Wouldn’t it be nice to be in, say … Hawaii?

Four Jets have that distinct honor. Offensive linemen Nick Mangold, D’Brickashaw Ferguson and Brandon Moore and cornerback Darrelle Revis are all currently in Oahu for Sunday’s Pro Bowl.

It’s the fourth Pro Bowl trip for Revis and Mangold, the third for Ferguson and the first for Moore. You can see them play one more time on Sunday evening at 7 p.m. on NBC before the NFL season officially ends a week from Sunday with Super Bowl XLVI.

Since arriving in the 50th State, the four Jets have gone through light, informal practices at Kapolei High School west of Honolulu and have had time to enjoy the spoils of Hawaii in the winter.

Besides football, there was an annual community event. On Thursday AFC Pro Bowlers took part in Play 60 Community Blitz, a joint effort between the NFL’s Play 60 campaign, Procter & Gamble, and KaBoom, a nonprofit group with the goal of building playspaces for children throughout the United States. This year, the players helped construct a playground at Ke Kula ‘o Samuel M. Kamakau Public Charter School in Kaneohe.

An added wrinkle in this year’s Pro Bowl is the addition of a designated tweeting area on each sideline. A departure from normal protocol, players will be able to tweet during the game. It should add even more entertainment value to a game that never lacks offensive firepower. Of the four Jets in Honolulu, Mangold is probably the most active Tweeter. Look for some gems from Nick throughout the game.

You can see photos of your Jets in Hawaii, including a freshly trimmed Mangold, here on newyorkjets.com. Moore will also be sending back some pictures from his first experience in the Pro Bowl, so check back often to see some behind-the-scenes shots.

We may be stuck in the doldrums of winter, but at least we can live vicariously through our Jets in Oahu.

And now, as you’ve no doubt heard, it’s time for the next fascinating, nostalgic and revealing view of Namath with the premier of “Namath” on Saturday night at 9 p.m. ET/PT exclusively on HBO.

We’ve heard favorable reviews of the 1½-hour documentary, most recently from people attending a Wednesday night preview in New York, among them former teammates such as Emerson Boozer and Richard Caster and Jets/Alabama compatriot Marty Lyons.

And why shouldn’t the reviews be smashing? The Emmy-award-winning team of NFL Films and HBO Sports collaborated once again to produce captivating Jets television, a year and a half after the 2010 “Hard Knocks” series. For “Namath” they took an unprecedented look at the life and career of one of pro football’s biggest names with superlative archival and behind-the-scenes video and audio.

And of course there’s the contribution from the title character. Namath was reported to be excited about the project even though he was uncomfortable about some of the episodes of his life that he relived during interviews for  the show.

Yet that is one of the greatest qualities about No. 12, Broadway himself. He has lived his life and has invited us in at every twist and turn. To me there is no greater gift an athlete in this world can give his followers than an open book to continue to keep up with him through the years.

Joe is as big as he is right now in part because of his embracing of new-media initiatives. And fans as always are invited to come inside and sit a while. They can venture to broadwayjoe.tv for Joe’s thoughts and comments about the show, or they can check out his Facebook page or communicate with him on Twitter.

The sports magazine selects its comeback player based on a vote of NFL players, coaches and executives. And as eye-opening as the award itself is the fact that Plax was the clear winner. The top four vote getters were:

1. Plaxico Burress, 164 votes

2. Alex Smith, San Francisco QB, 91 votes

3. Elvis Dumervil, Denver DE, 46 votes

4. Matthew Stafford, Detroit QB, 42 votes

Burress earned the award by resuscitating his career with 45 receptions for 612 yard and eight touchdowns, modest numbers by the standards he set with the Steelers and Giants yet solid in light of the 20 months he served in prison following his conviction on weapons charges.

Among Burress’ highlights for the Jets in the 2011 regular season was his three red zone touchdown grabs in the 27-21 victory over the Chargers, making him the 17th player and 14th WR in franchise history to come down with at least three TD catches in a game.

In fact, the 6’5″, 232-pound target and his connection with QB Mark Sanchez were arguably the main reasons the Jets were the league’s No. 1 red zone offense with their 65.5 percent touchdown drive percentage. Burress’ numbers inside the opponents’ 20 were all team-leading stats: 13 receptions, 121 yards, 12 first downs and all eight of his touchdowns.

The last Jets pass-catcher to have a similar red zone impact was Wayne Chrebet, who had 12 catches for 124 yards and nine TDs in the zone in 2002.

Congratulations to Plax on opening up his wingspan, sticking out his big Velcro mitts and coming down with this honor.

DeGuglielmo’s Connecting Flights

Dave DeGuglielmo officially joined the Jets’ reforming coaching staff when head coach Rex Ryan this afternoon announced that he is the Jets’ new offensive line coach. But Dave D has too many Jets connections to have stayed away from the team for much longer.

For starters, he coached up Miami’s OL pretty well for the past three seasons as the Dolphins took four of six from the Jets in their AFC East series.

For the four seasons prior, he came to work in the same Sunday office as the Jets as he coached the Giants’ O-line from ’04-08.

For the five seasons before that, he learned his OL coachcraft at South Carolina under Lou Holtz, who, as all Jets fans of a certain age know, coached the Green & White for 13/14ths of the 1976 season.

And DeGuglielmo first emerged in the trench trade when he was named All-New England first-team guard/center for Boston University. His OL coach for his final three seasons at BU was none other than new Jets offensive coordinator Tony Sparano. Of course, you could say the Sparano connection was the most important of all, but all things considered it looks like a great fit for coach and team.

More than 1,500 votes were cast for photos in our contest “semifinals” last week and into this morning, with the idea of advancing the five most popular photos into this week’s finals.

We have made the transition from semis to finals just now and we can reveal the identity of the five most popular photos from the lens of team photographer Al Pereira. In chronological order they are:

5. “Mark Sanchez TD” with an unstoppable scoring stretch against Miami.

10. “Matt Slauson Spike” after his dramatic fumble recovery TD at Denver.

13. “Dustin Keller Jam” soaring up to the goalpost against Buffalo.

14. “Plaxico Burress Wingspan” on his big third-down catch, also vs. Buffalo.

18. “Plaxico Burress Stretch” on Plax’s picturesque grab at Philadelphia.

We thank all the fans who have already voted in the semifinals, and we encourage all of you to return here to cast your votes as many times as you like this week in the finals, particularly because of the Slauson factor. The Jets’ left guard rightly has a loyal and committed following that made his photo the leading vote-getter in the semifinals. Nothing wrong with that at all, but fans of the other players and photos in the finals will want to bring everything they can to the table and the ballot box to make sure their voices are heard.

Fans this week can vote for only one photo at a time as this year’s Best Jets Action Photo. The voting will conclude Friday at noon and we’ll unveil the winner shortly after. The photo will be featured in the Jets’ 2012 Yearbook out in the late summer before the start of the ’12 season — when Al P. and the rest of us here at newyorkjets.com will begin working at finding the best action photos for the 2012 season.

Vote now

Tweeting Machine: 300 Grand

We also want to thank all the fans of the Green & White following us on Twitter. Sometime Sunday twitter.com/nyjets cleared 300,000 followers. That’s quite a number, considering we were at less than 100 followers less than three years ago. Now it’s onward to 400,000 this offseason.

Brandon Moore and the Jets got a small bit of good news tonight on this NFL Championship Weekend. They learned that Moore is finally an all-star.

The NFL has announced that Moore, the Jets’ long-time right guard, a second alternate at the AFC’s guard position, has been named to the conference’s Pro Bowl roster, replacing Brian Waters of the New England Patriots, who are playing in Super Bowl XLVI in two weeks.

Moore will be joining fellow Jets O-linemen Nick Mangold and D’Brickashaw Ferguson and cornerback Darrelle Revis in Honolulu, Hawaii, this week for Sunday’s Pro Bowl Game, to be played at Aloha Stadium.

Moore, who just finished his ninth season as a Jet and his eighth as their starting guard, has been one of the unsung heroes of the Green & White line.

But in part with the support of head coach Rex Ryan, who has called him the best right guard in the game, and in part because of his high consistency of performance, Moore joins “Nick and Brick” plus Alan Faneca as Jets O-linemen have now claimed 10 Pro Bowl berths in the past four seasons.

Moore becomes the fourth Jets guard to reach all-star status, joining Bob Mischak of the New York Titans (1960-62) and Dave Herman (1968-69) as AFL all-stars and Faneca, an AFC starting guard for the Jets in 2008 and ’09.

Moore’s ironman qualities are well-known among line aficionados. He has started 121 consecutive regular-season games since 2004, the most among all active NFL guards, and his 121 straight games played is second among all active guards behind only the 124 of Tennessee’s Jake Scott.

Then an independent NFL analysis service determined that Moore gave up no sacks or hits on quarterback Mark Sanchez this season.

We’re trying to help “Rush Curt to Canton.” Fans can go to curttocanton.com to support Martin’s run to the Hall of Fame. On this microsite, fans have the opportunity to watch Curtis’ highlight video and show their support via Twitter and Facebook. Once they become supporters, fans can tweet out to their followers: “I support Curtis Martin’s rush to the NFL HOF! Do you? http://bit.ly/Curt2Canton #CurtToCanton” or share the message on their Facebook feeds.

Another Hall for Schroy

Speaking of the Hall, former Jets safety Ken Schroy is gaining entry to another fame-ous organization. He’ll be inducted into the Lehigh Valley (Pa.) Sports Hall of Fame at an induction dinner April 21 at the Northampton Memorial Community Center. Kenny starred at Quakertown High before moving on to Maryland and then to the Jets from 1977-84.

Of note is that a fellow member of Schroy’s LVSHOF Class of ’12 is Chuck Bednarik, “the last of the 60-minute men” from Bethlehem, Pa., Penn and the Eagles.

For Schroy, this is the second Hall of Fame we’re aware of that has him as a member. In 2008 the transplanted Long Islander and vice president of the Marty Lyons Foundation was inducted into the Suffolk (N.Y.) Sports Hall of Fame. What he told us then applies just as much four years later: “At my age now, any recognition is a wonderful thing.”

OK, enough with the ocean metaphor. We asked Al to riffle through the photographic Rolodex in his head and come up with, oh, the 22 best action photos from this season. Those photos are on the slideshow that is now live on the newyorkjets.com Fanzone section.

And now we turn it over to you, the most visually discerning fans in the game, and ask you to help us select the Best Jets Action Photo of ’11. And we’ve broken this contest into two parts for your enjoyment. Today we present the contest semifinals.

Those 22 photos, displayed in chronological order, can be viewed up close and personal by clicking on each shot in the slideshow. Take your time to savor each photo. Then vote. Alongside the photo display are five dropdown menus. In each menu, you can vote for one of the 22 semifinal frames. Vote for up to five of your favorite images, then click Submit.

We’ll end the semis, tabulate the results, and begin the finals all next Monday morning, when the five images that you’ve selected as the best of Al’s best will be shown alongside each other one more time. Then you’ll vote for your most favorite photo.

The voting in the finals will end Friday, Jan. 27, at noon ET, with the winning action photo unveiled shortly after.

And so we declare the Jets’ Best Action Photo of 2011 under way. Below is A.Pereira with some little background on his selection process and a skinny on each of his terrific 22. And send us a comment to the Radar on any or all of the photos here if you like. And now, here’s Al …

I’ve never found myself thinking in terms of Rod Stewart lyrics before. Honestly! But when my good friend and venerable Radar Ranger Randy Lange told me of the plans to put this “Best Jets Action Photo of ’11″ contest together, I immediately started hearing “Every Picture Tells a Story” ringing through my head. And you know, in a GOOD way. Rod the Mod was on to something, maybe.

