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Second Half of Mo’s Rookie Year Starts Sunday

Updated, 4 p.m. ET

At 5-3, the Jets are halfway through the 2011 campaign. The final eight games will determine the outcome of their season, and it starts with Sunday’s highly anticipated primetime matchup with the New England Patriots.

The halfway point also seems to be a good time to catch up with this year’s first-round draft pick, DL Muhammad Wilkerson. He has started every game in his rookie year, totaling 23 tackles, one sack that produced the safety vs. Jacksonville, and one pass defense. The transition from college to the NFL can be a galactic leap for some, but Wilkerson is becoming increasingly more comfortable in his role.

“For me, I’m trying to stay positive,” said Wilkerson. “I’ve been having ups and downs. I’m trying to stay focused on mentally preparing for what I need to do with my alignment and technique so I can finish this year strong.”

The numbers don’t jump off the page, but his impact cannot always be understood through statistics. While the Green & White rush defense struggled earlier in the season to contain the outside runs, a rallying cry of “Set the Edge” rang through the locker room. Wilkerson takes pride in that role.

“I have to make sure everything bounces inside to the great linebackers we have, or just letting Sione [Pouha] and [Mike] DeVito clean it up,” he said.

His job description is akin to that of a point guard, setting up his teammates to make the impact play. After a rough 60-minute stretch against the Pats in Week 5, Wilkerson and his linemates were challenged by head coach Rex Ryan this week.

“Looking back on the first time we played them, there were a lot of ups and downs in that game,” he said. “More downs than ups. We were watching a lot of that film this week, and you really don’t want to watch it, but we have to face the facts. We have to put that aside and show what we’re capable of doing.”

Speaking of capability, Wilkerson feels he still has plenty to prove over the final eight games:

“In every game, there are things that I do good, and some things that, not that I do bad, but that I can do better. I’m just trying to do everything to the best of my ability.”

The transition will continue, but he knows what lies ahead.

“Nothing is easy,” Wilkerson said. “I just take the coaching, and I’m learning. I’ll go from there.”

Wilson Making Strides

As a rookie, CB Kyle Wilson made the same transition that Wilkerson is making right now. Wilson’s struggles were well-documented, leading him to lose confidence and playing time. This year he’s a new player with a fresh outlook.

“Personally, I feel a lot better,” said Wilson. “Having last year to use as experience, I‘ve just been putting in a lot of work. I learn from the guys in the room that I’m working with, like Cro [Antonio Cromartie] and Darrelle [Revis] and continue to accept the coaching.”

“We liked Kyle when we took him,” said Ryan. “We thought he might have been the top corner in the draft when he came out. I’m not surprised at the kind of year he’s having. He’s having as good a year as any nickel in the league.”

It’s high praise for Wilson, who is arguably the most improved player on the Jets’ roster. After logging five tackles in increased action against the Buffalo Bills last week, it’s safe to say he will be on the field early and often against the pass-happy Pats.

Taming Tom

With New England having dropped their last two games, QB Tom Brady has found himself under the microscope.

“I love hearing that Tom Brady is struggling,” Ryan said sarcastically. “Based on what? Last year was a once-in-a-lifetime season — four picks, a zillion touchdowns. That’s going to be hard to match. He’s as good as it gets right now.”

As usual, the focus for the Jets defense will be on pressuring Brady, and taking him out of his comfort zone.

“If you can’t get pressure on Brady, you’re going to get destroyed,” Ryan said. “We’ve got to find ways of getting in there. Whether it’s a four-man rush or something creative, I don’t know. We have to get pressure on him.”

Injury Update

TE Shawn Nelson (illness) and S Brodney Pool (knee) did not practice this afternoon and have been listed as questionable for Sunday’s game.

All the other injured Jets practiced full and are listed as probable for the game, including WR Plaxico Burress (back), DT Mike DeVito (knee), RB-KR Joe McKnight (toe) and CB Isaiah Trufant (hamstring). The Jets’ full injury report can be found here.

The Patriots have declared LBs Brandon Spikes and Dane Fletcher out of the game. WR Wes Welker (rib) practiced full after two limited practices and is probable for the Jets. All 10 other injured Patriots were limited in today’s team drills and are questionable for the game: CB Kyle Arrington, S Patrick Chung, DE Shaun Ellis, RBs Kevin Faulk and BenJarvus Green-Ellis, LB Gary Guyton and Jerod Mayo, WR Taylor Price, T Sebastian Vollmer and OL Ryan Wendell.

