There is the quick update of the day.

There is the quick update of the day.

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP)—The New York Jets know they’re going to have their
hands full with Michael Vick.

That is, if they can get a hand on the elusive Philadelphia Eagles
quarterback Sunday.

“You can’t stop him alone,” nose tackle Sione Pouha said. “There’s no one
person that can just match up with him.”

Vick returned last week from broken ribs, but wasn’t 100 percent in the
Eagles’ 26-10 win at Miami. Still, the Jets expect Vick, still dealing with sore
ribs, to provide a tough test. Mobile quarterbacks have given the Jets fits this
season by slipping out of pressure, and now they’re facing perhaps the NFL’s
best ever at creating plays out of nothing with his legs.

“You just have to make sure that everyone assumes the responsibility of
getting him down,” linebacker Bart Scott said. “He’s a playmaker who can keep
plays alive and he has the uncanny ability, with his strong arm, to throw the
ball across his body and across the field with just a flick of the wrist.”

Coach Rex Ryan even had a few speedy defensive backs simulate Vick’s running
skills to get the defensive linemen prepared for what they’ll see at
Philadelphia. Isaiah Trufant and newly signed Gerald Alexander were out there on
the practice field, zipping around in the backfield and trying to make guys
miss.

“They had to chase me around a little bit, so I was giving them a little
bit of the run-around,” Trufant said with a big laugh. “It gave them an early
look of what to expect and what we will get from Michael Vick. When he’s moving
around back there in the pocket, he’s hard to contain.”

And, judging from his teammates’ comments, Trufant was doing a pretty good
job being Vick.

“Slow down,” Trufant said they told him. “Stop!”

If it were only as simple as that against Vick, though. The Eagles (5-8) are
holding on to slim playoff hopes, so Vick will surely be motivated to do
whatever he can to keep them going. Despite missing three games because of the
rib injury, Vick has rushed for 544 yards—second to only Carolina’s Cam Newton
among NFL quarterbacks.

“There are times you understand he’s going to get out,” defensive
coordinator Mike Pettine said. “That’s where the challenge really starts, and
you have to prepare for it. You have to practice it. So, coverage-wise, the guys
in the back end know that they have to plaster, latch on to their receivers and
cover for a lot longer than normal.”

Linebacker David Harris says there is some danger in focusing too much on
Vick because he has so many options with running back LeSean McCoy and speedy
receivers DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin, and sure-handed tight end Brent
Celek.

“If you worry (about) him running, you might lose track of one of those
fast wide receivers getting downfield,” Harris said. “DeSean Jackson and
Jeremy Maclin have been thriving off of that, so you just have to play
all-around good defense. They’re one of the top rushing teams in the league and
everybody knows what type of athletes they have on that side of the ball, so we
have to go out there and do our thing.”

As long as they don’t repeat some of their previous performances against
some of the league’s other elusive quarterbacks. Denver’s Tim Tebow might be the
best example, running for 68 yards against them—including a 20-yard dash for
the winning score last month—and being sacked just once.

“Tebow has more called quarterback runs, but they’ve done some with Vick,”
Pettine said. “I don’t know how many we’ll get now that he’s a little banged
up. I would say Tebow’s a little more like (Ben) Roethlisberger in the style of
running where it’s hard to bring them down. It’s hard to bring Vick down, but he
makes guys miss a lot more. He’s like a wideout in open space where
Roethlisberger and Tebow are more like fullbacks.”

Blitzing Vick is almost a no-no because of the way he can side-step a
rushing linebacker or defensive back, and then take off.

“It takes all 11 guys,” Pouha said. “And, I promise you, he’ll make three
or four of you miss. That’s why you’ve got to make sure that you’ve got the
other seven or eight guys right behind you. It’s all about pursuit and being
around the ball. I think that’s how you do it, just swarm the ball.”

Ryan has previously coached against Vick twice in the regular season, both
when he was an assistant in Baltimore and the quarterback was still with the
Atlanta Falcons. Vick was 11 of 21 for 127 yards and a touchdown, while running
six times for 54 yards in a 24-10 loss in 2006. He was 12 of 24 for 136 yards
and an interception, and was held to minus-5 yards rushing on seven carries in a
20-17 win in 2002.

“We’ve done OK against him in the past,” Ryan said. “But, again, you’re
never going to be comfortable until the bus is heading home and the game’s over.
He’s a scary athlete.”