Every picture does tell a story, and the following photos will hopefully speak to you of some of the high points of the season that just finished. These are some of my favorite action shots … we’ll assemble another gallery soon, to include shots like these and also some of the behind-the-scenes views, portraits and other little gems.

For now, I feel honored to present this collection, where you can tell me which you like the best. With a few thoughts for each photo, here is my Best Jets Action Photo of ’11 gallery. Hope you like it!

1. Revis INT Return — I like Darrelle’s eyes in this shot. He makes the pick in the opener against Dallas and becomes a running back … sweet!

2. Folk Game-Winner —  Big moment from an emotional night, 9/11/11, and Nick Folk wins it vs. the Cowboys. Not sure who looks happier, but it may be Brunell.

3. Scott Sack — Bart smacking the ball loose on a sack against the Jaguars. Like that you can see where his right hand made the strip … and in a Titans uni to boot!

4. Sanchez Intensity — Love the look on Mark’s face at Oakland. I have a lot of these kinds of shots. He’s a real leader. That “C” looks good. And like the logo on his mouthguard.

5. Sanchez TD — When Mark gets close to the goal line, he’s a juggernaut. My favorite Sanchez TD this year, Superman coming in low vs. Miami …

6. Harris Crunch — I like David burying QBs, which he does quite often. This one resulted in another Revis INT.

7. Mangold Point — Nick is also a strong leader. You can see he’s all business here against the Chargers.

8. Wilson INT — This is a cool interception shot in the SD game. Those are tricky to get because, well, if they were easy to anticipate, QBs would go the other way! Kyle Wilson’s first of his career and you can see the intended receiver’s frustration behind this athletic pick.

9. Holmes TD — Speaking of athletic, Santonio makes plays all the time that almost make me stop shooting just to admire them. Almost. If I did I wouldn’t have been able to catch a great TD like this at Buffalo as he twists through three defenders. That’s “Tone Time” all over!

10. Slauson TD — Matt at Denver. A guard scoring and spiking?? Enough said!

11. ST Gang Tackle — Kickoff coverage swarms over Cassius Vaughn at Denver. Love these kinds of gang shots. You can see how special teams is a real group effort.

12. Pace Pressure — Calvin doesn’t get enough chatter from fans, in my opinion. Nice effort in harassing a QB that had a pretty good year.

13. Keller TD Jam — Dustin is really a great player, great dude, and an even better subject. Good air on the TD spike here at home against Buffalo.

14. Burress Wingspan — Big play by a big receiver in the big home game vs. the Bills. Plax makes it look easy.

15. Sanchez Windup — Good form and a strong look from No. 6 as he gets ready to fire at Washington.

16. Greene Tightrope — Beautiful effort by Shonn at the pylon vs. the Chiefs. High-flying Jet!

17. Pouha Sack — Sione really came on as a leader this year. And he is just eating KC’s Tyler Palko alive!

18. Burress Stretch — One more from Plax, and the prettiest TD of the year, in my opinion — a one-hander at Philadelphia. We liked it so much you can pick the sequence up as Wallpaper if you’d like.

19. Harris Takedown — I like Eli Manning, I really do. Like him best when we’re knocking him around, though. Here David Harris, with assist from Bart Scott, jar the ball loose, but Eli was ruled down by contact. Hmmm…

20. Wilkerson Sack — My favorite sack of the year, from the rookie DE. Eli does NOT look happy here!

21. Keller Reach — Another day, another play for Dustin. He takes it to another level in the red zone at Miami.

22. Cromartie INT — Was happy to capture this one. A real battle for the ball the Dolphins’ Brian Hartline — and a fine pick as the Cro flies!

“Tony’s a fiery Italian and he loves football. He’s what we call a football head,” Pennington said from his South Florida home the other night. “He enjoys it. I think he enjoys being around the players. He enjoys that part of the game. He certainly understands it’s not just about the X’s and O’s.”

But Sparano does know the X’s and O’s are important. Combining all of it, he came from Dallas as Miami’s new head coach in 2008. That was the year he guided the Dolphins to their remarkable rebound from 1-15 to 11-5 and the AFC East title and helped Pennington, in his first season as an ex-Jet, to career bests in completions (321), yards (3,653), interception rate (1.47 percent), 19 TD passes to seven INTs and one fumble lost, and a 97.4 passer rating.

“Well, knowing him as a head coach, I think he will require his offense to do three things,” Pennington enumerated. “No. 1, be physical. No. 2, avoid turnovers. And No. 3, avoid negative plays. And that’s kind of what our recipe for success was in 2008 and we were able to make NFL history.”

A phrase that has come into the NFL lexicon of late is “chunk plays,” plays that pick up a bundle of yardage on the way to a length-of-field touchdown drive. As noted here and elsewhere, those were missing from the Jets’ attack this past season, but they were in evidence with the 2009 and ’10 ‘Fins. Pennington explained the philosophy.

“It doesn’t necessarily have to be a 40-yard throw down the field. It can be short or intermediate throws that turn into chunk plays,” he said. “Coach recognizes the importance of chunk plays. It allows your offense to breathe a little bit and have more success. In the NFL you can’t methodically move the ball down the field every drive. You need chunk plays to make it a little easier.”

I asked Chad to wear his analyst’s hat, which he donned for Fox Sports this season as he worked his way back from shoulder and knee injuries, and offer a glimpse of what he sees ahead for Mark Sanchez.

“I watched the Jets a little bit on and off this season,” he said. “I think the biggest thing for Mark is to use 2011 as a learning experience, really dive into the film this offseason. Learn from the film and just focus totally on the film and the work at hand, and use the year as a steppingstone to getting better. That’s the No. 1 key. You can’t just erase it and move away from it.”

Pennington also put on his QB’s hat to remind fans of something else he thinks is important for Sanchez.

“You’ve got to remember he only played one year of college ball as a starter. He’s a young guy, only in his third year in the league. He never had the chance to make mistakes behind closed doors. He’s always been out in front of everybody because he’s been the starter. He must get better and mature. I just think it’s a matter of time. The ball’s in his court.”

I asked Chad about the little matter of time that has turned him from the Jets’ first-round QB of 2000 and their Montana-esque (one of the adjectives used for him at the time) starter in that almost-great ’02 season into a fellow wrestling with his football future a mere decade later.

“It just shows you how much time flies. You don’t really believe it until you get on this end of it,” he said with a laugh. “I’m doing great. I’m really enjoying being the father of three boys. I’m just trying to work through all the emotions of playing or not playing, moving on with my life. That’s what I’m dealing with right now. It’s not the hardest thing to go through … it certainly provides some challenges.”

So does that mean that the rumors we heard this season, that the one-time NFL Comeback Player of the Year would try to come back one more time for the ’12 season, aren’t true?

“I don’t know if I’ll play again,” he said. “Some days I feel like I can, some days I don’t. I think the biggest question is whether I can trust my shoulder or not, whether I can look my coach in the eye and say, ‘You can trust me.’ “

Trusting Pennington’s shoulder to hold up to the rigors of an entire NFL season is one thing. Trusting his word is never in doubt. And he says Tony Sparano is a keeper for the Jets.

“I have a lot of respect and love for Coach Sparano. I think he’s a fantastic coach,” he said. “What he brings to the table is the right fit for the Jets.”

The last we got to see Lucy was during her videoboard presentation at Weeb’s posthumous induction into the Ring of Honor at then New Meadowlands Stadium in August 2010. She also was on hand for the unveiling of Weeb’s statue at Miami University of Ohio a little later that year on Cradle of Coaches Plaza at Miami’s Yager Stadium.

“Weeb had so many honors,” she said at the statue unveiling by the school for which Weeb starred in three sports and then coached. “I thought it was really nice of Miami to do that.”

Many of those many honors came after college, when Weeb led first the Baltimore Colts and then the Jets to championships, in the process becoming the only man who will ever win titles in both the NFL and the AFL. Weeb died at the age of 91 in 1998.

We heard of Lucy’s passing early this afternoon from Frank Ramos, the Jets’ longtime public relations director who was the Jets’ PR pointman during the 1968 Super Bowl III season. He recalled Lucy as always a big part of the Green & White family.

“Lucy was a great supporter of Weeb throughout his whole career and a great football fan of the Jets, the Baltimore Colts and of course Miami,” Frank said. “She went to games all the time. She was a really personable woman, a wonderful person, and she’ll be missed.”

Lucy’s funeral will be in Oxford, Ohio. We’ll provide the arrangements here as we receive them.

The Jets have brought aboard Sanjay Lal to be their wide receivers coach under head coach Rex Ryan and newly appointed offensive coordinator Tony Sparano.

Lal most recently coached with Oakland from 2007 through this past season, the first two years as an offensive quality control assistant and the last three as the wideouts coach, until head coach Hue Jackson and his staff were dismissed by new Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie.

Under Lal this season, Oakland’s wide receivers finished sixth in the NFL with an average of 15.0 yards per catch.  Fourth-round rookie Denarius Moore ended the season with 18.7 yards per reception, fourth among all qualifying wide receivers in the NFL.  In addition, former first-round pick Darrius Heyward-Bey totaled 64 receptions for 975 yards and four touchdowns, all career highs. 

Lal, 42, who was born in London, England, played WR for UCLA in 1989 and Washington from 1990-92 — and in fact was a member of the Huskies’ ’92 national championship team and earned selection to the school’s athletic hall of fame.

He was on the St. Louis Rams roster in 1998 and also played for the Scottish Claymores in NFL Europe in ’99. His college coaching stops included Los Medanos (Calif.) College in ’03, Saint Mary’s College in ’04 and California in ’05-06 before moving to the NFL.

So dealing with any alleged Jets “hornet’s nest” is not going to faze the Jets’ new offensive coordinator.

“Contrary to popular belief, I really don’t read a whole lot about what’s said or hear about what’s said,” Sparano said on a conference call with reporters this afternoon. “I’m kind of a show-me guy. Anybody who’s played for me a lot knows I use that phrase — it’s a show-me business, it’s a show-me game.

“Once the players get here, it’s a blank piece of paper. That’s a positive. Sometimes change is good. This situation here is a blank piece of paper, we’ll go from here, we’ll get a chance to learn each other, they’ll get a chance to know me. I’m looking forward to working with these players.”

One player in particular concerns all of Jets nation and that’s the relationship moving forward between Sparano and QB Mark Sanchez.

“Obviously I have some experience because I was on the other sideline against the Jets here,” he said. “Having to prepare for Mark Sanchez was always difficult First of all, he’s athletic. He has a good release. He can make all the throws. He can get out of trouble. … That was a handful, having to prepare for him. I’m happy to be with him now.”

That of course doesn’t mean there aren’t things that Sparano, the Cowboys’ offensive playcaller in 2006 and one of the first proponents of the emergence of the Wildcat in NFL offenses, doesn’t want to work on with the Jets’ now fourth-year field general. But he declined to go into too many specifics “early on in this process.”

“One of the things every offseason you need to do with the quarterbacks is to get them back to square one, break them back from a fundamental standpoint. Games get on you really fast and you don’t have the amount of time you think you have. Now you get a chance to break them back fundamentally and do some of those things you think would be good, stress some of those scenarios that go into the game — clock management, you can turn the ball over a lot of ways in our league.

