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Role reversal for soaring Jets, struggling Pats

By Dennis Waszak Jr. / Associated Press

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Rex Ryan challenged the rest of the NFL during training camp, asking if there were any teams other than his New York Jets good enough to beat the New England Patriots.

Well, Buffalo answered the call in Week 3. Pittsburgh and the Giants did, too, in the last two weeks. Now it’s the time for the Jets to back up their brash coach’s big words.

“The two years I’ve been here, obviously New England has won the division both times,” Ryan said. “They’ve beat us already. So, we know what this game represents. We’re not afraid to talk about it. It’s not one of these, “Well, if we don’t, there’s still a lot of season left.’ We’re approaching it like we have to have this game.”

The suddenly soaring Jets (5-3) take on the struggling Patriots (5-3) in a showdown for first place in the AFC East on Sunday night at MetLife Stadium. The winner will have at least a share of the top spot, with Buffalo (5-3) taking on Dallas earlier that day.

“We want to win our division,” Ryan said. “We think it goes through New England. That old saying, “To be the champ, you have to beat the champ.’ And they’re sitting right in front of us. I respect the job that Pittsburgh and the Giants and Buffalo did in defeating New England. That’s no easy task. And right now, we’re going to say we think we’ve improved as a football team, and we’re going to find out on Sunday, because this is a measuring stick right here.”

That’s how most teams approach playing Bill Belichick’s Patriots, given their consistent winning ways during the last decade. But, Ryan’s No. 1 charge when he took over as the Jets coach was to knock the Patriots off their pedestal. New York has made it to the AFC championship the past two seasons, but has done it the hard way by playing all of its postseason games on the road. Winning the division is the only way to guarantee to have at least one home game, and this one could go a long way to determining who’ll be hitting the road when the playoffs start.

“This is right where we want to be,” quarterback Mark Sanchez said, “and there’s no better team that we’d want to play than a division rival and a divisional opponent, for a game that looks to set us up real nice in the division if we win.”

The last time these teams met back on Oct. 9, the Jets were sent to their third straight loss and appeared to be in disarray. Meanwhile, the Patriots were cruising along with a high-powered offense behind Tom Brady.

Funny how things change in just a few weeks.

New York has won three in a row, beating Miami, San Diego and Buffalo along the way. New England has lost two straight and is in danger of its first three-game skid since 2002, when the Patriots lost four straight, finished 9-7 and missed the playoffs.

“No doubts around here, and that’s me being honest,” wide receiver Deion Branch said. “We see in the film what we’re doing wrong.”

So did the Bills, Steelers and Giants, who were all able to come up with game plans that worked — and won. It’s a simple but not easily executed formula: Put pressure on Brady, take away the edge and shut down the running game and let the defense — ranked 32nd in the league — make its mistakes, especially in the shaky secondary.

“They’re not invincible,” safety Jim Leonhard said. “They’re a great football team, but they’ve got beat by some pretty good teams, as well. I don’t think they’re going to panic up in New England, and we’re not going to feel sorry for them, either.”

Beginning with the last meeting, the Jets have gone back to their run-first “Ground-and-Pound” approach on offense, and having Nick Mangold back from a badly sprained ankle has certainly helped. So has the defense, which is starting to show signs of dominance again with forced turnovers, quarterback pressures and confusing offenses.

“They’re a tough team to prepare for,” Brady said. “They’ve got a lot of stuff, they’ve got a lot of really good players, good scheme. They play well at home. It’s a great challenge.”

Brady is having another typically good season, but his interceptions are unusually high. After throwing four all last season, he’s got 10 this year — including four in his last three games.

“Just decision making,” Brady said. “I’ve just got to make better decisions.”

And that won’t be easy, especially with a secondary led by Darrelle Revis, who’s off to another All-Pro-caliber season with four interceptions. Brady has a 15-5 record against the Jets, including the playoffs, but is 3-3 in the last six with 10 touchdowns and five INTs.

“The guy is a tremendous quarterback, clearly,” said Ryan, refusing to say Brady looks vulnerable. “Without Peyton (Manning) playing, I’d say he’s the best quarterback in the league right now.”

After all, the Jets know better than to get too overconfident against Brady and the Patriots. Not in a rivalry that has been so intense and evenly played lately — the series is tied at 52-52-1. The teams have alternated wins and losses during the last six games, starting with the Jets’ season-opening win in 2009 and including New York’s 28-21 playoff victory last season.

“Oh, it’s fantastic,” Mangold said. “The New York-Boston rivalry, it spans across different sports. We’ve been going back and forth since my time coming in. We’ve had some great games and that’s what makes sports awesome when you get rivalries going. It makes for exciting football.”

Especially when the foes are so familiar and played each other only a month ago.

“It’s one of those deals,” Belichick said, “where they know that we know that we know that they know that we know.”

Got it?

“I said it right after we played them that they were the better team then,” Ryan said. “We’ll see who the better team is now.”

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EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Rex Ryan and the New York Jets want a win in the worst way.