There is the quick update of the day.

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. – Slow starts are a thing of the past for the suddenly clicking New York Jets.

Remember those brutally boring first quarters when they couldn’t get much going? Well, those are so four weeks ago.

Mark Sanchez and the once-struggling offense have become an efficient group that has gotten on the scoreboard early and often during the Jets’ three-game winning streak.

“I think we’re all just playing a lot better across the board,” Sanchez said.

And they’ve done it against some pretty good defenses. Here comes another one this Sunday: the Eagles, who are coming off a nine-sack performance against Miami and playing for their playoff lives in a season that has been filled with inconsistencies.

“It sounds awfully familiar to another team I know,” center Nick Mangold said with a slight grin.

Big things were expected from the Jets offense this season, particularly in the passing game with Santonio Holmes and Plaxico Burress. Instead, there were a few impressive spurts scattered throughout an early portion of a season marked mainly by spotty play by Sanchez, the offensive line, the running game, and the receivers.

New York is ranked 25th in overall offense, but the Jets are in a real groove offensively. They have 13 touchdowns in the last three games, which ties them with New Orleans, New England, and Green Bay – the top-ranked three offenses in the league – for the most in the NFL during that span.

“I don’t think our practices were quite as sharp as they’ve been lately, and I think that carries over to the game,” coach Rex Ryan said. “I think you see right now our team is feeling pretty good about themselves.”

It all started in the fourth quarter against Buffalo in Week 12, when Sanchez led the Jets to a 28-24, comeback victory over the Bills with a touchdown pass to Holmes with just over a minute left. New York followed that by scoring on its first possession against Washington and then dominating the Redskins in the fourth quarter with three touchdowns in less than five minutes for a 34-19 win.

Last Sunday against the Chiefs, the Jets rebounded from an embarrassing timeout on their first play from scrimmage by again scoring a touchdown on their first possession, and kept going while cruising to a 37-10 victory. While no one might confuse this offense for those of the Saints, Patriots, or Packers right now, it certainly has become a force during the team’s streak.

“I think hopefully we’re just starting to hit our stride, and we’re not there yet,” Sanchez said.

“I think you’re seeing, for the most part, consistent play out of the offense,” right guard Brandon Moore said. “It’s . . . coming to fruition.

That’s all for today guys, i’ll be back to blog you tomorrow.

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP)—Shonn Greene had no idea what was wrong. He just
knew this wasn’t what he expected.

The yards were tough to come by for the New York Jets’ starting running back
earlier this season as the entire offense got off to a sluggish start. But this
was his big chance after sitting behind Thomas Jones and then LaDainian
Tomlinson his first two years.

And, he thought, there was no way he was going to blow it.

“I’ve pointed the finger at myself this year,” Greene told The Associated
Press on Friday. “There were times where I was like, `Man, I need to do better.
I need to do this and that much better.’ I’d stay after practice every day and
watch film and try to figure what was going on.”

Well, for one, he wasn’t getting the ball much. And when he was, he wasn’t
doing much with it.

Greene averaged less than 13 carries and 40 yards in the Jets’ first four
games as Rex Ryan and Brian Schottenheimer focused more on the passing game with
Mark Sanchez, Plaxico Burress and Santonio Holmes. After two seasons as a solid
backup, though, Greene was doing little to distinguish himself as the undisputed
starting running back—“the bell cow,” as Ryan called him.

“I think the toughest thing was just trying to get the running game going,
trying to get it started,” said Greene, coming off a career-high
three-touchdown performance at Washington last Sunday. “When you’re the
starting running back, you’re going to get frustrated when things aren’t going
your way. So, that was probably the toughest part.”

Through it all, Greene has 739 yards rushing, just 28 from topping his
career high set last season with four games to go.

“Really?” Greene said, his eyes widening. “Wow, I guess that’s true.”

Not bad for a season that had such an ominous start.

Greene was aware of all the expectations people had for him, and he had the
same hopes. But there was a domino effect working against him. The Jets were
enamored with their passing game, the offensive line wasn’t playing up to its
usual high level, All-Pro center Nick Mangold was injured and Greene couldn’t
perform consistently.

So, doubts started seeping in from fans and media wondering if he was really
capable of being a starting back in the NFL, or merely a complementary player.

“I don’t look into any of that stuff at all and I don’t listen to it,” he
said. “There are a lot of people on the outside looking in that say this, that
and the other. But, you know what? We’re all family in here. We know what we’ve
got and who’s capable of what. So, if they didn’t think I was capable of doing
the job, I wouldn’t be here.”