“We’ll look at turnovers, spend a lot of time with Mark and get going, when we can spend time with him.”

Naturally, the rules are different this year following the new labor agreement last summer. Players can show up anytime at their complexes, but teams can’t require players to begin offseason programs until mid-April. Whenever the new OC and the now veteran QB can sit down, though, they’ll be discussing philosophy.

“I want to have an identity here on offense,” Sparano said. “I want our players to be able to walk into the meeting room and not be surprised with things that are going to be in the game plan every week. I do believe in moving the ball downfield, advancing in chunks. If you can’t get 20 yards in our league, that makes it hard to move the football.”

The Jets had those issues in their 16 games that ended so disappointingly in an 8-8 record. For only the second time in franchise history, they had no completions of 40 yards or longer to a wide receiver. (TE Dustin Keller had a 41-yard catch and LaDainian Tomlinson went 74 yards with a screen.) Shonn Greene’s 31-yard run vs. Kansas City was the shortest “long run” in a season since 1995.

So hearing about an emphasis on “chunk yardage” should be heartening to Jets Nation. But something else will sound familiar, and that’s the emphasis on physical play and the running game.

“Being physical doesn’t mean you’re going to run the ball 55 times a game,” Sparano said. “It means you’re going to protect the quarterback, the attitude of the receivers and their approach. It also comes from the quarterback. I like a physical mentality. We’ll be explosive, we’ll be able to get it downfield, do all those things. But I learned a lesson a long time ago about how you win and lose in this league. You’ve got to have some element of running the football.”

Especially, as head coach Rex Ryan reminded during his and GM Mike Tannenbaum’s portion of the conference call, with the Jets residing in, well, the Northeast. And that’s something else that has enabled Sparano, who grew up in West Haven, Conn., and went to college at New Haven, to feel right at home.

He was relieved of his Dolphins command with three games to go this season, so he spent that with his family and being an uncomfortable watcher of games that he was no longer directly involved in.

“Once the season ended, then all of a sudden the phone started to ring and I was able to start to entertain some of these things,” he said of the short, whirlwind process that led to him accepting the Jets OC job on Wednesday after Brian Schottenheimer through mutual agreement had vacated the day before.

“This opportunity came about to meet with Mike Tannenbaum and with Rex, the opportunity to meet with Mr. Johnson, to speak with them and see just how passionate they are about this organization and what’s happening here right now. Once I got through all that, there was no question for me. I share a lot of the same philosophies that Rex shares. This is home for me. I’m just happy to be a part of this team here. I’m looking forward to it.”

The Jets have just announced that Tony Sparano has been named their offensive coordinator. Sparano replaces Brian Schottenheimer, who announced Tuesday that he would not return as the Jets’ offensive coordinator for the 2012 season.

Sparano became the eighth head coach in Miami Dolphins history on Jan. 16, 2008. In his first season he led the Dolphins to an equaling of the greatest turnaround in NFL history as Miami “moved the hyphen” from 1-15 to 11-5 and captured the team’s first AFC East title since 2000. Sparano had spent the previous five seasons (2003-07) on the Dallas staff, during which time the Cowboys made three playoff appearances. He tutored the Cowboys’ offensive line the last three years there and also held the title of assistant head coach the final two seasons. He coached the team’s tight ends his first two seasons in Dallas.

Prior to joining the Cowboys, Sparano had NFL stops in Cleveland (1999-2000), Washington (2001) and Jacksonville (2002). His career head-coaching record, after leaving the Dolphins after 13 games this season, is 29-33.

Sparano, 50, born in West Haven, Conn., was a four-year letterman as a center at the University of New Haven, where he earned his degree in criminal law. He began his coaching career at his alma mater in 1984 before moving on to Boston University as offensive coordinator in 1989. He returned to New Haven as the school’s head coach in 1994 and manned that spot for the next five years.

These notes are in no particular order and far from exhaustive. We’ll break out plenty more of our exclusive information as we head into the offseason, begin to prepare our 2012 Yearbook, and get ready for free agency, the draft, OTAs, minicamps, training camp and the ’12 season (so far off now, but just wait).

Flag Day

There are opinions aplenty about QB Mark Sanchez and the development he made or didn’t make in Season 3 of his Jets/NFL career. But one thing is pretty clear-cut: He made major progress in causing the other guys to commit penalties.

Sanchez was the cause of 23 flags being thrown against opponents, with 178 yards being marked off against the bad guys. If that sounds like a lot, well, it’s the most I’ve ever charted for an individual Jet. Since 2000, the largest penalty-drawn figures had been chalked up by Chad Pennington in 2006 (19-122) and DE John Abraham in ’05 (18-135).

Sanchez’s penchant for causing penalties splits into two categories. One is the personal-foul/late hit/unnecessary-roughness/roughing/helmet-to-helmet variety. No. 6 was fouled by defenders seven times this season, with five of the majors getting marked off in the final six games.

I don’t know where that ranks among the rest of the NFL’s signalcallers, but it’s quite an alarming number considering the premium that the league has placed on protecting QBs.

The other area is the offsides/encroachment/neutral-zone-infraction category, where the QB’s guile (in the form of the hard count) comes into play. And Sanchez made a big leap here. From my own research only, not from the coaches’ breakdowns, 16 opponents infractions were flagged when Sanchez was calling his signals.

Pennington, at his peak in ’06, drew opponents offsides 24 times (17 flags accepted) in 17 games, including the playoffs. Sanchez, on the other hand, drew defenders into presnap penalties just three times combined in the 38 games in 2009-10. So a big “hut-HUT-hut” to you, Mark, in this small but valuable arrow in the quarterback’s quiver.

Here are some other penalty trivia for the Jets in ’11

Most Penalties Called on Jets

1. T Wayne Hunter (11 penalties, 80 yards)

2. TE Matt Mulligan (9 penalties, 63 yards)

3. CB Antonio Cromartie (7 penalties, 6 accepted, 56 yards)

4. G Brandon Moore (6 penalties, 35 yards)

4. (tie) ST Nick Bellore (6 penalties, 5 accepted, 54 yards)

Most Penalties Forced by Jets on Opponents

1. QB Mark Sanchez (23 penalties, 178 yards)

2. WR Santonio Holmes (10 penalties, 120 yards)

3. WR Plaxico Burress (9 penalties, 8 accepted, 87 yards)

4. TE Dustin Keller (5 penalties, 4 accepted, 67 yards)

One final flag list, of all the Jets who played in all 16 games and had no penalties called against them:

Offense — RB Shonn Greene, QB/H Mark Brunell

Defense — LB David Harris, LB Bart Scott, DT Sione Pouha

Specialists — K Nick Folk, LS Tanner Purdum

A special note on DE Muhammad Wilkerson, who was called for two penalties but, with one offset and the other declined, had no penalties marked off against him in a pretty sharp rookie season.

Keller Keeps On Rising

Dustin Keller this year became the first Jets tight end to lead the team in receptions for two consecutive seasons since Mickey Shuler turned the trick in 1984-85. Keller’s 65 catches were the most by a Jets TE since Shuler’s 70 in ’88, his 815 yards were the most since Shuler’s 879 in ’85, and his 12.5 yards per catch was the best average at the position since Johnny Mitchell’s 12.9 in ’94.

Speaking of yards, Keller has increased his yards per catch and in particular his average yards after catch every year since he’s been a Jet in the NFL:

2008 — 11.1 YPC, 3.4 YAC

2009 — 11.6 YPC, 3.7 YAC

2010 — 12.5 YPC, 4.0 YAC

2011 — 12.6 YPC, 4.6 YAC

The Right Stuff

We all know about David Harris with another 100-plus-tackles season, Aaron Maybin with his born-again team-leading six sacks, Darrelle Revis with his Jets-high 22 pass defenses, including a team-lead-sharing four picks.

But one area that doesn’t get much season-long examination is tackles for loss/no gain. These are not official stats and there is little standardization around the NFL in this category, so I’ve always kept my own TFL/NG stats from year to year.

And despite the up-and-down play of the defense in other areas, it’s interesting to note that at and behind the line, this year’s Jets were the best in the three seasons of the Rex Ryan/Mike Pettine scheme.

The defense totaled 103 tackles for loss/no gain on the year, better than the 102 in the ’09 regular season and 80 in ’10. And four players led the way in this area — Calvin Pace with 13.5 tackles, Sione Pouha and Wilkerson with 12.5 apiece, and Harris at 12.0.

If you prefer to factor out the zero-yard gains and just count the “stuffs,” the leader is still Pace at 8.5, but Wilkerson rises to second alone with his 8.0 tackles for loss.

The Defensive Stoppers

I also like to chart the plays that make the big stops for the third- and fourth-down defense, that get the D off the field. Sometimes this is just a measure of who’s on the field the most in the sub package, but it does underscore some top performances as well.

For instance, not surprisingly, Harris, the top tackler overall, also led the Jets with 10 tackles on third and fourth down. Four of those tackles came on runs/receptions for loss or no gain, which also led the Green & White.

Sacks were another story. Maybin led the Jets with six sacks overall, and five of those QB takedowns came on crunch downs. Next closest was Bart Scott’s 2.5.

PDs? No surprise, Revis broke up eight passes on third/fourth downs, with two of them going for long-return interceptions in back-to-back home games — 100 yards for that IR score against Brandon Marshall and the Dolphins in Game 6, 64 yards the next week vs. the Chargers.

Stacking Up the Punting

T.J. Conley’s first season as an NFL punter wasn’t eye-popping, but on the other hand it was fairly reminiscent of Steve Weatherford. Consider these regular-season numbers, Weatherford’s from 2010, Conley’s from this year:

Punts — Weatherford 84, Conley 92

Gross Avg. — Weatherford 42.6 (23rd out of 32), Conley 42.7 (30th out of 32)

Net Avg. — Weatherford 38.1 (15th), Conley 38.8 (18th)

Opponents’ Avg. Return — Weatherford 11.1, Conley 7.5

Inside 20-10-5 — Weatherford 42 (tying the NFL record)-19-7, Conley 32-15-4

Touchbacks — Weatherford 4, Conley 6

Long Punt — Weatherford 61, Conley 63

Punts Blocked — Weatherford 0, Conley 0

Avg. Hang Time (unofficial) — Weatherford 4.6 seconds, Conley 4.4

Neither has a booming leg. Weatherford had a surgical touch last year, Conley not quite as much but pretty close for his first year as an NFL punter. Conley’s main averages were even slightly better, but Weatherford’s league rankings were higher.

And One More Thing

Eric Allen and our multimedia department have produced their latest video, “Examining the Jets’ Free Agent Class,” which will be live on newyorkjets.com later today. And EA will put together a blog on the subject of the Jets’ list of potential unrestricted and restricted FAs for all you Radar operators that will go live tomorrow morning.

We’ll continue to monitor the Green & White scene, writing about developments as we can, and of course posting as many of your comments on all Jets matters as we can.

In the meantime we’ll look forward to the 2012 season, which won’t start for the NFL until March but has started for the Jets now. We’ll bring you player features as those players become available here at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center, through videos, stories and blogs, slideshows, or all of the above. We’ll visit with the team’s alumni throughout the offseason and see what their thoughts are for their team going forward.

We’ll have a number of other features for the fans. One coming up will be a Select Al Pereira’s Best Jets Action Shot of 2011. We’ll present you with about 20 of the best shots from Pereira, our staff photographer, from all games this past season and ask you to vote for the top four and then, in a separate vote, pick the best of the best photo. We’ll be getting Al’s images up to speed a week from Monday. Keep an eye out for that.

