EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- During the third quarter of their team's back-up-the-smack-talk victory over the New England Patriots on Sunday, Marques Douglas turned to fellow defensive tackle Kris Jenkins on the New York Jets' sidelines and said, "Hey, this young guy has something."
Douglas was talking about Mark Sanchez, the rookie quarterback who had just made a couple of big throws that helped put the Jets in front not only for the first time in the game but for the first time since 2001 at the Meadowlands against New England.
"If we can give him more plays on offense," Douglas told Jenkins, "he's going to be successful."
The defense did its part, blitzing the Patriots into submission and flustering Tom Brady. Sanchez did his part, completing just enough passes and performing with just enough efficiency (save for that fumble while being sacked on his first play from scrimmage) to complement that strong defensive effort.
And the Jets -- whose bold and brash new coach Rex Ryan had talked about not kissing any of those three PatriotsSuper Bowl rings and fueled additional bulletin-board chatter from his players -- found themselves as the lone undefeated team in the AFC East. If the Buffalo Bills hadn't exposed the Pats' vulnerability by pushing them to the brink in a one-point loss last Monday night, the Jets certainly did with their 16-9 victory over the team they hadn't beaten in eight previous games here and was widely regarded as a favorite to win a fourth Vince Lombardi Trophy.
Welcome to the new world order of the AFC East.
Ryan set the tone when he arrived here with the blitz-happy scheme that worked so well when he was defensive coordinator of the Baltimore Ravens. The fact he also brought along some key components to that defense -- such as linebacker Bart Scott, safety Jim Leonhard, and Douglas -- also has gone a long way toward allowing the Jets to go through two games without allowing a touchdown.
Ryan's defense is an embodiment of his personality, which was reflected in the brash remarks he made when the Jets hired him four months ago. More than trying to rile up the Patriots, the intention was to challenge his own players. Then, in the days leading up to the game, safety Kerry Rhodes decided to amp things up even more by saying that the Jets didn't merely want to beat the Patriots, they were out to "embarrass" them.
The prevailing thought around the NFL was that Ryan and Rhodes might have written checks with their mouths that the rest of the club wouldn't be able to cash with its performance. But Richardson didn't see it that way, even after Ryan got in one more tweaking of the Pats' collective nose by trotting out three former New England players -- including quarterback Kevin O'Connell, who wasn't even active -- as honorary captains for the coin toss. (The Jets had acquired O'Connell, who had been with the Patriots through the summer, in a trade with Detroit in order to pick his brain about the Pats' offense.)
"(Ryan) said, 'Guys, the reason why I feel like I can say what I say is because I have confidence in you guys, I know how you guys prepare,'" Richardson said. "The bottom line is you can say all you want, but you've got to go out and play the game. And the fact that he had that much confidence in us makes us want to go out and play that much harder."
Ryan actually did more to challenge his defensive players by making them learn some tweaks and variations to his defensive scheme, all specially designed to stonewall the Patriots, on Wednesday. He and the rest of the defensive coaches drilled them on where Brady would likely throw the ball on third down and how they needed to respond. Ryan told them, over and over, "Don't be the reason why we lose the game!"
Instead, they were a large part of the reason the Jets won. While running a no-huddle attack that was supposed to minimize the Jets' ability to change defensive personnel and wear down their defense, Brady and the rest of the Pats' offense were the ones who looked befuddled. Brady was so flustered that he drew three delay-of-game penalties, including two in a row that helped stall a drive in the third quarter, after the Jets had taken a 13-9 lead.
The Jets never got a sack, but they consistently made Brady uncomfortable, forcing him to throw off-balance and on the run (which has never been one of his strengths and is even less of one since he underwent major knee surgery last year). The most important stat was this: In three trips to the red zone, the Patriots came away with zero touchdowns.
Still, when the Patriots, trailing by a touchdown, got the ball at their 10-yard line with 1:48 left, there were definite thoughts throughout Giants Stadium of a repeat of Brady miraculously rallying his team from an 11-point deficit to beat Buffalo. Brady has had too many late miracles for the Jets to feel comfortable. And after completing an 18-yard pass to rookie receiver Julian Edelman, taking over for injured Wes Welker, those fears intensified.
"Y'all were just expecting, 'OK, two minutes, Brady time! March down the field, (score a touchdown), go for two, (Bill) Belichick and everybody (on the Patriots' sideline raising their arms triumphantly),'" Scott said. "(Jets fans were hoping) maybe the time will run out. No. Maybe we'll stop them four times and tell them to warm up the buses."
The Jets didn't stop them by going into the maddening "prevent" mode. They stopped them by continually blitzing Brady and forcing him into poor throws. Four plays later, the game was over.
"To make this a habit, we've got to continue to practice, we've got to continue to know each other so we can go out there and make things happen, make coverages up on the fly," Scott said. "Sometimes things don't always work the way (we plan them). A couple of plays, we weren't in the right spot, but ... we were able to communicate non-verbally (to make corrections). That's stuff that teams can't scheme for. They can know what we're doing, but they don't know how we improvise.
"That's the beauty of this defense. Rex gives us a bunch of tools and he says, 'You use them. I'm not going to tell you when to use them, but use them.'"
Besides continuing to play lights-out defense, the Jets also need to continue to get the veteran-like quarterbacking that Sanchez has provided. He only threw for 163 yards against the Patriots, but he had an impressive touchdown connection with tight end Dustin Keller in the back of the end zone and came close to a second score that was foiled by Chansi Stuckey's inability to get two feet down in the end zone. Since becoming the Patriots' coach, Belichick had feasted on rookie quarterbacks, beating five of six. Now, it's five of seven. Sanchez's passer rating was 101.1. Brady's was 53.1.
As a member of the Ravens last season, Douglas saw another rookie quarterback, Joe Flacco, show a remarkably high level of confidence and poise. He sees similar traits in Sanchez.
"(Facing the Patriots) didn't faze him," Douglas said. "I mean, you're looking at guys like Adalius Thomas and one of the best-schemed defenses in the league, and he didn't flinch. It's kind of like he's been here before. I don't know whether the program at USC was that good, but it makes you feel good knowing you've got a quarterback who just remains calm."