As difficult as it was, Greene stayed positive, leaning on Tomlinson, among
others.

“L.T. has rushed for a lot of yards in his career and had a few years where
things didn’t go quite his way or not as well as he wanted, like in his last
year in San Diego,” Greene said. “He was just like everybody else, though,
telling me, `Hey, be patient.”’

The Jets went back to the run-first approach on offense in Week 5 against
New England, Mangold returned from a sprained ankle to anchor the offensive
line, and Greene has gradually become a force on the ground again.

“It’s been a thing where not just Shonn, but the offensive line has done a
great job of continuing to work on their skills and opening up the holes,”
fullback John Conner said. “Shonn has been really patient, though. He has been
practicing hard and just being him, running the ball hard.”

Despite playing with injured ribs that limited him to three carries at
Denver three weeks ago, Greene ran for 88 yards and the three scores on a
season-high 22 carries last Sunday.

“That was impressive,” Ryan said. “We’ll sign up for that each week.”

For Greene, it felt like old times.

“Man, that game was just like it was when I first got here and my first two
years, like it’s supposed to be here, you know, `Ground-and-Pound,’ right?” he
said. “It’s getting there. We’re working on it, and we’re getting better each
game.”

The first score last Sunday came on a 1-yard run in the opening quarter as
he lowered his shoulders and get across the goal line. The second came in the
fourth quarter when he took a direct snap, waited a split-second for the
blocking and then went up the middle for 9 yards.

“It’s patience to the hole, we call it, and then speed through the hole,”
Schottenheimer said. “You have to be patient getting to the sprint spot. Then,
once it opens, you have to accelerate through it. It was just a terrific run.”

The third was a 25-yard sprint that sealed the 34-19 victory. Greene
celebrated by simply tossing the ball to Mangold and then hugging his teammates.

“Oh, man, it was great,” Greene said. “I’m telling you, it was just a
great feeling. I had only two touchdowns all year, so it was so good to get in
there. Just a good overall win. I was excited, definitely fired up. I’m not even
going to lie about that. I was happy, man.”

His ribs are still sore, but he doesn’t care about any of that. Greene also
isn’t concerned that he has only one game over 100 yards rushing this season:
112 against San Diego in Week 7. The Jets are in the middle of a playoff race,
and he’s a big reason—again.

“Stats and all that, none of that really ever gets to me,” he said.
“Seriously, I just want to win games. With each game, we’re progressing in the
run game. Hopefully we can keep the momentum going that we have now and by the
end of the season, we’ll be exactly where we want to be.”

Notes: WR Plaxico Burress says the Jets have what it takes to be a playoff
team. “No doubt about it,” he said. “I think we’re one of those teams
nobody’s going to pay attention to.” … Tomlinson entered the locker room to
one player blasting his “LT Style Electric Glide” song from his days with the
Chargers. A good sport, Tomlinson laughed and then gave his teammates a brief
demonstration of the moves from the song’s video, which was a YouTube sensation.

What are your opinions.

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) — Rex Ryan wants his defense to be feared every time it steps on the field.

That has always been the New York Jets coach’s philosophy: Play the meanest, most physical and aggressive group of guys you can and dare offenses to beat you.

“If you look at yourself that way, as soon as you get the lead, game over,” Ryan said. “That has to be the mentality.”

He watched defenses dominate that way back when he was with the Baltimore Ravens, particularly the 2000 Ravens team that won the Super Bowl. The Jets also had some elite-type moments in each of Ryan’s first two years in New York.

New York is ranked seventh overall in defense this season, but has been far from dominant.

“Are we there yet?” Ryan said. “No, we’re not there yet.”

The best example of that was last Thursday night when the Jets stifled Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos for nearly 55 minutes. Then, it all fell apart as Tebow drove 95 yards for the winning touchdown, capped by his 20-yard run that came as the Jets sent an all-out blitz — its first of the game.

It was a critical error, one defensive coordinator Mike Pettine has taken full blame for. It was also a moment that showed the difference between a good defense and an elite one.

“That’s on me as a play caller, and that’s on our guys to be able to rise up in those critical situations,” Pettine said. “Most defenses, you’re going to have a drive like that a game. It can’t be the last one, and that’s something that we need to get fixed starting from the coaching part of it down to the execution and the players’ part of it.”