In the short term, besides Jets news, we’ll be doing capsules on each of this season’s playoff games, complete with a section we call “Jet Fuel,” citing Green & White connections to the current teams in the postseason. Andrew LeRay wrote up Saturday’s two capsules — Bengals-Texans and Lions-Saints — that went live on newyorkjets.com this afternoon. Eric Allen and I will have the capsules for the Sunday games — Falcons-Giants and Steelers-Broncos — live tomorrow during the day.

And in the coming weeks and months, we’ll bring you exclusive features, from our staff and from the personnel people at Real Football Services, on the Senior Bowl, the NFL Combine workouts, the Jets position by position vis-a-vis the free agency signing period, the draft, and the Jets’ offseason training program, their OTAs and minicamp all to come.

Player Procedures

The Jets have confirmed surgical procedures for four players following the rigors of ’11. Surgeries have already been performed on DT Mike DeVito (shoulder), S Eric Smith (knee) and G Matt Slauson (shoulder). And a surgery is scheduled for DL Marcus Dixon (shoulder).

Bart’s Fine

And as you may have heard earlier today in a tweet from us or from your favorite Green & White news outlet, the Jets issued a statement through a team spokesman: “Bart Scott was fined $10,000 by the team for his obscene gesture to a member of the media. Bart’s actions were inappropriate and unacceptable.”

Why at Seattle?

When the NFL officially announced the 2012 opponents for all teams earlier this week, several of you asked the question: Why are the Jets at Seattle again after they just went to the Pacific Northwest four years ago?

The short answer is that, as we explained a year ago regarding yet another Jets trip to Oakland in ’11, the NFL has tweaked its scheduling rotation as it regards all teams in both conferences playing the AFC West and NFC West teams.

For the longer answer (if you’re of strong constitution), let’s reflect on 2008, when the Jets made four West Coast trips, to Oakland, San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle. How did that happen? For starters, it began with the way, since the divisional realignment in 2002, that teams in one division are scheduled to play teams in every other division.

It was and still mostly is alphabetical.

For instance, in ’05 when it was the AFC East’s year to play the AFC West, Buffalo and Miami played home against Denver and Kansas City and away at Oakland and San Diego, while the (New York) Jets and New England played home vs. OAK and SD and at DEN and KC. In ’08, the home and away sites for all teams were flipped.

With this rotation, every AFCE team would play one home game and one away game against every AFCW team every six years.

Similarly, in ’04 it was the AFC East vs. the NFC West, so BUF and MIA were home for ARZ and STL and at SF and SEA, while the NYJ and NE were at ARZ and STL (Saint Louis, spelled out) and home vs. SF and SEA.

The problem: Every 12 years, the AFC East would play the AFC West and NFC West in the same season at the same sites. And so every 12 years, the stars and divisions would align and the Jets and Patriots would either have home games against four West Coast teams. And then 12 years later they’d both have four West Coast games in the same season.

That sounds like not so big a deal, once every quarter of a century. But in different years the same West Coast problem also hit all the Eastern Time Zone teams in the two North and two South divisions as well.

The NFL, which clearly likes the eight divisions and the rotation concept, wanted to break up the scheduling imbalance that resulted every year that an Eastern team found itself on the road for four West Coast trips.

The solution was to reorder the Western divisions. That began in 2009, when in the AFC West, Denver was paired no longer with Kansas City but with Oakland and KC was newly coupled with San Diego, while in the NFC West, it was Arizona-San Francisco and St. Louis-Seattle.

All Eastern TZ teams are affected, so with this new wrinkle, no Eastern team will ever have more than two West Coast trips in a season.

In 2012, with the AFCE and NFCW once again scheduled to play, it’s the first year of the Jets going on the road to play St. Louis and Seattle while staying at home for Arizona and San Francisco.

So why at Seattle? It’s because of this new rotation formula. But it was going to be either at Seattle or at San Francisco in 2012. And Arizona, almost as long a road trip, will be at the Jets’ home for two consecutive cycles (’08, ’12) for the same reason.

One more good thing: Unofficially speaking, if the Jets play Oakland in ’13 because the teams finish in the same position in their respective divisions, the game will be at the Jets. And in ’14, when it’s AFC East vs. AFC West again, the Jets-Raiders game also is set for MetLife Stadium. Possibly two consecutive home games vs. the Raiders. Who’d've thunk it?

Told you it was a long answer.

“I’m going to be in New Jersey now and I’m going to still work out,” McKnight said Monday as he and his teammates were packing up and moving out after the end of their season the day before. “I’m the first alternate to the Pro Bowl and I want to be ready in case they call me to play in the game.”

McKnight was the fans’ choice for the AFC’s kick returner in the Jan. 29 Pro Bowl in Hawaii, but that accounts for only 33 percent of the all-star voting. When the players’ and coaches’ votes were factored in, McKnight came up No. 2 behind the Steelers’ Antonio Brown, the Steelers’ regular kickoff and punt man.

Still, Joe’s showing in his first year as the Jets’ kickoff returner was sparkling. On his 34 returns, he averaged 31.6 yards, almost a full four yards better than the No. 2 man, Packers rookie Randall Cobb.

In fact, McKnight’s 31.6 is the most by a qualifying returner in the NFL in a long time. Ron Brown packed a 32.8 with three TDs for the 1985 Rams. And McKnight also becomes the fourth Jet to lead the league in KOR average, along with Justin Miller (28.3 in 2006), Ron Carpenter (27.7 in ’95) and Bobby Humphery (30.7 in ’84).

McKnight didn’t finish as strongly as he wanted. Problem No. 1 was that his fast start — returns of 50, a franchise-long 107 and 88 during that three-loss road trip in September-October — alerted opposing cover teams to his prowess.

Then came a series of physical mishaps — a dislocated finger, a knee, a toe, an elbow at Washington and a shoulder at Philadelphia. Mixed in among that were the muffed punt against New England and the fumbled kickoff at Denver.

“I think I left a couple of yards on the field,” he evaluated himself. “I got a little heavy this year, put too much weight on. I want to make sure I say in tune with everything, running, catching. I muffed a few kicks and I want to work on that. I feel like I can do more.”

He said he’s continuing treatments for his elbow and shoulder but that he won’t need any procedures done.

McKnight said he’d hate to lose one of his guiding lights on this Jets team if LaDainian Tomlinson moves on to another team or into his post-football career.

“I would love to see LT the rest of my years playing football,” he said. “I’m always going to be talking to him, keeping in contact with him. He’s basically been my mentor since I’ve been here.

“But I know this is a business. If LT’s not back, I’m the next one in line. Ad if he is, I’ve still got to do my job.”

Kerley’s Big Game

Jeremy Kerley’s 41-yard bull’s-eye completion to Matt Mulligan out of the Wildcat//Seminole/Mizzou/Texas formation in the first quarter of the Miami game was the second-longest by a non-quarterback in Jets franchise history.

The longest came in the 2009 AFC Championship Game in Lucas Oil Stadium when Brad Smith came onto the field, Mark Sanchez went off for just that play, and Smith, out of the shotgun, cranked up his 45-yard completion to Jerricho Cotchery against the Colts.

Smith that year, like Kerley this year, was listed by the Jets as a wide receiver. One could argue that Smith was more QB than WR from his four years under center at Missouri, but on the other hand, even though he got a good amount of exposure as the quarterback running the ‘Cat, I remember only one game where he got more than two plays in a row as “the man,” in the slushbowl game at New England in 2007. And that was only for a couple of series.

One thing is certain: Kerley, in the final game of his rookie season, turned in one of the most versatile performances by a Jet, along the lines of Smith and Leon Washington. Kerley had a 16-yard run, 71 yards on four receptions, the 41-yard completion and 26 yards on two punt returns. That’s 154 yards of offensive plus return yardage (it’s more than all-purpose yardage, which doesn’t include passing yardage, and more than total offense, which includes passing yardage but not returns).

The 154 yards are the most ever in a game by a player with at least one rush, reception, completion and punt return in Jets franchise history.

And unlike the previous two seasons when the Jets were stuck in the 29th/30th slots due to their advance to the AFC Championship Games, this year the Green & White are in the middle of the pack.

The Jets’ first-round selection is 16th overall. They received that slot right around the first rounds midway point due to their finish in a pack of seven 8-8 teams. The ties for draft position are broken by strength of schedule, with the weaker SOS teams selecting first. The Jets, with a .500 strength of schedule (128-128), came in right in the middle of this septet, with that rung being No. 16.

In succeeding rounds, clubs in a tied segment move up one position, with the team at the top of the tied segment dropping to the bottom. That means that at the moment in Round 2 the Jets would select 47th, then in Round 3 they’d come in at 78th.

We still don’t have the Jets’ official list of draft picks but we’ll pass that on as soon as we can.

The other 2012 info is the official release of each team’s list of opponents. We posted the unofficial list of foes at the end of Sunday night’s Jets-Dolphins game story (and corrected an early error — the Jets will host San Diego as the No. 2 team from the AFC West, not Oakland).

For those who missed it, the Jets’ 2012 opponents, which include the four teams from each of the AFC South and NFC West, are:

Home — Buffalo, Miami, New England, Houston, Indianapolis, San Diego, Arizona, San Francisco.

Away — Buffalo, Miami, New England, Jacksonville, Tennessee, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Seattle.

And although the opponents’ strength of schedule is not a strong indicator of how tough a team’s schedule will be, many like to get an idea of the strength of that schedule anyway. And the above opponents have a combined SOS of .492 (126-130).

But that’s what the Jets have observed today as, the day after their 19-17 loss at Miami and fall out of the AFC playoff picture, Jets players bagged up their shoes, workout gear and other belongings from their lockers, said goodbye to each other and in most cases to reporters, and split for the Jets’ earliest start to the offseason since 2008.

We’ll continue to bring you stories on the Jets of ’11. Eric Allen’s on-camera interviews from the locker room will be going live on newyorkjets.com later this afternoon. Andrew LeRay’s news feature on the locker room scene and comments from Mark Sanchez, Matt Slauson, Jim Leonhard, Brandon Moore and others will be live shortly.

One more highlight on our Website will be head coach Rex Ryan’s and general manager Mike Tannenbaum’s joint year-end news conference that is scheduled to be streamed live on our site at 3 p.m. ET. And shortly after the news conference concludes, it will be archived and available to be replayed at your convenience, and I’ll have a blog on the “newser.”

And one last programming note: The final “Inside the Jets” radio show will be held tonight from 7-8 p.m. at Grasshopper Off the Green in Morristown, N.J. The show will air live on the ESPN New York Website and on tape delay on ESPN New York 1050 following the broadcast of the Fiesta Bowl. The Jets guest list is still being assembled but I can reveal that in the third of three segments, my partner, Eric Allen, will make an appearance with guest host Ryan Ruocco and talk about the events of the past few days and the last several months.

Sanchez was intercepted on three short passes in Sunday’s season-ending 19-17 loss to the Dolphins in Miami. There would be no charm in his third pro season as he’ll miss the playoffs for the first time as the Jets lost their third consecutive game and finished 8-8 overall.

“That’s the first time I’ve ever had that happen,” he said of the misfortune on dump passes.

The three takeaways led to a trio of Dan Carpenter field goals for the Dolphins. The last one was the most painful as the Green & White trailed, 16-10, with 3:10 remaining, but they were in scoring position at the MIA-10. Needing 6 yards for a first down, No. 6 backed up in the pocket and threw to a covered Shonn Greene and was intercepted by OLB Marvin Mitchell.