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.”

‘Slugger,’ ‘Mayhem’ Give Pass Rush a Spark

Update, 7:30 p.m. ET

The Jets may be getting their pass-rushing inspiration these days from non-football on the television. For Calvin Pace it’s Albert Pujols. For Aaron Maybin it may be Dean Winters.

“I needed that, man,” said Pace about his two-sack smackdown of Matt Moore and the Dolphins on Monday night. “Sacks are one of those things that come in bunches. I had to get off the schneid, so to say. I’m a home run hitter but I’d been striking out a little bit. I had to hit a couple of homers.”

Pace told me before the Dallas season opener that 10-plus sacks were in his sights this season. He promptly got a takedown of Tony Romo, but then a couple of more sacks just eluded his grasp in the ensuing weeks. Now that he’s back on track, he can enjoy the Jets’ practices during the day this week as they get ready to chase down Philip Rivers and the Chargers, and at night he can sit back and enjoy Pujols and the Cardinals’ World Series quest that begins tonight against the Texas Rangers.

As for Winters, you may not recall the name but you probably remember his most recent role as “Mayhem” on the Allstate car insurance spots. So does Maybin.

“That’s always been my favorite commercial,” said the Jets’ lightning-fast linebacker. “But I’ve had that nickname since I was at Penn State. It started off almost like a joke. I think Joe [Paterno] called me that by mistake one time when I was a freshman and it kind of stuck. The guys on the team never let me forget.”

And now Jets head coach Rex Ryan won’t let him forget.

“He’s been calling me Mayhem for a while,” Maybin said. “He finally dubbed me Mayhem in the locker room.”

Meanwhile, on the field, Maybin is making up for lost time. He got the first sack of his three-year pro career in the Sunday night game at Baltimore. A quiet New England game was followed up by his come-from-behind style as he poked the ball loose from Reggie Bush’s grasp late in the second quarter, then got his second strip sack of the year late in the fourth against Moore.

Both balls skittered out of bounds so the Dolphins retained possession, but Mayhem … er, Maybin is hardly discouraged.

“Obviously, that’s the goal, that’s what you’re coming in trying to do. You try to create a big play on defense that might be able to get a spark that might turn the game around,” he said. “If we keep on coming and keep on swinging, eventually those balls are going to start rolling our way.”

The combination of Pace, Maybin, David Harris, Bart Scott, Jamaal Westerman and the rest of the Green & White QB chasers has done some interesting work lately. With four sacks of Moore following four sacks of Tom Brady, the Jets now have 17 sacks. That’s tied for third-most in the NFL (with 12 teams having played only five games, not six) and the sack rate (pass plays per sack) is fifth.

Naturally this doesn’t mean the jury is done deliberating on the quality of the Jets’ pass rush. They could have used more than the one second-half sack of Brady while he was directing four scoring drives (two TDs, two FGs) in the 30-21 win. And if any of their Monday night sacks had come in the first half, perhaps that would have slowed the ‘Fins down even more.

But suffice it to say the Jets are crashing the other team’s pocket with some more regularity lately.

“I can’t do it without the rest of my guys,” said Pace, whose emergence as a 10-sack monster would be a most welcome development over the final 10 regular-season games. “The secondary played great, we had some young guys come in and play well up front. So it was a total team effort.”

More such team efforts will be needed, especially in the next three games against Rivers, Buffalo’s hot Ryan Fitzpatrick after the bye, and then back to Brady at home four Sundays from now.

Rex Cetera

Ryan’s first injury report of the week was not overly alarming although six players did not practice in team drills in the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center fieldhouse today due to the steady daylong rain in North Jersey.

CB Antonio Cromartie, who came out of the Dolphins game with a groin pull, rested, as did C Nick Mangold (ankle), DT Ropati Pitoitua (knee), CB Isaiah Trufant (hamstring) and WR Logan Payne (wrist). RB LaDainian Tomlinson was a non-injury DNP. And utility man Joe McKnight had a knee issue that had him limited.

“I think they’ll be limited during the week because we just played Monday,” Ryan said of Cromartie and Mangold. “We’ll see how they progress, but I expect them both to play.”