Even in 2009, the Jets had their moments of frustration, when they would allow teams to get back into games and, in some instances, win. Just as they did when they went to Miami and allowed the struggling Dolphins to drive down the field and pull out a 31-27 victory in the closing moments.

“It’s similar to that, like, ‘Hey, if we get the lead, I don’t care when they get the ball in the fourth quarter, you’ve got to close it out,” Ryan said.

That’s the expectation, and that goes for the players as well as they coaches.

“We’re still making a few mistakes that are hurting us in the end,” safety Eric Smith said.

New York’s defense was solid in the first two games of the season, wins over Dallas and Jacksonville, as well as closing out the victory over San Diego a month ago. Three weeks ago, the Jets stopped the Bills, one of the league’s most dynamic offenses at the time, and sent Buffalo’s season spiraling.

New York hasn’t won since, though, and the defense needs to step up and be dominant — especially with Mark Sanchez and the offense struggling a bit lately — again on Sunday against the Bills.

“We’re really confident,” defensive end Mike DeVito said. “I mean, we put together a great game (against Denver). We just didn’t finish, so we went back, looked at that and fixed that and now we’ll be ready to put a full game in on Sunday.”

Buffalo will be without injured running back Fred Jackson, who’ll be replaced by the speedy C.J. Spiller. That presents a different challenge for the Jets, who held Jackson to 82 harmless yards the last time the teams played.

“If we want to be elite, and I have been around some elite defenses in Baltimore and two years ago and we were close to it and not that far away from it last year, it’s the closing games part of it,” Pettine said. “As bad as the circumstances were (last) Thursday night, that was our game to win, defensively. That’s the inconsistency.”

A look at the numbers and one might think the Jets are indeed dominant, or at least close to it. They rank second in allowing third-down conversions, sixth in yards passing per game and seventh in total yards per game.

“I think we’ve been solid,” Pettine said. “But I also think there’s so much room for improvement. We’re young at some positions and I think we’ve had some inconsistencies, but I think statistically you look at us, I think there are a lot of teams around the league, you could ask: ‘Statistically, would you take this defense?’”

But as both Pettine and Ryan have pointed out, it doesn’t matter what the statistics say. It’s the play on the field and the numbers on the scoreboard that count in the end.

“Our standards are different,” Pettine said. “From what we’ve built and the reputation that we want to have and the standards that we compare ourselves to, we compare ourselves to our own.”

NOTES: While some players think the Jets must go 6-0 down the stretch to make the playoffs, Ryan thinks 5-1 might still be good enough. That’s even with three teams in the AFC North — Baltimore (8-3), Pittsburgh (7-3) and Cincinnati (6-4) — having better records than them. “I’m not afraid of any of those teams,” Ryan said. “There’s a couple of real good teams in there. Obviously, Baltimore and Pittsburgh, but beyond that, I’ll take our division over any of them.” … Ryan had “quite a few” people over his house for Thanksgiving dinner, which included his favorite side dish: green bean casserole. “Whew, the lap band was in trouble,” he said, laughing. “It got stretched out. I was stretching that bad boy out.”

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By DENNIS WASZAK Jr.
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — The New York Jets had a few agonizing days to replay their jaw-dropping loss to Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos in their minds.

It was tough to shake the frustration of the 17-13 defeat last Thursday, even with some time away from football. Then, the Jets re-lived it all Monday as they returned to work and trudged through the game film.

“I would’ve preferred to have watched it Friday and been done with it,” right guard Brandon Moore said, “and not torture yourself over the weekend.”

The Jets (5-5) are well aware they’ve played themselves into a precarious position with losses to New England and Denver in a span of five days. Just like that, they went from being considered by many as one of the AFC’s best teams to a team that will need to hustle to even make the postseason.

“I think everyone kind of feels like it’s now or never,” safety Jim Leonhard said. “We have to play well, and we have to play well now.”

New York has six games left to save its season, beginning Sunday with a home game against the struggling Buffalo Bills (5-5). Coach Rex Ryan said the postseason has already started because the Jets have run out of “breathing room.”

“In this game, you don’t have time to feel sorry for yourself,” linebacker Bart Scott said. “You have to move on, and you have to get ready to play. We dealt ourselves a bad hand, but we’re still in the game. And as long as you’re still in the game, you have to perform. This is a good opportunity for us to get on the right track and try to go on a roll, because we have to. We can’t afford to lose any more games.”