“The third one down in the red zone, at least just give ourselves a chance on the next down,” Sanchez said. “Even if it’s fourth down, we know we’re probably going to end up going for it. You don’t want to give one up like that. I know I threw behind Shonn a little bit is what it felt like.”

Mitchell’s subsequent 55-yard return set up Carpenter’s final field goal as the Dolphins essentially sealed it with a 19-10 advantage and just 2:37 on the game clock.

Sanchez’s struggles began late in the first half. The Jets held a 10-3 lead and wanted more after S Brodney Pool intercepted a pass at the NYJ-45 with 25 seconds on the clock. On second down, the pressured quarterback found DE Randy Starks instead of LaDainian Tomlinson. And Carpenter made the Jets pay with a 58-yard boot before intermission.

The Jets relinquished their lead early in the final stanza when the Dolphins culminated a 21-play, 94-yard drive on a Matt Moore 1-yard scoring pass to FB Charles Clay. When the offense really needed a response down, 13-10, former Jet Jason Taylor got around D’Brickashaw Ferguson and closed in on Sanchez. The 25-year-old passer got rid of the rock and unfortunately threw right into the arms of Starks again.

“JT got some pressure on me and I was trying to throw the ball, avoid the sack and get it to John Conner. And Starks was right there,” Sanchez said. “To get intercepted three times on checkdowns, as frustrating as it is, is pretty rare. I have to go back and see whether it’s an accuracy issue or maybe just take the sack on that one, but we’re really trying to avoid sacks at all costs.”

Sanchez finished this disappointing afternoon 21-of-32 for 207 yards and two scores. He finished the season with 26 TDs — tying Al Dorow (1960) and Joe Namath (1967) for the second-highest single season total in team history — and he also ran for six scores. He upped his yardage total to 3,474, but he totaled 18 INTs and eight lost fumbles.

“I think he’s the long-term solution. I don’t think there’s any doubt. He’s won a lot of games for us,” said head coach Rex Ryan. “He had the three interceptions today — two of them from defensive linemen. That’s hard to explain. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before. I think Mark has all the tools to be a great quarterback. He’s been a winning quarterback here and we have to make sure we are doing everything we can for the New York Jets to be successful.”

It was another uneven performance from a team/offense that entered Week 17 ninth in scoring at 24 points/game and first in red zone efficiency with a TD rate of 66.7 percent. The Jets totaled 374 yards, but there were the turnovers, five false starts and a 4-of-11 outing on third down.

“We played well at times in spurts, just not consistent enough for us to win,” Sanchez said. “I have to play better for us to win. I can’t throw it to them three times.”

His last pass went to Patrick Turner for the wideout’s first professional score. With Santonio Holmes on the sideline, the Jets moved 80 yards on their final possession and Sanchez ended it on a 10-yard strike to Turner.

“You saw the way the other guys were playing on that last drive we had and that was probably one of our best drives of the game after three turnovers,” Sanchez said. “If there was any lack of confidence there, you’re not going to be able to drive the ball down the field.”

We’ll have to wait until September for the next time Sanchez takes a snap in a meaningful game. Football and chess sometimes can be awfully cruel.

On the punt return front, it’s better late than never. Jeremy Kerley is getting up a head of steam.

“I’m starting to feel more comfortable and more confident back there,” Kerley said of his role early in the season and now late on the calendar as the team’s main punt returner. “That’s what you need to play with. That’s what you’ve got to have as a punt returner and a kick returner. You’ve got to be confident in yourself. When something goes wrong, you’ve got to shake it off and put it in the back of your head, because you can make a mistake thinking about what just happened.”

No mistakes Saturday — Kerley was as good as he’s been all season against the Giants. His first return was a 22-yarder to near midfield to start the Jets on their opening TD drive. Then he reeled off returns of 28, 14 and 10 yards. That’s four returns for 74 yards. He had 80 yards in Game 3 at Oakland, and those two games are among the four top PR-yardage games for the Jets in the last eight seasons.

The list includes Santana Moss’ 83-yard, one-TD game in the ’04 playoff game at Pittsburgh and Leon Washington’s 77-yard outing vs. Cincinnati in ’08.

Someday Kerley is going to go the distance and that would be most welcome for coaches Mike Westhoff and Ben Kotwica and Jets fandom because that return will likely be the one that ends the Jets’ drought of 118 games without a punt-return TD, tied for the longest in the NFL. But JK’s already got some of that professional perseverance working for him. He’s not going to force the issue at Miami.

“It’ll come, it’ll come. You’ve just got to be patient,” he said. “I’m approaching this game how I approach all of the games, because when you try to do too much, that’s when something will happen.”

On the kickoff front, the Jets in theory could have the edge in any KO exchanges. With Joe McKnight and Antonio Cromartie splitting the return duties recently because of McKnight’s elbow/shoulder issues, the Jets are off of their blistering season-opening pace yet still handily lead the NFL in average drive start after returns (26.4) while Miami’s coverage is 17th in opponents’ average drive start.

McKnight has been getting full-time treatment this week as he tries to finish his first regular season by nailing down several distinctions. He currently leads the NFL with a 31.9-yard average and could become the first Jet since Justin Miller in 2006 to lead the league in that department. And he could also break Bobby Humphery’s franchise record of 30.7 yards per return, with which he led the NFL in his rookie season in 1984.

While the Jets’ kickoff returns remain among the best in the game, their kickoff coverage unit has risen to prominence and could also play a field position role Sunday. Nick Folk’s kickoffs are resulting in an opponents’ drive start of their 21.3-yard line, seventh in the league, while the Dolphins’ returners, led by rookie Clyde Gates and his 25.0 return average, are again middle of the pick, 16th in the league with an average return to their 21.8.

It’s not just the coverage of the Jets’ big four special tacklers — Nick Bellore, Josh Mauga, Jamaal Westerman and Garrett McIntyre. Folk’s hangtime has had a lot to do with the Jets’ averages and their 25 inside-the-20 stops, third in the NFL.

“I’ve always had that. My natural kick is to get it up in the air pretty good,” Folk said this week. “I’m going to work on trying to get a little more drive on it this offseason. Early in the year I had that down, then as they year went on, well, I’ve got to make sure that stays more consistent throughout the year.

“But when you’re leading the league and they’re starting right at their 20 almost every time, you can’t really get mad at that. Our guys, they want to go down there and make tackles, try to get a turnover and whatnot. They’re excited about the touchbacks, but they’re also excited to make a big play inside the 20.”

It surprised me when I went back to check on the Jets’ kickoff hangtimes that I’ve kept over the last decade. From Doug Brien through Mike Nugent and Jay Feely, none of them ever had a season in which they averaged 4.00 seconds per kickoff. The closest was Feely’s 2009 season at 3.92. Folk came in last year and averaged 4.12 seconds, and this season he’s up to 4.24, a figure that was anchored by his current streak of 41 of his last 42 kickoffs hanging for at least 4.00 seconds.

Every tenth of a second helps, especially with a season on the line in the warm Miami air Sunday.

*Special Teams Saturday

Hidden beneath the obvious enormity of the Jets’ upcoming tilt with the Miami Dolphins on Sunday is a subplot that was not likely earlier in the season. RB Shonn Greene has rebounded beautifully from a rough start to 2011 by knocking on the door of his first 1,000-yard rushing season.

The first four games of the year were unkind to Greene. Over the first quarter of the campaign, he had 157 yards on 51 carries, a shade over 3.0 yards per tote. Since then, he’s averaged 4.5 yards per carry.

“He’s had a good year,” said head coach Rex Ryan. “When you look at him, he had some tough sledding early in the season but he started coming on. This is the time of year when he usually does the most damage. We hope to give him not only this opportunity on Sunday but more opportunities.”

It’s reasonable to think that the first 1,000-yard season of a young running back’s career would be a major milestone, but Greene didn’t even know exactly where he stood until he was told today that he’s at 999 yards. He admitted knowing he was close to the landmark but not that he was only one yard away.

“It doesn’t even matter,” said Greene. “We’re just trying to get this win. I’ve been saying that since I got here. We’re just trying to win games.”

In addition to Greene crossing the 1,000-yard barrier, another Jets tailback will attempt to add another accolade to his own legend. RB LaDainian Tomlinson is only 34 yards behind RB Jerome Bettis as the NFL’s fifth-leading rusher of all time.

Tomlinson is a free agent at the season’s end. Whether he stays, signs elsewhere or ultimately decides to retire, he has had profound impact on the younger Greene in his two-year tenure with the Jets.

“He means a lot to my success and to this team’s success,” said Greene. “He’s a Hall of Fame player. If he decides to hang it up, it’s too bad but it’s well-deserved. He’s done about everything you can as a running back in this league.”

The two backs will shoot for their respective benchmarks against a hungry Dolphins squad that no one in the locker room takes lightly.

“They’ve been playing hard lately,” said Greene. “Even though they don’t have a chance [for the playoffs], they’ve been playing hard. Teams like that are the most dangerous.”

Ryan and his team know the danger of travelling to Miami to play at Sun Life Stadium. Ryan wouldn’t go so far as to guarantee a victory over the Fish on Sunday. However, that didn’t prevent him from guaranteeing something else.

“I know how I am with my guarantees,” said Rex, “but I guarantee Shonn goes over 1,000.”

Injury Update

Dolphins RB Reggie Bush has been ruled out for Sunday’s game with a knee injury. Miami’s leading rusher finishes the season with a career-best 1,086 yards on the ground and added six rushing touchdowns. Today in Miami, interim coach Todd Bowles said “a combo of people” will fill in for Bush, among them Lex Hilliard, Steve Slaton and rookie Daniel Thomas.

Dolphins CB Jimmy Wilson is listed as doubtful with a hamstring injury, and WR Clyde Gates, Miami’s kickoff returner, is questionable with a groin injury.

The Jets turn in a surprisingly clean bill of health for Week 17, with only one player listed as questionable. LB Garrett McIntyre injured his knee on the opening kickoff of last week’s game against the Giants, and practiced in a limited capacity on Friday after not having practiced at all earlier in the week. He will make the trip to South Florida and a decision will be made on his availability prior to gametime. In addition to his linebacking duties, McIntyre is a major contributor on special teams, where he has totaled 18 tackles this season.

All the other injured Jets are listed as probable for Sunday, including CB Antonio Cromartie (hamstring), who appeared on the injury report for the first time today and was limited during team drills.

Rex Ryan pulled his players together before practice today — a rarity for a Thursday during the season — to reinforce that the Jets “have a heck of an opportunity in front of us” Sunday at Miami.

One of the faces in the crowd was LaDainian Tomlinson, who surely agreed with and internalized the head coach’s message about the possibility of beating the Dolphins, getting favorable results in three other games, and thus getting into the playoffs. But being a mature man and a realist, Tomlinson also knows there’s an alternate reality that could also play out, which is that Sunday could be the last game of the Jets’ 2011 season.

And thus, it could also be the last game of Tomlinson’s remarkable career.

“There’s definitely a thought that this possibly could be because you never know how things shake out,” LT told reporters at his locker in the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center this afternoon. “For me, it just depends on the situation. I’d like to keep playing but if the situation is not right, I won’t. It’s possible that this could be my last game.”