For the Chargers, DE Luis Castillo (tibia), the Garfield, N.J., product, did not participate in today’s practice. TE Antonio Gates (foot), WR Vincent Jackson (hmstring) and CB Marcus Gilchrist were limited. And RB Michael Tolbert (concussion) and DE Jacques Cesaire (knee) went full.

Rex, Mike T on the Mason Trade to the Texans

The trade of WR Derrick Mason to the Texans on Tuesday continued to ripple throughout Jets Nation today. The trade means good things for rookie WR Jeremy Kerley and Andrew LeRay will report on Kerley’s view of the developments in a separate story.

But the departure of Mason is another matter that reporters probed head coach Rex Ryan and general manager Mike Tannenbaum about today in two separate interview sessions at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center.

For Ryan, it was a “tough decision” to send on an accomplished veteran who only arrived in August and with whom the coach had a relationship during their successful tenure on opposite sides of the line with the Ravens.

“I’m on record saying he’s going to catch 80 balls because that’s the kind of respect I have for Derrick,” Ryan said at his daily news conference. “I was probably the most excited guy in the building when Derrick decided to sign here. For whatever reason, it hadn’t happened. We weren’t getting the balls to him or whatever, it’s hard to say. But it was more the emergence of Jeremy. There’s a fine line. We’re trying to win now and he’s a young player who’s actually going to ascend.”

Tannenbaum, in a shorter session with reporters at noon, offered a variation on that theme.

“Why [Derrick] wasn’t a success on the field, there are probably a lot of factors that could go into that,” Tannenbaum said. “Suffice it to say he just didn’t play at the level he had hoped and we had hoped. And again, going back to what’s best for the team, getting Kerley on the field we saw as a real positive and that’s why we made the decision.

“Also from my perspective, when you run a team you look at other things like budgets and salary caps and potential for draft choices, what you can do with those. There are other factors that go into it. But Kerley was obviously a big factor.”

Mason came to the Jets after the Ravens released him following the end of the lockout with a remarkable résumé: 14 seasons, 924 receptions, 11,891 yards, 66 touchdown. On Sunday at New England his one catch for 7 yards made him the 18th player in NFL history to clear 12,000 career receiving yards. He can still become the first player in league history to have 60 catches and 750 yards in 12 consecutive seasons.

But he’ll have to do it with the Texans and will have to make up for a slow start to this season. In five games as the Jets’ No. 3 wideout, he was targeted with 21 passes and made 13 catches for 115 yards, an 8.8 average that is 4.0 yards shy of his career per-catch average.

“Here’s a guy that’s closing in on 1,000 catches, he’s been productive for a long time,” Tannenbaum said. “He would’ve been here had Houston not called. He was here for the balance of the season. He has a contract for next year. The fact that Rex knew him was one of the reasons we went after him. Again, we made the decision based on what was going on on the field.”

The coach and GM both stated again that Mason’s remarks of frustration after the loss at Baltimore had nothing to do with the trade. As for other motivations, safety Jim Leonhard, who also was a Ravens teammate of Mason’s for a year, thought that “potentially” the transaction could have a message for the rest of the Jets.

“I played an entire season with Mace. I know what kind of warrior he is. I saw him playing with one arm,” Leonhard said. “For them to trade him, they knew what they wanted to do and Rex knew what he wanted to do. That’s what he’s all about. He wants to win football games. You can say whatever else you want about him, but he’s a competitor and he wants to win. So to make a move like this, he felt like it was going to make our football team better.”

But WR Plaxico Burress saw the trade not as a wakeup call, at least not to him.

“It’s not the first time that it’s happened,” Burress said. “I’ve been around this business for a long time and I’ve seen some of the best come and go. And we’ll keep on playing football.”

Ropati with Relish

Ropati Pitoitua is all about the team. But three days after wrapping up Tom Brady in the Patriots’ backfield, he was still accepting congratulations for his first career sack.

“It was exciting — very exciting,” Pitoitua said. “Now I want to get some more. That’s the plan. It’s very contagious.”

But he’s addicted in a good way. More sacks in moderation with the continued growth of his pro career.

“My main goal is just to get better, to help the team, whatever it is,” he said. “Getting sacks, stopping the run, whatever I can do.”