New York is in the middle of a muddled AFC playoff picture that includes 13 of 16 teams with as many as four wins. Even with gloom and doom being the overwhelming feeling among fans and the media, the Jets believe they can still turn things around.

“The good thing about this football team is everything we do is set up to get our team to be at their best at the end of the season, and here we are,” Ryan said. “We’ve earned that 5-5 record, but we’re focused on what’s in front of us. We better get it done. We better get it done in a hurry.”

At this time in 2009, the Jets were 4-6 and in the midst of a three-game skid. They finished 5-1 to reach the playoffs and make the first of their consecutive trips to the AFC title game. So New York has been through this before, but the players aren’t relying on history.

“I’m a firm believer that 2009 has no bearing on 2011,” Moore said. “That past, it won’t measure up. There are different teams that you’re going against. There are different players here. We just have to focus on winning this next game, and how it plays out over the next six games, who knows?”

The schedule is at least in the Jets’ favor, with just one team left that currently has a winning record. They’ve got the Bills, who have lost three in a row, followed by Washington (3-7), Kansas City (4-5 entering Monday night’s game at New England), Philadelphia (4-6), the Giants (6-4) and Miami (3-7).

All winnable games it appears, but the Jets’ loss at Denver proved that no team can be taken lightly. Not after Tebow drove the Broncos 95 yards on the winning drive in the closing minutes, capped by his 20-yard scramble that still had the Jets shaking their heads Monday.

“We expect to have a dominant defense for 60 minutes,” Ryan said, “not 58 minutes or whatever it was.”

Mistakes have punctuated the last two losses, from quarterback Mark Sanchez making poor decisions to the defense not making big stops to shut down opposing offenses to the usually solid special teams unit fumbling balls away. The offensive line also has been suspect, and the running game has been slow to get going.

“Sometimes we look like a million dollars, sometimes we look like $75,000,” Ryan said, poking fun at his NFL fine for yelling profanity at a fan at halftime of the Patriots game. “Sometimes, we look like nothing.”

The Jets players have heard it all during the last several days, whether it’s fans on the radio or Twitter or the media questioning whether this team has what it takes to make a playoff push.

“Fans and the media bash us, well, so be it,” rookie defensive lineman Muhammad Wilkerson said. “You’ve just got to put that aside and not worry about it. It can’t help us or hurt us. If you’re a true Jets fan, at the end of the day, you’re going to stick with us through thick and thin. So, we can’t focus on anyone bashing us. We just need to improve.”

Sounds simple enough. But the season depends on it.

“I just know,” an ever-confident Ryan said, “in my opinion, we have the kind of team that can get hot and can put it together.”

Notes: Plaxico Burress was excused from practice for “personal reasons,” with Ryan saying the wide receiver had personal days scheduled “a while ago” for Monday and Tuesday. ESPN reported that Burress is in the Virginia Beach area — he’s from there — taking care of “philanthropic business,” according to his wife, Tiffany. … Ryan expects RB LaDainian Tomlinson (left knee), RB Shonn Greene (ribs), WR Jeremy Kerley (left knee), S Brodney Pool (left knee) and LG Matt Slauson (right knee) to all play Sunday despite not participating in a light practice Monday.

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Thanks for reading! .

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP)—Rex Ryan’s mouth really cost him this time.

The brash New York Jets coach was fined $75,000 by the NFL for using
profanity while angrily responding to a fan at halftime of New York’s 37-16 loss
to New England last Sunday.

A 49-second video shot by a fan at MetLife Stadium shows the Jets walking
off the field and when Ryan appears, someone is heard yelling, “Hey, Rex,
Belichick is better than you,” referring to Patriots coach Bill Belichick. Ryan
looks up and tells the fan to “shut up” while also using an obscenity.

Ryan apologized a day later for what he called “a mistake,” saying he
“was full of emotion and just popped off.” Moments earlier, the Jets had just
allowed the Patriots to take a 13-9 lead into halftime. He added that he’s aware
that he represents the franchise and the league, but isn’t “perfect by any
stretch.”

“Sometimes,” he said, “my emotions get the best of me.”

It’s not the first time Ryan is in trouble because of his mouth, which
likely contributed to the hefty punishment. He was fined $50,000 by the Jets in
February 2010 after he was caught on a cellphone camera giving the middle finger
to a fan during a mixed martial arts event in Florida.