That, Tomlinson said, “feels weird, but this is how I see it. If it is my last game, I’ve enjoyed 11 years of playing football, playing a kids’ game, for two great organizations. Being here the last couple of years, I’ve really enjoyed my time here. The fans have been great, my teammates have been great, the coaching staff … there’s nothing I can complain about.”

The Jets have not commented on interest in brining back Tomlinson for year 12 overall and year 3 in green and white. While he said he wants to keep playing and appreciates his time with the Jets, he won’t be under contract in a few months and said he’s open to anything. “It doesn’t have to be here. It could be another place. I’m just hoping to keep playing football.”

If Tomlinson’s 32nd game (including playoffs) as a Jet and the 180th of his career at Sun Life Stadium is his finale, it will be a grand one because it has been a grand run. He currently is the active leader in rushing attempts (3,163), rushing yards (13,628), rushing touchdowns (145), total TDs (162), yards from scrimmage (18,337) and offensive touches (3,783).

He’s been a respected leader and contributor to the Jets attack for the past two years, although this season’s numbers have been career lows as he moved into the third-down backfield role while backing up Shonn Greene. But he’s had his Jets highlights all the same, with his 133-yard game at Buffalo last year, his first 100-yard receiving game in eight seasons featuring a career-long-equaling 74-yard reception at Oakland this season, and his first Jets home touchdown (after scoring 11 in road games) on a 19-yard reception vs. the Chiefs.

And there could be at least one more big moment while wearing Jets uniform No. 21. If Tomlinson can gain 35 rushing yards against the ‘Fins, he’ll move a yard ahead of Jerome Bettis’ career total of 13,662 yards and into fifth place on the NFL’s all-time list, right behind No. 4, Curtis Martin.

“I had no idea,” he told my partner, Eric Allen, of the closeness of that next milestone. “But I think it will be cool because I wore number 5 throughout my college career. To finish No. 5, I’m not saying it’s my last year, but that would be significant to me.”

Then there could be playoff highlights after Sunday, as Ryan reminded the team. And after that last game of the ’11 season, whenever it is, there will be the offseason wait until Tomlinson either signs another NFL contract or announces his retirement.

“I’m going to just wait and see what happens,” he said.

Rex Cetera

Ryan on the impromptu team message today: “I don’t do that very often but I had a feeling I wanted to say something. … I just wanted to remind them of the opportunity that’s in front of us. It’s a little different from the last two years. We really haven’t been in this position. Obviously we were already in the playoffs last year [before Game 16]. The year before, we knew if we won we were in the playoffs. This is a different scenario than we’ve had. I just wanted make sure I expressed that, hey, we still have a heck of an opportunity in front of us and just practice accordingly.”

The Jets’ injury report remains basically the same today as Wednesday. LB/ST Garrett McIntyre, who injured his knee on the opening kickoff against the Giants, did not practice again, but Ryan said, “It seems like he’s getting quite a bit better. I’m still not ready to say he’s out of the game or in for the game.” The only change was Tomlinson (quadriceps) moving from limited Wednesday to full-go in team drills today.

For the Dolphins, only one change: T Marc Colombo (ankle) went from DNP to limited at today’s team drills in South Florida. RB Reggie Bush (knee), CB Jimmy Wilson (hamstring) and LB Karlos Dansby (non-injury-related) did not practice for the second straight day.

Watch Tomlinson: ‘It’s Possible This Could be My Last Game’

“We have all the talent in the world,” said TE Dustin Keller. “At every single position we feel confident in any guy we put out there with a 1-on-1 matchup that they’re going to win. Just to not come out and perform to the expectations that we set for ourselves is very disappointing. But hopefully it’s something we can get corrected as soon as possible, some things go our way, and we get into the playoffs.”

Keller was one of the few offensive bright spots against the Giants, hauling in eight passes for 77 yards. But the offense averaged just 3.7 yards a play, committed three turnovers and converted just four of 21 third downs. The Jets didn’t have a pass play longer than 15 yards and they have struggled to get explosion plays when they’ve turned to the air.

“We have a lot of calls of plays to be thrown down the field, but for some reason or another we’re not hitting those or we’re not really attempting those shots that we’ve had in the past,” DK said. “It’s something we have to get corrected and get better at. Hopefully it’s something that we correct immediately.”

After Mark Sanchez had 67 dropbacks (59 pass attempts, five sacks, three scrambles) last weekend, the Jets plan to establish more balance against the Dolphins. In the clubs’ first meeting at MetLife Stadium back on Oct. 17, Sanchez attempted 25 passes while Shonn Greene (21 carries, 74 yards) and LaDainian Tomlinson (7-25) combined for 28 carries.

The Jets ended up winning that contest, 24-6, but the offense got off to a very slow start. Darrelle Revis’ 100-yard interception return gave the Green & White an early lead and the offense didn’t get a first down until there was 5:33 left in the second stanza.

“I think in October the Dolphins were still playing pretty good defense. Now they’ve picked it up a notch in all phases,” Keller said. “Their D-Line gets to the quarterback really well and they’re good against the run. I think they’re third-best in the league against the run. They definitely do a lot of things really well. It’s going to be a really good challenge for us.”

Slow starts haven’t been a problem of late as the Jets have opened with a touchdown drive in three of their past four games. However, against the Giants they marched down with a 53-yard scoring drive that culminated on Sanchez’s 5-yard toss to Josh Baker and then things got ugly for most of the afternoon.

“Scoring on the first drive is something we’ve always strived for and we’ve always been known for starting slow and coming back, having these fourth-quarter comebacks,” DK said. “But you can’t be satisfied with the early start and then drop off the rest of the game. You have to maintain that.”

Execution comes down to being precise with the details. This is the same offense that was rolling just a couple of weeks ago, having converted 12 straight inside the red zone from late in Week 11 until the first drive of Week 15.

“It’s a lot of small things, whether it is the depth of your routes or us not being in sync with each other as far as what the hot route is off of,” Keller said. “Things like that can destroy your plays and we have to get those things fixed.”

If the offense gets going against the Dolphins and the Jets get some help, things can get fixed in a hurry.

“That’s the ultimate task, to just get it done — win our game,” Keller said. “That’s the one thing we can control, so we’re going to be focused on that.”

Watch Keller: ‘There’s Still a Possibility for Us’

Rex Ryan wasn’t his usual ebullient self, no doubt because his Jets have their backs to the wall this week heading toward Miami on New Year’s Day. But he said he and his Jets are as confident as they can be in the position they’re in.

“I think our attitude’s good,” the head coach assessed. “We wish we controlled our own destiny. We don’t. But shoot, we’ve still got a shot at the playoffs. I think the attitude is great and we’re all excited to play.”

The Jets could surely have a range of emotions for this one: bummed out because they had control of that destiny for the past two weeks only to lose games at Philadelphia and home against the Giants, yet energized because they know that this week their only paths to the postseason require a win over Miami (plus some help from three of their friends).

“Everything you do in the offseason, all the practices, training camps, minicamps — well, no minicamps this year — all the games, the whole season, is to get to where you have a chance at the playoffs,” Ryan said. “Obviously you’d like to be in a different circumstance, but it’s a lot easier when there’s a chance to make the playoffs to motivate your guys. It’s right there in front of us. That’s not an issue.”

If LB Aaron Maybin’s approach is an indication of his teammates’ mood this week, Rex is right.

“It’s do or die, and it has nothing to do with the Miami Dolphins,” Maybin said. “It has nothing to do with anything else other than this is what we put ourselves in. We need to get a win. However that needs to happen, whatever we need to do, when we come back into the locker room down there, we have to have a victory.”

If only it were that easy, it would already have been done. But the Jets’ mistakes and inconsistencies have led them to this juncture.

“This is the first time I have ever been in a situation like this,” WR Plaxico Burress said late today. “We left everything get out of our own hands. All we can do is go out there and win this game and see what happens. If we do get in, great. If things don’t work out, we have nobody to blame but ourselves.”

Ryan is still voting for the Jets getting in.

“I’m confident we can right the ship this week,” he said. “That’s all that matters right now. It doesn’t matter what happened behind us. We’ve got to focus on right now, stay in the present and hope there’s a future.”

Ryan on the Pro Bowl Jets

Ryan is, as he said, like every other NFL head coach when it comes to Pro Bowl time. In his first comments after Tuesday night’s announcements of the AFC and NFC all-star squads, he had a few comments on the three Jets who have been named to the roster and the three who are alternates waiting for the call if and when injuries and the Super Bowl pulls players away from their positions.

Rex on AFC starting CB Darrelle Revis: “I’m proud of the fact that Darrelle made the first team. If he didn’t, there shouldn’t be a game.”

On reserve O-linemen Nick Mangold and D’Brickashaw Ferguson: “Obviously both guys are deserving. That [Mike] Pouncey, we’re playing [Maurkice] Pouncey’s twin brother [in Miami]. He must be real good if he can start over Nick Mangold. I know he’s a great player, but I think Nick’s the best center in the league.”

First alternate kick returner Joe McKnight: “From where he was last year, the improvements he made, I think that’s impressive as well and we told him that he should be really proud of himself.”

Ryan saved his most robust statements for his two second alternates, LB David Harris and G Brandon Moore:

“Let the facts speak for themselves — David Harris has five sacks, four interceptions, probably twice as many as any other linebacker. … I told him we are going to get him to the Pro Bowl next year. All he has to do is play exactly how he played this year but take a dance class this summer, do something. If there’s ever a guy that’s deserving of it, it’s David Harris.

“And Brandon, statistically he’s the only guard in the league that has not given up a sack or a hit on the quarterback. Now, he came off hip surgery so he wasn’t blocking people on their backs the way he did the year before because he’s getting healthy, but maybe you ought to look at that. The guy’s a pretty good player. I told him, ‘It’s because you’re not very nice.’ If he was nicer, maybe he’d get more votes.”

Rex Cetera

Jets injury picture is OK. LB/ST Garrett McIntyre (knee) is the only player who didn’t participate in today’s practice. Six were limited — CB Marquice Cole (knee), DT Mike DeVito (knee), G Brandon Moore (hip), S Eric Smith (knee), RB LaDainian Tomlinson (quad) and DE Muhammad Wilkerson (knee). Ferguson (foot) was the only new name on the full-go list.

“We’re concerned with Garrett a little bit. We’ll see how he does during the week,” said Ryan. “I’m really not sure about his availability. I feel good about everybody else.”

For the Dolphins, they will be without LT Jake Long, who was placed on injured reserve today after suffering a torn right biceps on Christmas Eve vs. the Patriots.

Regarding Miami’s injury report, four players were DNPs today: RB Reggie Bush (knee), T Marc Colombo (ankle), CB Jimmy Wilson (hamstring) and LB Karlos Dansby (non-injury-related). WRs Brandon Marshall (knee) and Edmond Gates (groin) were limited during team drills. TE Anthony Fasano (head) and CB Vontae Davis (elbow) practiced full.

Rex said LB Ricky Sapp will be signed from the practice squad to the 53-man roster. He will take the spot vacated with the waiving of WR Eron Riley announced Tuesday night.

That, in fact, was the hook in the Jets head coach’s talk with his players today, two days after their bitterly disappointing loss to the Giants and a day after Christmas, as he told the team’s reporters on a conference call this afternoon.

“Going forward, what I talked to the players about today was that there’s hope and possibilities. Obviously the game against Miami is critical,” Ryan said. “When you look at all the factors involved, the most difficult thing to happen, I think, is for us to beat the Dolphins.