Those are a few of the things Ropati and his mates can do to make new Dolphins starting QB Matt Moore miserable in the pocket on Monday night. That is, if Pitoitua knee allows. He twisted it during the first-quarter sack. He and C Nick Mangold (ankle) didn’t participate in today’s practice, but Ryan said both players “seem to be doing pretty well.”

Rex Cetera

NT Martin Tevaseu was signed from the practice squad to the active roster, the announcement made late this afternoon. … Tannenbaum said both WR Michael Campbell and S Tracy Wilson have been signed to the practice squad. … CB Ellis Lankster’s re-signing to the active roster was reported Tuesday. … Ryan said CB Isaiah Trufant (hamstring) isn’t expected to be available for the Dolphins.

Balanced Pats Attack Too Much for Jets

The Jets defense had a number of good moments Sunday against the Patriots, but Tom Brady and the hosts still managed to amass 446 yards and score 30 points in their victory at Gillette Stadium. And after the visitors closed the gap to 27-21 with 7:14 remaining, the defense couldn’t get off the field.

Brady was sacked four times and Antonio Cromartie was on the receiving end of the first home red zone interception of the future Hall of Famer’s career. Despite solid coverage on many plays, Brady threw for 321 yards and one touchdown. The Pats showcased a balance they didn’t have last season, getting 136 yards and two TDs from BenJarvus Green-Ellis and totaling 152 yards on the ground.

“We’ve got to stop with the mental mistakes, from the D-line to the linebackers to the secondary,” said CB Darrelle Revis, a defensive captain. “We’ve got to tighten those things down.”

Wes Welker’s 32-yard reception down the middle got the Pats going in the first and then they turned to the run as Green-Ellis ripped off three consecutive 8-yard runs before going in from 3 yards to open the scoring.

A pair of penalties — an unnecessary roughness infraction on Nick Bellore following a punt and an illegal contact third-down flag on Kyle Wilson — allowed the Pats to tack on a field goal in the second stanza after an 18-yard drive.

“That’s an excellent football team and we’ve got to be smarter,” said head coach Rex Ryan. “We have got to play smarter. You know if you make mistakes against that football team, they burn you. I mean they absolutely kill you. And they don’t need any help, you know, with the offense they have.”

After 12 first downs and 192 yards of total offense in the first half, the Pats went to intermission with only 10 points. Brady had the Pats deep inside Jets territory in the final seconds and threw a solid pass that TE Aaron Hernandez couldn’t handle. Cromartie happily picked the ball out of the air and the Green & White escaped trouble.

DT Ropati Pitoitua and LBs Jamaal Westerman and David Harris each had first-half sacks, but a Revis holding penalty took a Donald Strickland takedown of Brady off the board.

The Pats were able to put up 20 points in the second half and Welker (five receptions, 124 yards) got them started again. He took an inside route on Revis and kept on going vertical past S Eric Smith in the process. Brady delivered and Welker went for 73.

“It kind of looked like one of those I-got-him-you-take-him’s. Obviously in that defense, you know, we expect the runner to take a shot, but we never had anybody deep,” Ryan said. “I mean, that’s obvious to everybody in here.”

“I was on him a couple of times and a couple of other people were also on him,” said Revis of Welker. “We were just trying to give them a mixture of things. He made a couple of great plays today, especially with the big one. It was like he was going across the field and got us on a double move and he was gone up the field.”

Another red zone takeaway was nullified when replay officials ruled Deion Branch was down by contact after a catch instead of a fumble recovery for the Jets. That set up Brady to a wide-open Branch for a 2-yard score. It was Brady’s 257th TD of his career, tying former Jets QB Vinny Testaverde for eighth place all-time.

Following consecutive three-and-outs and with the score 17-14, Brady got the Pats’ next scoring drive going with a 17-yard toss to Rob Gronkowski on third-and-13. An 11-play, 77-yard possession was culminated on another Green-Ellis 3-yard run and it was 24-14. The Patriots converted seven of 14 on third down today against a defense that entered Week 5 tied for first in the NFL on third-down conversions at 26 percent.

Welker’s 25-yard punt return late in the third set up the Pats at the Jets 25, but the defense stiffened and held the Patriots to another field goal. After the Jets cut the lead to just 27-21 with 7:19 left, the defense broke and Green-Ellis did most of the damage with 10 carries for 59 yards on an agonizing final possession. A direct snap to “the Law Firm” on third-and-4 from the Jets 46 resulted in a 14-yard gain and it really was the backbreaker.

