Guys have to zero in coming into that day.”

In Sunday’s 27-21 victory, Moore and his fellow offensive linemen enjoyed perhaps their best performance this season. The protection they provided led the Jets to 162 rushing yards, including 112 from RB Shonn Greene. Both numbers are season highs for the Green & White.

“It’s just that stack-the-bricks kind of model that Rex has been preaching,” said Moore. “That paid off against San Diego. When you string those together, you can come out on top on Sundays.”

By stacking the bricks, the Jets have built themselves a record of 4-3. In addition to being over .500 with a week of rest ahead, they have built something else, potentially more important, moving forward.

“We have a lot of confidence, not just because we got some wins, but because of the style of football that we’re playing,” said Leonhard. “This is our blueprint.”

STS*: Pat on the Back to Folk’s FG Protectors

Updated, 5:32 p.m. ET

Nick Folk is off to the fourth-best placekicking start in franchise history. (For the three better starts he’s trying to surpass, see below.) He’s striking the ball well out of Mark Brunell’s hold.

Yet Folk is not one to talk up himself. But who would he like to talk up?

“My offensive line, from my perspective, is doing a great job keeping guys out of the way so we have a clean operation,” Folk told me this week. “And it’s not just offensive guys. Bo’s in there, Mike DeVito — those guys are doing a fantastic job for me, and I can’t thank them enough for doing what they do.”

So we should talk up the field goal protect team? Yes, yes, we should. After all, the placekick protectors are among those groups in football that fans really don’t notice. “But you see the block if it happens,” reminded Sione “Bo” Pouha.

Folk said the time from Tanner Purdum’s snap to his foot into the ball is about 1½ seconds. And Pouha, who’s turned around from D-lineman to O-lineman for this chore, says there are a lot of things a human being can do in 1.5 seconds, “but the 1.5 seconds of kick protection is like an eternity because it’s all sacrificial. You kind of have to give your life for that 1.5 seconds.”

The procedure to prepare for those series of 1.5 seconds of mayhem actually begins the Wednesday before the game when the FG Protect/FG Block teams hold their short meeting with ST coordinator Mike Westhoff and assistant coach Ben Kotwica to go over video, printouts and a game plan just for their small slice of the pie.

If you think that’s overkill, just be thankful each time the Jets line picks up an overload without incident. Keep in mind that the Wednesday meeting before the Sept. 11 season opener against Dallas may have prepared Folk’s protectors so that he could get off his game-winning 50-yard field goal with 27 seconds to play.

“You can take the meetings lightly and not pay attention,” said Moore, “but Mike went over the point that this particular team likes to jump over you at the line. I think they kind of got us a little on our first kick on the right side. So we made an adjustment and got our hands up to keep them from doing it. That was mentioned in the meeting. That was something you’ve got to be in tune with. You’re in that meeting 15-20 minutes and there are some nuggets in there that guys have take and take care of on Sunday.”

Then on Sunday, the process on the field is triggered each time with Purdum’s snap.

“If I’m not mistaken, we got a snap off in 1.19 seconds,” Purdum said. “It actually takes me less time to snap it to Mark than it does for Nick’s kick to occur. I can snap it as fast as you want but the point is to get the laces to Mark just so. The consistency of speed is the real important thing.”

As soon as Tanner makes his move, the opponents cry havoc.

“Matt Slauson and Brandon Moore, they hold me up once I get hit. I kind of go into their legs and just try to get as low as possible,” Purdum said. “It’s just the blink of an eye and I’m either on the ground or pushing against somebody else. It’s less than a breath, it really is.”

“My experience with Bo and Slauson are they’re some good guys to have on your side,” said Matt Mulligan, another member of the unit. “I just enjoy the group of guys we have. They’re just good teammates to have for this job.”

“You gotta hold ‘em,” Pouha said, describing the mentality of surviving the brief period of controlled chaos. “I don’t care if I get pancaked, as long as I disrupt the flow of the rush. If I’m on my back and Nick makes that kick, there you go.”

One placement, Folk reminded in case we forgot, can mean a game.

“They have to be on top of their game with every extra point, every field goal attempt,” said the man with the hot foot. “Every little ounce of effort counts in this game.”

As for Folk’s start, he’s hit his first seven field goal attempts this regular season and takes that streak into New England on Sunday with a chance to catch the players with the three longer streaks in franchise history ahead of him. Pat Leahy hit his first 10 tries in 1986, Jay Feely also converted his first 10 in 2009, and Cary Blanchard made his first nine tries in 1992.