“They’re playing extremely well, doing a great job on defense. [Coordinator] Mike Nolan’s doing a great job down there, he has those guys really playing. And then offensively, they’re moving the ball well. I don’t know the health issues of Reggie Bush but he’s had a great year, 1,000 yards rushing. Of all the scenarios, that might be the biggest one.”

The Jets’ entire new playoff scenario in a nutshell is that they need to beat the Dolphins while they also need the Titans to lose to the Texans, also at 1 p.m. ET, while they also need the Bengals to fall to the Ravens and either the Broncos to lose to the Chiefs or the Raiders to lose to the Chargers.

All of those last three games will kick off at 4:15 p.m. after the NFL made its last flexible scheduling changes Sunday. So the timeline will be that the Jets will fly out of Fort Lauderdale knowing either that the are in all likelihood out of the playoffs if Tennessee wins, but if the Titans lose, the Jets will then know when they land back in Newark on New Year’s Night if they have a wild-card game to prepare for the following weekend.

This is the fate they have made for themselves with the losses to the Eagles and Giants the past two weeks. But it is the only rocky road left for the Green & White to make it to the playoffs, and as Ryan said, “You’d hate to have everything fall into place and us not take care of our own business, so that’s where our focus is. When the guys come back on Wednesday, we’ll be dialed in, everything will be behind us, and we’ll still have an opportunity to make the playoffs, albeit not near as good as it would’ve been if we had beaten the Giants.”

As far as that game, Ryan said, “You’ve got to give credit to the Giants. They played a great game, they played a better game than us. They deserved to win.”

One question dealt specifically with Ryan’s talking during the week’s buildup to the Giants showdown and the fact that some Giants players said some of that talk had them feeling disrespected.

“I think the day I walked in here, maybe I felt that I didn’t want to be the little brother or whatever … that’s who I am,” he said. “Maybe it’s not the traditional way of doing things or whatever, but for me this is who I am, this is how I believe. I made the statements and like I said before, I’ll stand by everything I said. Did it work out? No, and I’ll be the first one to say it never worked out. I’m responsible for that. And obviously the Giants were the better team that day, without question, so I deserve the criticism that I take for it. I definitely deserve it.”

The criticism won’t be going away anytime soon if this weekend doesn’t work out in the Jets’ favor. Some will say that no matter what, the Jets don’t deserve the playoffs, but as Will Munny says in “Unforgiven,” “Deserve’s got nothin’ to do with it.” The system is what it is. The Jets are in this position because of how they’ve played, both good and bad, along with how a lot of other teams around them have played.

One might say the Jets deserve whatever they get. If they win and squeak in again with the help of others, as they did in ’09 and ’02, or if they win and get bumped by the tiebreakers, or if they have no answers for the ‘Fins and lose on Sunday, then that’s what they’ll merit.

But winning always beats the alternative. So here’s a vote for seeing the Jets’ best this week, having a rockin’ New Year’s Eve, whether in Times Square or South Beach, and then seeing where the Jets’ final regular-season effort on the first day of 2012 takes them.

Rex Cetera

Ryan said S Brodney Pool had some headaches during the game but has been cleared medically to play Sunday. S Eric Smith continues to fight through a knee injury, and Sanchez “took some hits but he’s fine.” The coach thinks all of his current roster will be available for the ‘Fins.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. And the same goes for the Jets, who will need several presents from their distant relatives next weekend to feel better about the holidays and reach the playoff wonderland for the third time under head coach Rex Ryan.

Here are the different scenarios with explanations to help you get through today and head into the coming week’s preparation for the Dolphins:

First of all, the Jets have to win and the Bengals have to lose. In addition, if the 9-7 teams vying for the sixth seed are …

1. JETS and CIN only (TEN loses and either DEN or OAK loses)

The Jets are in as the AFC’s sixth seed.

The Jets’ conference record would improve to 7-5 with a win at MIA, while the Bengals’ conference record would fall to 6-6 with a home loss to BAL.

Will the Ravens have something to play for? You betcha. A BAL loss and a PIT win at CLE gives the AFC North title to the Steelers at 12-4 and the Ravens would go in as the fifth seed, on the road for Wild Card Week. A BAL win OR a PIT loss gives the Ravens the 2-seed, a bye week and a home game at M&T Bank Stadium, where they just finished their 8-0 regular season.

2. JETS, CIN and TEN (either DEN or OAK loses)

Jets are out.

CIN beat TEN in Week 9 but that washes out because the Jets didn’t play either team. In Scenario 1 above, CIN falls away due to conference record, but Jets and TEN, with a win at HOU, would both be at 7-5. Next tiebreaker is common opponents. Titans win, 4-1 to 3-2.

Does Houston have something to play for? No. Their AFC South title and first-ever playoff appearance is locked up. But even with a win to go to 11-5 and BAL and PIT losses to drop both to 11-5, the Texans cannot get the 2-seed because BAL would win the AFC North and the Texans lost to the Ravens in Week 6. This is not a good scenario for the Jets.

3. JETS, CIN and OAK (TEN loses, DEN wins)

Jets are out

The only way OAK gets into a wild-card tiebreaker scenario is if the Raiders, vs. SD, and the Broncos, vs. KC, both win. DEN wins the AFC West based on a better common-opponents mark than OAK, 8-6 to 7-7. The Broncos can’t be in a tiebreaker scenario with the Jets. Either they win the West at 9-7 or they finish second at 8-8.

CIN didn’t play OAK so the Raiders’ Week 3 win over the Jets doesn’t matter … yet. Next tiebreaker is conference record, with CIN again falling out at 6-6 to the Jets’ and Raiders’ 7-5. Then the Jets and OAK revert to the first tiebreaker, head-to-head. This is where the Raiders’ 34-24 win over the Green & White comes in and why the Jets go bye-bye.

4. JETS, CIN, TEN and OAK

Jets are out.

Originally (and as we mentioned, unofficially) we saw a possibility of the Jets being able to make up a strength of victory deficit to OAK and TEN, but upon further review, that can’t happen.

CIN again is a quick elimination based on conference record. Then it’s the Jets, Titans and Raiders in a tiebreaker steel-cage match. TEN and OAK didn’t play so head-to-head-to-head is out. Conference records would be identical 7-5′s. Common opponents requires a minimum of four games and these three combined only have three games each against common foes, so that’s out. On to strength of victory.

Based on current records plus the assumed wins or losses by teams to force this four-way tie, the Raiders’ strength of victory is now 62-78, the Titans’ 57-81 and the Jets’ 52-87. The Jets can make up only five wins (if DAL, JAX, WAS and BUF also win, with the Bills counting twice because the Jets beat them twice), not enough to catch the Raiders.

One final note: If the Jets do get in as the sixth seed, their first game would be at Houston vs. the third-seeded Texans.

These scenarios are not official, so if you see or hear something amiss above or just want to make a comment, come on down. We’ll be open (an hour here, an hour there) for Christmas.

Plays and Drives at Jets-Giants

The Jets’ 89 offensive plays Saturday was the sixth-most in a game in franchise history, the second-most in a non-overtime game, and the most in a home non-OT game. The only regulation match with more Jets plays were their 91 snaps, coincidentally on Christmas Eve, in the 34-20 loss to the Ravens (with Rex Ryan as their DL coach) to end the 2000 season.

The 64 dropbacks by Sanchez (59 passes, five sacks) was tied for third-most in a game in Green & White annals. The only games with more dropbacks were that ’00 Ravens game (70) and vs. the Baltimore Colts at home in 1970 (65).

Victor Cruz’s 99-yard catch-and-run from Eli Manning was not only the longest play from scrimmage by an opponent in Jets franchise history but also equaled the longest opponent drive by yards in Jets history. In the last quarter century there have been only three other 99-yard drives — at Buffalo in ’99, vs. the Ravens at home in ’98 and at Miami in ’89.

“The one thing I can say is this is a team sport and we’ve been struggling as a team the whole year,” said Revis, one of the club’s two defensive captains. “It’s been up and down. The offense may show up one week, the next week the defense may show up, and the week after that the special teams may show up. It’s been really rough this year for us and we have to get back to playing great football like we did in the past.”

Revis was phenomenal throughout the game, totaling five passes defended. He helped the Green & White get back in the ballgame in the fourth quarter, deflecting an Eli Manning pass intended for Hakeem Nicks into the hands of David Harris. That takeaway not only set up a Mark Sanchez touchdown that cut the deficit to 20-14 but the pick immediately followed Sanchez’s lost fumble on third-and-goal from the NYG-1.

“At that time, I think we really regained the momentum. We needed a key play and that’s all we were talking about on defense was trying to get turnovers and either score or give the ball back to the offense,” he said. “We did. They threw a slant on me, I kind of deflected it and David caught it. It was good. We were in plus territory, helping our offense score for us.”

Nobody in their right mind would have thought the Jets could lose this game if Manning finished with nine completions. But that’s what happened as he completed just 33 percent of his tosses but averaged 25 yards a completion.

“We got off a lot on third downs and showed them different looks, we really did,” Revis said. “We had a great game plan. We felt like we were going to be aggressive and attack them this week. But in the passing game, a couple of balls they made big plays and we couldn’t make the tackle.”

The Jets looked to be in control late in the first half, up, 7-3. MetLife Stadium was jumping and Manning faced a third-and-10 from his own 1. The opposition QB found speedy Victor Cruz, who sidestepped Kyle Wilson and Antonio Cromartie tackle attempts and outraced S Eric Smith down the sideline for a 99-yard score. It was the longest play from scrimmage that the Jets had ever given up.

“You never think a play is going to happen like that where somebody takes it distance — 99 yards. We just have to be better,” Revis said. “There were some missed tackles. We just have to get the guy on the ground and we failed to do that, and he went storming down the sideline 99 yards.”

The Jets trailed, 10-7, at half after that historic conversion. The score remained unchanged until the Giants use three long gainers — a 36-yarder to Cruz, a 28-yard Brandon Jacobs run and a 14-yard scoring charge from Ahmad Bradshaw — to culminate a four-play, 81-yard drive that made it 17-7.

“We made mistakes. Normally in November and December, you don’t want to be making these mistakes as a team and that’s what it comes down to,” Revis said. “We have to be more consistent and do our jobs.”

After Sanchez’s fourth-quarter score, the defense didn’t yield the momentum. They forced a three-and-out and the Jets took over at midfield down just six with 5:39 remaining. But the good field position was wasted as the offense also went three-and-out.

The defense yielded a bit on the next Giants possession but still forced another punt and Sanchez and company took over at their own 8. Then Chris Canty got Sanchez for a safety and Bradshaw put the game away on a 19-yard romp after an “onside” free kick.

“It’s real sad right now. We needed this win,” Revis said. “We made mistakes and they outplayed us. They made more plays than we did and they made them look humongous. You have to take your hat off to them. They made a lot of plays.”

In a must-win for both teams, the Jets didn’t have enough answers and Revis continued to say as much. He played a hell of a football game on Christmas Eve but his team lost. The Jets will stay in must-win mode next week in Miami and they’ll have to win that game and get some help to return to the postseason.

“We may talk the talk, but we have to walk the walk as well,” said the NFL’s top cornerback.

For the Jets, things look good. Fourteen players remain listed, with only two questionable for Saturday’s game against the Giants — RB-KR Joe McKnight (elbow, shoulder) and CB Marquice Cole (knee). There is no media availability at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center today, but on Thursday head coach Rex Ryan said McKnight would be a gametime decision and Cole didn’t look even that promising. We’ll see tomorrow around 11:30 a.m., which is the time by when all teams playing at 1 p.m. ET must submit their inactive lists.