“The defense at the end, we have to get off the field,” said DT Mike DeVito. “We know that.”

“We didn’t do a good job of winning our one-on-one battles,” Cromartie said.

Westerman, who started in place of Bryan Thomas, had two sacks of Brady. But a third straight defeat overall did not sit well with anyone.

“It felt good at the time,” he said of those two sacks. “But when the clock struck zeroes at the end of the game, all that good feeling kind of disappeared.”

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.”

Prep for the Pats: Today’s Practice ‘Crisp,’ ‘Sharp’

Most reporters and fans, even players and coaches, are human, and it is human to erroneously assume that coincidence equals causality.

Still, there was last week’s final Jets practice before playing Baltimore …

“I tell it the way it is,” head coach Rex Ryan recalled at today’s news conference. “Last week we said we had a poor practice on Friday with the offense. And we had a poor game.”

But the reason Rex brought that sore subject up again this week was for the purpose of comparison. ”We had a great practice today,” he said. “Very, very few mental mistakes. Guys were bouncing around. We just looked crisp, we looked sharp out there. Great communication.

“You can tell by the way we hit the practice field today that we’re ready to play.”

That’s a good thing because as everyone around these green and white parts knows, this week is Patriots week. Nothing less than the Jets’ best will do at Gillette Stadium on Sunday, and even their very best might not be enough.

But a great practice week can be one big piece to a victory puzzle involving the Jets’ biggest rival.

“Going into New England, you definitely want to be going in with a feeling of comfort and confidence in everything you’re doing,” said guard Brandon Moore in the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center locker room. “You don’t want any question marks going in there because they’re a good team and they’re coached by a good coach.”

Safety Brodney Pool, happy to accept congratulations for his first half-sack of the season on Sunday night (he has 5.5 for his seven-year career, also wasn’t about to dispute the premise that great practices help optimize game performances.

“Practice is huge this week,” Pool said. “We want to get back on the winning track. It’s a division game. We don’t want to be behind these guys. This week we’ve just hunkered down with all the [defensive] calls, everybody’s been getting extra film in, and out on the field during practice, the way guys are moving around, it’s just crazy, man. It’s how you want it to be.”

Yet how many times did the Jets have what they felt was an impeccable set of Pats Week practices, only to come up short against Tom Brady & Co. on Sunday? And as good as this week may turn out to be, can it overcome the trends the Jets reluctantly set in the road losses at Oakland and Baltimore?

Yet as Ryan argued, he’ll sign up for the good week and take his chances with his guys on Sunday.

“If you go out during the week studying tape and practicing to the best of your ability, in this league it doesn’t guarantee you a victory. But if you don’t do it, it almost guarantees you a defeat,” he said. “We obviously have to be a lot better than we were the last two weeks. Going against the Patriots, if we’re not at our best, we won’t win this game. We have to be at our best and then well see. I feel confident we will win.”

Injury Watch

The Jets’ injury report was improved today over Wednesday as WR Plaxico Burress (elbow) was a full participant in team drills, LB Calvin Pace (abdomen) was limited, and rookie DL Muhammad Wilkerson (shoulder) went from limited to full. LB Garrett McIntyre (concussion) remained DNP. “It’s probably real questionable about McIntyre,” said Ryan. “I think everybody else will be ready to roll.”

For the Patriots, three players who didn’t participate in Wednesday’s team drills were limited in today’s team work — DL Albert Haynesworth, TE Aaron Hernandez and DL Mike Wright. That made it 11 players in all who were limited. Four remained out of team drills for a second day — LB Jerod Mayo, T Sebastian Vollmer, RB Danny Woodhead and WR Julian Edelman.

A Whirl Around the AFC East After 3 Weeks

“We’ve got to find a way to win our division.”

That was the decree from Jets head coach Rex Ryan more than seven months ago in Indianapolis. That statement kind of got lost that cold day at the annual NFL Combine because Ryan also guaranteed a Super Bowl win in 2011, but the Green & White know their best shot at getting to America’s Heartland in February is to win the AFC East.

The Patriots are two-time defending division champs, finishing 10-6 in 2009 and 14-2 in ’10. After taking three of five contests (including a 28-21 triumph at Foxboro in the AFC Divisional Round last January) against Bill Belichick and the Pats, Ryan issued a challenge to the rest of the league when training camp commenced in August.