The Jets will not further discipline Ryan for the latest incident, saying it
was a game-related matter.

General manager Mike Tannenbaum said in a statement last week that he and
Ryan discussed what happened and the coach “knows that his behavior was not
acceptable.”

There is the quick update of the day.

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Rex Ryan’s mouth really cost him this time.

The brash New York Jets coach was fined $75,000 by the NFL for using profanity while angrily responding to a fan at halftime of New York’s 37-16 loss to New England last Sunday.

Feel free to leave your comments below.

NFL

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — The New York Jets have watched as much film as they can gather on Tim Tebow and still aren’t quite sure what to expect.

They know Denver’s quarterback will run a whole lot Thursday night in the Broncos’ unconventional option-style offense. But will he throw some, too? And, how much?

“You’re looking at formations or personnel groupings that tell you it’s going to be a pass, and it’s not with this group,” Jets coach Rex Ryan said Tuesday. “That’s a little different, but you better be sound and obviously assume he’s running with it.”

After spending last week preparing for New England’s Tom Brady, a quarterback they’ve had plenty of experience playing against, the Jets have only a few days to get ready for a player who’s a completely different type of opponent.

“You think of running quarterbacks, and most guys are a little more shifty and kind of got that make-you-miss (style),” safety Jim Leonhard said. “He’d rather run you over than run around you. It’s just different, a different mentality. He’s more like a fullback than a true tailback when he runs the football.”

Which is often. Tebow was just 2-of-8 passing for 69 yards in a 17-10 win at Kansas City last Sunday, but he ran for 43 yards on nine carries. The second-year quarterback has been criticized for not being an NFL-caliber passer, but he has won three of his four starts this season — mostly with his legs.

Tebow is 47-of-105 for 605 yards and seven TDs and just one interception, and is Denver’s second-leading rusher with 320 yards and two scores on only 48 carries.

Other Developments

Leinart takes Texans reins: Matt Leinart had a quick chat with Andre Johnson before leaving the Texans’ locker room on Tuesday to catch a flight home to Southern California.

When he returns next week, Leinart will have a first-place team to lead and Johnson should be healthy enough to help him.

Leinart will be the Texans’ starting QB in the first game after their bye, at Jacksonville on Nov. 27, because Matt Schaub is out indefinitely with what coach Gary Kubiak called a “significant” right foot injury.

“I’ve just got a job to do, be efficient and get the guys and this team in the right situation,” Leinart said. “I’m extremely bummed for Matt, just because of what he’s put into this organization and to get us to this point.”

Chiefs’ backup QB to start: Tyler Palko knows full well that the most popular guy in town is the backup quarterback. He’s the one every fan wants to see at the first sign of trouble, whose name floats across the airwaves whenever the starter is struggling.

Well, Palko has a chance to earn some of that popularity.

The Kansas City Chiefs’ backup has been thrust into the spotlight with Matt Cassel sidelined with a likely season-ending injury to his throwing hand. A journeyman once cut by a UFL team will make the first start of his career Monday night at New England.

“I don’t think you can play quarterback and really worry about stuff like that,” said Palko, who etched his name alongside Dan Marino’s in the record books during a standout college career at Pittsburgh.

Big Ben has fractured thumb: Ben Roethlisberger has an unexpected homework assignment during the Steelers’ bye week: protecting a fractured right thumb.

Roethlisberger injured the thumb on his throwing hand sometime during Pittsburgh’s 24-17 win over Cincinnati on Sunday. He’s not sure when it happened, only that he noticed it while coming out for the second half.

“It was hard to determine it on the sideline, but we did all the tests (Monday), and it’s fractured in there,” Roethlisberger said.

Roethlisberger didn’t miss a snap as the Steelers improved to 7-3.

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Published: Nov. 6, 2011 at 4:50 PM

If anybody needs tickets to games, remember to click the tickets link at the top.

By DENNIS WASZAK Jr.
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Rex Ryan and the New York Jets were eager to get back to their training facility.

And not only because it had working lights and running water.

The Jets (4-3) returned Monday from a six-day, bye-week break, capped for several players and coaches — including Ryan — by power outages as a result of the rare October snowstorm that blasted the Northeast on Saturday.

“I haven’t had power since 3 o’clock on Saturday,” safety Jim Leonhard said. “After that, the world kind of ended for me, just trying to get everything taken care of at home with the family.”