Three straight losses and rumblings about possible locker room disharmony have many fans and media speculating that the Jets could be on the verge of falling apart. It’s just Week 6, but New York’s game against the winless Miami Dolphins is being considered by many as a must-win — and Ryan remains confident his team can turn things around.

“We haven’t performed to our expectations, our fans’ expectations and all that,” Ryan said. “We certainly understand that, but this season’s not over. And people want to throw some dirt on us, well, we can affect how this season ends.”

On the surface, a 2-3 record is far from a near-crisis situation. But, the fact the jokes haven’t been flying as frequently from the usually brash Ryan and his bunch of chatterboxes fuels the feelings that this Jets team isn’t as loose as past groups. Getting back home after a brutal three-game stretch on the road could be exactly what New York needs.

“I think Monday night is the time to definitely turn it around,” wide receiver Santonio Holmes said. “The spotlight’s on us, everybody’s watching. It’s time to really play some football and turn this organization around.”

Except for the fact the Dolphins (0-4) are coming off a bye-week break and hungry for a win, too.

“Quite honestly, you’re talking about a caged animal, so to speak, in the Miami Dolphins and they’re looking at one when they see us,” Ryan said. “Both teams have not performed to expectations and can’t wait to play this game, so it should be a physical game.”

Just as most of the other matchups between these two AFC East rivals have been over the years. That includes “The Monday Night Miracle” in 2000 at the old Meadowlands, when the Jets stormed back from a 30-7 fourth-quarter deficit and beat the Dolphins 40-37 in overtime.

Miami has also won both road games between the teams in Ryan’s first two seasons as New York’s coach.

“When the Jets and Dolphins are playing, you can kind of throw out the record books sometimes,” said newly signed Dolphins quarterback Sage Rosenfels. “I know we’ve had a lot of success going up there and playing these last few years, it’s been some great rivalries. There’s a reason they put this game on Monday night because the entire Eastern seaboard is interested in this game.”

It also might mean a little more than usual. For the Jets, it’s a chance to prove that the last three weeks — losses at Oakland, Baltimore and New England — were nothing more than a bump in their Super Bowl road and not the start of an ugly spiral.

“Nobody feels desperate,” tight end Dustin Keller said. “We just have to stick to our game plan and stick to what we do individually, and that’s worked for us in the past.”

For the Dolphins, it’s an opportunity for coach Tony Sparano to turn his team around after a miserable start. He’s already working without his starting quarterback after Chad Henne was lost for the season with a separated left shoulder. Matt Moore replaces Henne — for this week, at least.

“There’s no pressure on him,” wide receiver Brandon Marshall said. “We’re under, under, under, under, under, under, under, underdogs. so there ain’t no pressure on anybody.”

Moore will also become the 16th quarterback to start for the Dolphins since the Dan Marino era ended at the beginning of the 2000 season, the most among NFL teams in that span.

“Obviously, Marino was a great one,” said Moore, who was 10-13 as a starter with Carolina. “It doesn’t matter who’s back there, the guy who’s going to make the plays and win ballgames ultimately is going to be the guy. Whether that’s 15 guys in 15 games, or one guy, they’re going to find the right guy.”

Sparano’s job might depend on it. Miami is in danger of starting 0-5 for first time since losing its first 13 in 2007, en route to 1-15 season. There has also already been speculation about Sparano’s job security.

“That’s a hard place to be, 0-5,” he said.

Sparano says he has been through this before, including as an assistant for Marty Schottenheimer’s Washington Redskins in 2001. That team won eight of its last 11 to finish at .500, giving Sparano some hope for this Dolphins team.

“It just takes a win to get yourself going and right now that’s all we’re worried about,” he said. “We’re worried about making our football team better, using this time to develop some of our players here and figure out how to win a game.”

While the Dolphins’ offence is trying to regroup after the loss of their starting quarterback, the defence has perhaps been an even bigger disappointment. Miami is ranked 28th in overall defence, and 31st in passing defence — despite having two of the best young cornerbacks in the league in Vontae Davis, who missed the last two games with a hamstring injury, and Sean Smith.

New York has had its share of problems on defence, too, giving up an unexpectedly large number of big runs and being anything but dominant. But the offence has been the consistent trouble spot, with Sanchez taking lots of hits behind an inconsistent offensive line, a running game that is slow to get going and a group of wide receivers still trying to jell with the quarterback.

Sanchez has one less receiver this week after the Jets traded veteran Derrick Mason to the Houston Texans after not making as big an impact as expected.

“We thought we had a pretty good group of guys here, and it’s unfortunate that the organization felt another way,” Holmes said. “We have to deal with the punches that are thrown at us and continue rolling.”

Otherwise, the Jets could suddenly find themselves just a half-game ahead of the Dolphins in the standings. Not that Ryan is even entertaining any of those thoughts. In his mind, his team still has its sights set on the Super Bowl.

“I can guarantee that we’re going to chase it, that’s for sure,” Ryan said. “Do I think we’ll win it? Yeah, absolutely.”

___

AP Sports Writer Steven Wine in Miami contributed to this report.