“I think we have to find somebody out there to beat New England besides us, and I think that would help,” he said. “Anybody out there that wants to sign up for it? Are you good enough as a team to beat the New England Patriots? Forget about us, are you good enough to go out and beat the New England Patriots? I’m challenging the league.”

The Bills proved good enough to beat the Patriots — at least on Sept. 25 in Orchard Park, N.Y. — as they came from behind for their heartstopping 34-31 win. Last Sunday was an odd day in the division as the Jets would go on to drop a 34-24 decision in Oakland, marking the first time both of the division’s top dogs have lost on the same weekend since Nov. 15, 2009.

While Buffalo’s 3-0 start has been most impressive, it is way too early to make this a three-horse race. Meanwhile, the Dolphins are stuck in last place at 0-3 and they’ve already given themselves little wiggle room if they want to be in contention come December.

Let’s take a spin around the division.

BUFFALO BILLS (3-0)

Offense: 3rd overall (4th rush, 11th pass)

Defense: 26th overall (24th rush, 24th pass)

Reasons for Hope: This offensive explosion has been extraordinary. The Bills are averaging 37.7 points, 431 yards and 155 rushing yards per contest, which ranks first, third and fourth, respectively, in the league. Ryan Fitzpatrick is completing 65 percent of his passes while Fred Jackson is averaging 101 yards per game and 6.4 yards a carry. They have repeatedly spread teams out, helping a line that entered the season a huge question mark, and let Fitzy survey the field, or pounded away with Jackson. Both Stevie Johnson and David Nelson have 20 catches and even Donald Jones is coming off a 100-yard receiving effort. Belief is a funny thing and the Bills just became the first team ever to come back from 18-points-plus deficits to win in consecutive weeks.

Reasons for Concern: The lights are still out for Shawne Merriman because the Bills rank dead last in sacks with two. The team is a plus-5 in the turnover department and the DBs made a quartet of interceptions against Tom Brady, but they are thin at CB as veteran Terrence McGee (hamstring) and rookie CB Aaron Williams (collarbone) are both out with injuries. Can this defense get better because there is probably no way the offense can stay this hot? But you should take the Bills seriously because the upcoming schedule appears manageable.

Next Four Foes: @ CIN, vs. PHI, @ NYG, Bye, vs. WAS (Toronto)

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS (2-1)

Offense: 1st overall (13th rush, 1st pass)

Defense: 32nd overall (10th rush, 32nd pass)

Reasons for Hope: Losing early to a division rival, on the road, is commonplace for the Pats. Before they blew the 21-0 lead at Buffalo, the Pats lost in Week 2 to the Jets in both ’09 and ’10. Brady has been tremendous, completing 70 percent of his passes for 1,327 yards with 11 TDs and a 113.8 passer rating. Wes Welker not only has a ridiculous 31 receptions but he’s averaging 14.8 yards a catch and has scored four times. Tight end Rob Gronkowski has been phenomenal in his own right, averaging 16.5 yards a reception and scoring five times.

Reasons for Concern: Is it fair to criticize anything offensively? After all, when will Brady toss four interceptions in a game next? Don’t be fooled by the Pats’ solid rush ranking — they don’t scare you on the ground and the lack of balance could be a concern. BenJarvus Green-Ellis and former Jets back Danny Woodhead combined for just 37 yards on 15 carries in the loss to the Bills.

But the primary reason for concern obviously is the defense. Ranked dead last overall, the Pats don’t get consistent pressure and the secondary and linebackers have been torn up in coverage. Devin McCourty, the Rutgers product who had seven interceptions his rookie season, has really struggled. Sure, the Pats played without four defensive regulars — S Patrick Chung, rookie CB Ras-I Dowling and DTs Albert Haynesworth and Mike Wright — in western New York, but there are a ton of question marks. You would expect to see improvement on this side during the year, but have the Pats become the Indianapolis Colts? Fascinating couple of weeks ahead for the Men of Belichick starting on the coast in Oakland and then coming home for the showdown with the Jets.