A few Jets players said they didn’t watch any NFL games Sunday because of the outages, while others acknowledged they wouldn’t have watched anyway as they tried to take a mental break from the game. After all, they said, they know exactly what’s in store for them.

New York is just a game behind both Buffalo and New England in the AFC East, with road games against each in the next two weeks.

“We know we put our backs against the wall, and we have to come out swinging,” Leonhard said. “We can’t come out flat. We have to play well for the next couple games and see what happens after that.”

The Jets are 0-2 in games immediately following the break under Ryan, and they take on a Bills team that has been surprisingly solid so far and is 4-0 at home.

“We have to do something about that trend,” Ryan said. “We need to win this week.”

Cornerback Darrelle Revis ramped things up even more, calling the game “a must win.”

It might seem to be a bit of an exaggeration to some, but this really is a crucial stretch for a team that looked lousy during a three-game road losing streak before showing marked signs of improvement before the bye with two wins in a row. If the Jets can beat the Bills and then the Patriots, they would suddenly be in the discussions about the elite teams in the AFC.

Two losses, and New York will again be in crisis mode with a third straight playoff trip an unlikely — but not impossible — scenario.

“Would we like to have had a better record? Absolutely, we would’ve, but we don’t,” Ryan said. “We’re 4-3, but we have it right in front of us. The teams you have to beat are right in front of us, so we’ll know. These next few weeks are going to be critical for us.”

Ryan has given the players six days off in the past during the break, but said his team is “ahead of the game” in its preparation for the Bills, tweaking its approach a bit from previous bye weeks. Ryan and his assistants spent more time before they also took a few days off to really get into the game plan against Buffalo, something they hadn’t done as thoroughly in the past two seasons.

The results were clear in the first practice of the week as Ryan said players “were flying around.” It was a good first sign that the momentum the Jets had built in their last two games hadn’t been slowed by the layoff.

“We just have to make sure that we come back and focus in and get back into a rhythm as quick as we can,” left guard Matt Slauson said. “I think that’s kind of where we were lacking over the last two years. Everybody gets away and kind of rests a little bit and you fall out of that rhythm. As far as today went, we were right in it, right in a groove, everything was going great. I’m really pleased.”

In Ryan’s first season, the Jets had their bye in Week 9 and returned with a 24-22 clunker at home against Jacksonville. The break came after Week 7 last year, and New York appeared rusty and sluggish in a 9-0 home loss to Green Bay.

“You can’t focus on the past coming off byes and losing,” Revis said. “It’s a new year and we’re in control of our destiny and where we want to go.”

Things weren’t always looking up, though, as recently as a month ago when the losses were piling and players griping about each other.

“Through a three-game losing streak, at the time, there’s a whole bunch of things going through your head,” Revis said. “No. 1, you’re trying to get a win, and No. 2, you’re trying to make sure you do what you need to do at your job. There’s just a whole bunch of stuff going on, a lot of pressure around the building.”

A few wins have allowed the bad vibes to dissipate a bit, and the Jets are still thinking big. If New York wins Sunday, and the Giants beat New England, there would suddenly be a three-way tie atop the AFC East.

“Out of all the stuff that’s been going on, it’s kind of surprising,” Revis said. “It really is. We’re making strides and we’re on a two-game winning streak. We didn’t win on the bye, though, but this is a good game for us to get our third win and especially because it’s on the road, as well.”

Road warriors in the past, particularly in the postseason, the Jets have a chance to get back on track away from home in one of the AFC’s toughest places to play.

“We do have our work cut out for us, but I feel confident,” linebacker Calvin Pace said. “I mean, we’ve gone into some places (in the past) that nobody gave us a chance to win and we’ve come out with a win. … We do have some challenges ahead of us, but I think we do a good job of staying in the moment. This week is about Buffalo, and everything else, it doesn’t matter if we don’t take care of business this week.”

Notes: Ryan thinks DE Mike DeVito (knee) and CB Isaiah Trufant (hamstring) will be able to play at Buffalo, but is less optimistic about rookie DT Kenrick Ellis, who injured his left ankle against San Diego. … Slauson disagrees with fans and media who think this year’s offensive line isn’t as good as last season’s. He said the line has shown improvement recently and added that it’s the same five guys, except for RT Wayne Hunter, and “in our opinion, that’s an upgrade” over the retired Damien Woody.

Running low on time today, i’ll be back tomorrow hopefully with some more news.

Not much else going on in the NFL world today.