Saturday Transaction

The Jets announced late this afternoon announced that they have signed LB Eddie Jones from their practice squad to their 53-man active roster and have placed LB Bryan Thomas (Achilles) on injured reserve.

*Special Teams Saturday

DeVito: Defense’s Confidence Remains High

So you say the Patriots are averaging 507.5 yards and 33.8 points per game? And Tom Brady is on pace to throw for 6,212 yards, WR Wes Welker is on target for 160 catches, 2,464 yards and 20 TDs and TE Rob Gronkowski for 72 receptions, 1,184 yards and 20 TDs? And they’re also running it well?

“I think we can completely shut them down. That’s what we’re going to go in there to do,” said Jets DE Mike DeVito. “If you’re not going in there thinking that, you’re thinking the wrong thing. We have the defense and we have the players, so we’re going in there trying to shut down this offense.”

DeVito is one of the most humble players you’ll ever meet and he’s not one to talk a lot of trash. His response came after he was asked if the Jets have to go into this one hoping to contain this prolific Pats offense with solid third-down and red-zone defense. His answer was honest, refreshing and exactly what you’d like to hear from a veteran who’s tasted a lot of success against the Patriots.

The Jets have won four of the last six in this rivalry, including a dominant performance in January in the AFC Divisional Round at Gillette Stadium. Brady passed for 299 yards and two TDs that afternoon, but he was sacked five times, hit on numerous other occasions and continually frustrated by the Jets’ coverage schemes as the Pats converted just five of 14 third downs in the Jets’ 28-21 win.

“That was last year and that’s behind us now,” DeVito said. “I think the confidence comes from what we’ve done this season thus far, what we put in during training camp, the work we put in and the guys we have on the field. That’s where our confidence comes from now and we’ll be ready to go.”

“I have a feeling that there were more than a few days in Foxboro spent — whether it was over the lockout or whether it was since the season started — preparing for our defense, knowing that we had success against them in the playoff game,” added defensive coordinator Mike Pettine. “Again it’s a challenge for us. We’ve got to make sure that we kind of forge ahead with some new things, but at the same time not get away from what’s been successful against them in the past.”

The Jets defense ranks No. 8 overall entering Week 5 and they played well in defeat last Sunday night in Baltimore. They held an improving Ravens offense to just 267 yards and 6-of-18 on third down while forcing three takeaways and scoring on a 35-yard David Harris interception return in the second quarter.

It was Harris’ first-quarter INT in January that set the tone against Brady and company. While the Pats will always have a strong pass attack with Brady slinging the rock, they’ve created some balance and currently rank No. 9 in rushing. In a Week 4 win over the Raiders, rookie Stevan Ridley (10-97) and BenJarvus Green-Ellis (16-75) combined for 26 attempts and 172 yards.

“It’s such a great offense. We’re going to have to go out there and be clicking on all cylinders,” DeVito said. “They’ve stepped up their run game. They still have Tom Brady and still have a lot of threats on offense. As a defense, man, we have to come out there and play Jets defense. We can’t have any lapses in this game because they’re too quick to take advantage of it.”

“They have a potential mismatch at virtually every position. Now add to it that they’re running the football,” Pettine said. “That’s a pretty good offensive line. Gronkowski has really stepped up and become one of the better tight ends in the league.”

If the Green & White elect to play small against the Pats by loading the field with DBs, the challenge will be to control the run game in sub packages. Brady won’t have to worry about longtime nemesis Shaun Ellis this time around as the Big Katt, who racked up two sacks of Brady in the winter playoff win, will be taking aim at Mark Sanchez.

“He is one of the big reasons I made the team,” an appreciative DeVito said of Ellis. “I could have come in here and he could have given me a hard time, but he didn’t. He took me under his wing and he helped me progress as a player. Coming in as a rookie, it’s intimidating and he helped me right off at the beginning. He is somebody I have a lot of love and respect for.”

Referring to Ellis as his “big brother,” DeVito will exchange pleasantries with him after this contest. The 6’3”, 305-pounder, an undrafted free agent out of Maine in his fifth season, attended Nauset Regional HS in North Eastham, Mass., and the matchup with the Pats holds a lot of weight in the standings and for his family.

“It’s huge. Everybody’s up there,” he said. “If we lose this game, it’s not just me who has to hear it — my dad has to hear it, my mom has to hear it. So it’s big for us as a family to go up there and win this game.”