Next Four Foes: @ OAK, vs. NYJ, vs. DAL, Bye, @ PIT

MIAMI DOLPHINS (0-3)

Offense: 12th overall (7th rush, t-14th pass)

Defense: 30th overall (16 rush, 30th pass)

Reasons for Hope: Rookie back Daniel Thomas, a Kansas State product, is making a strong case to be the Dolphins’ No. 1 running back as his 41 carries, 202 yards and 4.9 average far outpace Reggie Bush’s 27-69-2.6. The Dolphins are seventh in rushing, picking up 129.7 yards a game in their winless start. Wideout Brandon Marshall has been solid with 17 receptions and a 15.4-yard average.

Reasons for Concern: Chad Henne has been sacked 11 times and he’s completing just 56.5 percent of his passes. The offense has moved the ball but has struggled in the red zone and is averaging just 17.7 points per contest (27th in the NFL). Wasn’t this defense supposed to be better? A month ago, Vontae Davis said he and Sean Smith were the best corner tandem in the league, but teams aren’t having difficulty finding holes in the secondary. Many in the media have also questioned whether the Dolphins might make a coaching move and replace Tony Sparano if they lose this week at San Diego.

Next Four Foes: @ SD, Bye, @ NYJ, vs. DEN, @ NYG

Vrabel Retirement Spurs ’05 Holiday Memories

The one-line transaction this morning read:

LB Mike Vrabel announced his retirement to become linebackers coach at Ohio State.

And Jets fans might be tempted to say “good riddance.”

All in jest, of course. But green-clad fanatics were none too jovial about the present they received on the 13th day of Christmas in 2005, when Vrabel, then a versatile starting linebacker for the Patriots, turned into an offensive red zone monster against the Jets in that Dec. 26 Monday night affair.

Lining up at tight end, Vrabel caught a pair of touchdown passes from Tom Brady. His first, 9:33 into the game, put New England ahead, 7-0. His second gave the Pats a 14-7 lead they never lost in their 31-21 win over the Jets.

Not surprisingly, no other primarily defensive player has ever scored two offensive touchdowns in his entire career against the Jets. And Vrabel turned in his two in a span of 14:22 in the first half, a nice set of bookends to go with his team-high six tackles and one sack of Jets starter Brooks Bollinger that night.

The game was oddly historic in Jets and NFL history for a few other reasons. As many will remember, it was the last Monday Night Football telecast by ABC before handing that franchise over to ESPN in 2006. Talk about your bookends — ABC debuted MNF when the Jets and Joe Namath took on and lost to the Browns, also by 31-21, back on Sept. 21, 1970.

Then there was Vinny Testaverde’s contribution to the evening. Vinny famously climbed off his Long Island couch for a classic return as the Jets starter after the season-ending injuries to Chad Pennington and Jay Fiedler and provided some early highlights, but soon he was showing his age, suffered a ding or two himself, and had settled back on the depth chart as Bollinger showed a little late promise.

Which caused some eyebrows to arch when coach Herm Edwards said Testaverde would see some action in the final two games of the Jets’ 4-12 campaign. “I think it’s important,” Coach Herm said at the time, “for a lot of reasons.”

One reason was for the record books. If Testaverde, who had thrown no TDs that season, found just one receiver for a score, he’d hold the mark for the most consecutive seasons with a touchdown pass in NFL history. He was tied at the time at 18 straight seasons with Fran Tarkenton (1961-78).

“Just Herm mentioning it says a lot,” Testaverde said during the week of the PT offer. “I’d love to get in there, don’t get me wrong. But if it doesn’t happen, I’m OK with that, too.”

It did happen. No. 16 came back on the field for the Green & White’s final series, and with 2:10 left, on his final play as a Jet, Testaverde hooked up with Laveranues Coles from 27 yards to set the record at 19 straight seasons. (Which he then extended to 21 seasons with one TD pass for the Patriots in ’06 and five for the Panthers in ’07.)

Back to Vrabel, who triggered this funky trip down memory lane. He played 17 games against the Jets as a Patriot from 2001-08 (just one with the Steelers in ’00 and none with the Chiefs in ’09-10). In those games, he had 81 tackles, 7.5 sacks, one interception and two forced fumbles, and the Pats went 13-4 against the Jets. Thus we impersonate Michael Kay and say to Vrabel, “See Ya!”

But if he can coach up a ‘backer or two at The Ohio State University that can help the Jets out in the coming years, well, all will be forgiven. Good luck, Mike.

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?