All the other 12 Jets are listed as probable, including LB David Harris, who did not practice Thursday due to a non-injury-related situation, and the two WRs who were listed with illnesses earlier in the week, Plaxico Burress and Jeremy Kerley, not to mention QB Mark Sanchez (neck, full practice). See the Jets’ full report here.

The Giants are not quite the picture of health that the Jets are. They have listed three players out for this game: TE Jake Ballard (knee), DE Osi Umenyiora (ankle/knee) and LB Mark Herzlich (ankle).

Additionally, WR Mario Manningham (knee) is doubtful and RB D.J. Ware (knee) is questionable. Six other Giants are probable, including RB Ahmad Bradshaw (foot), who went from limited on Wednesday to not participating in team drills Thursday to limited again today.

“I’m playing against my old team. It just couldn’t be a better setting,” he told newyorkjets.com in an interview that will air on our Website early this afternoon. “This is what New York City’s all about. The fans are going to be excited, we’re going to be excited. And me myself — I’m going to be amped up, ready to go. I just can’t wait for Saturday to get here.”

Burress, who has been a red-zone sensation with seven of his eight TDs coming inside the opponents’ 20, wants to put points on the board. After his two-plus seasons out of pro football, the magnitude of this contest is something he relishes.

“I would think they’re going to try to keep me out of the end zone. I’m trying my hardest to get in there once or twice or maybe even three,” he said. “I’m going to be excited, I’m going to play my tail off. Those guys know when I play in games like this, I just look to go to another level.”

The last time these teams played was at the old Meadowlands and the Jets didn’t have an answer for the 6’5”, 232-pound Burress. Donning the blue on Oct. 7, 2007, Burress caught five balls for 124 yards, including the game-winning 53-yard TD in the 35-24 win for New York’s NFC representative.

That game was a couple of months prior to the Giants’ title run as Burress torched the Packers in the NFC Championship Game (11-154) and then tacked on the game-winner against the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.

A lot has changed since, but Burress remains familiar with many Giants coaches and players.

“I think they’re going to have some different wrinkles for us defensively. I don’t think they’re going to just sit back there and give us vanilla coverages,” he said. “You always have to prepare for different wrinkles and we just have to make adjustments on the fly.

“One thing about a Giants team is they’re always going to be coached well under Coach Coughlin. It’s going to be a physical football game and I’ll say that the team that makes the least mistakes is going to win the game.”

If Burress does reach the end zone, he doesn’t have anything planned out of the ordinary. The 34-year-old is more concerned with helping his team win more than anything else.

“It’s going to be nothing crazy. It’s going to be me just doing what I do, just taking a bow,” he said. “I just want to go out and have an impact. If it’s me drawing double coverage and allowing Santonio or Dustin to catch one, two or three touchdowns, then it’s all the same. I just want to go in there, have an impact and play at a high level and win the game.”

Most people expect a close affair between New York’s two teams and Burress wouldn’t be surprised if it was decided in the fourth quarter.

“It’s going to be a tough game because it is what it is. The loser of this game doesn’t go to the playoffs and they haven’t been to the playoffs in the last two years,” he said. “Nobody wants to sit home and watch football in January — I know that I don’t. It’s going to be physical. Everyone is going to be playing hard until the clocks says triple zeroes. It’s going be one of those games you remember for the rest of your life.”

This will be a weekend to remember for Burress. He’ll play in a meaningful football game on Saturday, and then he’ll be surrounded at home this Christmas with his wife, Tiffany, son, Elijah, and daughter, Giovanna.

“My wife and I were just talking about the other day just where we were 12 months ago outside of football, pertaining to life in general,” he said. “Being home with my kids and my wife for the first time in two years and celebrating Christmas — Christmas morning is definitely going to be emotional, a real heartfelt day for myself. These are the things that you look forward to, being able to have that quiet time with your family and spending holidays with them. These times are precious in life.”

Burress had this to say about the Jets’ “Thursday Night Ice Cream Socials,” as revealed by head coach Rex Ryan earlier in the week.

“Rocky Road baby, I got to have my rocky road,” Plax said with a huge laugh. “Don’t slight me on the marshmallows, either.

“It’s just a good time for us to kick back and go over some of the coverages and different looks that teams are giving us and our own plan. It’s a good time for us to sit down and have that relationship off of the football field, go to the classroom and assess what the defenses are doing to take away some of the things we like to do. For the past few weeks, it’s coming. You can see us progressing in the passing game.”

Jets TV Before, After the Game

If you’re in the New York TV market, you can catch Jets programming before and after the game’s telecast on Fox. Before kickoff, watch Jets Flight Plan presented by JetBlue on WCBS Channel 2 at 11:30 a.m. ET. Featured is head coach Rex Ryan’s Jets-Giants game preview.

Then in the wee hours after the game, catch Jets Huddle presented by Chevyoffers.com at 12:30 a.m. on CBS 2. Host Sione Pouha sits down with Plaxico Burress while Brandon Moore delivers some holiday joy to the kids of the Newark Boys and Girls Club. Then to top off the show in the early hours of Christmas morning, warm up down on the beaches of Aruba for the making of the 2012 Flight Crew Calendar. Check CBS’ listings for any late updates here.

Hall of a Game

The Jets-Giants game has attracted, among others, the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The Hall features a Throwback Game of the Week on its Website and this week’s featured game is the Green & Whtie vs. Big Blue. You’ll find the HOF’s presentation here.

“The beauty of it is we get a chance to put it behind us quick,” said LB Calvin Pace. “This was the perfect week. It was a short week, we didn’t have to travel, everything lined up for us.”

Sunday’s performance was so disappointing, Pace said the team was not subjected to watching any video from Philadelphia. Some chose to watch it on their own time, but Pace had no need to relive the nightmare.

“We just have to keep moving,” said Pace. “It wasn’t anything I want to remember.”

All that concerns the Green & White right now is Big Blue. Come Saturday evening, one team’s season will be on life support. Combine the gravity of the game with the natural rivalry that accompanies two teams who share home digs, and you have the recipe for a unique day.

“It’s funny, this game here. You’ve got two home teams. When do you ever see that?” Pace said. “We just have to come out fast and throw their offense off their rhythm from the start.”

The Giants offense doesn’t shy away from its reputation as a vertical passing team. Their approach may fly in the face of those of past Giants teams, but they’re second in the NFL in yards per completion at 13.38, which is only 0.19 yards behind the Green Bay Packers.

Conversely, the Jets allow 12.52 yards per completion, 24th in the league.

“Watching them on film, you can tell when they start clicking, moving the ball, getting big chunk plays,” said Pace. “Typically, if you look at our season, that’s how we’ve been gashed, with big plays down the field. Darrelle [Revis] and those guys have to be on point, and up front we have to be good, too. It’s going to take all 11.”

Pace knows the threat QB Eli Manning and the Giants offense bring, but also knows his team is ready for the challenge.

“We just have to make him uncomfortable,” said Pace. “He’s just like his brother. If you let him sit back there clean, he’s the greatest ever. We’ll get him to move around a little bit and get some hands in his face.”

Injury Pictures

LB David Harris did not practice today due to a non-injury-related matter. Reports are that Harris is expected to become a father any day now. Head coach Rex Ryan said, “Yes, he’ll definitely play” on Saturday.

WR Santonio Holmes (hip) was added to the Jets’ list of limited players, now at five. DT Mike DeVito (knee) are S Eric Smith (knee) are expected to play, RB-KR Joe McKnight (elbow/shoulder) is “maybe a game-timer,” and CB Marquice Cole (knee) is “probably not looking that good” to play vs. the Giants.

Both ill Jets WRs, Plaxico Burress and Jeremy Kerley, were back out on the field and full-go during team drills.

For the Giants, their 11-man injury list has the same names, but one player went from limited in Wednesday’s practice to DNP today — RB Ahmad Bradshaw. The Giants’ five other DNPs: TE Jake Ballard, LB Mark Herzlich, WR Mario Manningham, DE Osi Umenyiora and RB D.J. Ware.

My quest to find the most knowledgeable football fans has led me to this realization. The Jets fans actually have the most football smarts. The stats prove it!

The story starts way back in August when I was arguing with my cousin in Indiana about which fans know the most football. His contention was that the Colts fans keep up with more teams because they used to play in the AFC East and now the AFC South (along with their proximity to the Bears and their rivalries). I felt that with so many teams in the Northeast along with the biggest TV markets, New York would be my pick. I mean, we argue about sports all the time and use historical references to back it up.

How do we settle this argument? I was surprised to find out there WASN’T an “app for that.” So my friends and I decided to make one.

We had to start by creating a database of football trivia questions. But the questions had to be fun, unique and engaging. We got a team of friends to help research and write more than 800 questions ranging from NFL History to Stats to Memorable Plays to Films About Football.

The first 100 were easy, because they were off the top of my head. Let me tell ya, I have a lot more respect for those who write questions for a living. The questions have to be worded so that there can be only one possible answer. And they have to be relevant!

I could take you through the amazing process of creating an app and explain how our team at Square One worked together in the most collaborative way, but that’s for another time. Let’s just pretend we’re on one of those cooking shows, and the pre-made cake was magically baked in 10 seconds. With app fully completed and in hand, we had tailgaters from all over the nation play Season Pass.

What we found was that while fans in each city knew their team very well, fans in New York had the best overall knowledge of the league. Most of the Indianapolis fans remembered that Peyton Manning shared an MVP with Steve McNair but couldn’t tell you who took back the fumble in the ’78 Miracle in the Meadowlands. Jets fans not only knew all four of their team’s 2000 first-round draft picks but also knew who was the son of “Huggy Bear.”

I had a feeling the Jets fans would step up to the challenge, but the numbers were staggering. After Sunday’s tally was complete, here are the rankings based on fan points:

1. New York Jets fans — 230,254

2. New York Giants fans — 84,165

3. Houston fans —- 55,680

4. Indianapolis fans — 40,585

5. Chicago fans — 33,297

As the number of people playing the app has increased dramatically, the numbers are bound to change. For now though, the Jets fans are at the top of the heap. So leave your comments and tell us why you think Jets fans know so much more about the NFL at itunes.apple.com/us/app/season-pass-football.

The Jets need us to go green in a big way once again.

Head coach Rex Ryan said he wasn’t challenging Jets fans but rather asking them politely to “Green It” when they select their gamewear for Saturday afternoon’s Jets-Giants collision at MetLife Stadium.

“I remember when we played Cincinnati in a similar situation where we had to win to get into the playoffs,” Ryan said at his daily news conference of the “Win And We’re In” 2009 regular-season finale. “Feeling the presence of our fans, I never thought anybody could beat us that day. I really felt that way and our team went out and played that way.

“And I think if we get that kind of energy out of our fans, it’s going to go a long way to helping us achieve what we want to do and that’s have a huge win on Saturday and keep our playoff hopes alive.”

That night of the 37-0 domination of the equally playoff-bound Bengals was a site and sound to behold, one of the most memorable home games in Jets fandom history.

There have been a few others before and after, of course. First-year NFL linebacker Garrett McIntyre remembered this year’s opening night game, the Sept. 11 anniversary game against the Cowboys.

“I go back to that game,” McIntyre said. “It was the first game of the season so everybody was hyped up for that and the fact it was 9/11. But for us to battle back and the fans were loud and passionate at the end, that was probably the best … but it was my first NFL game, too, so that might have something to do with that.”

Fullback John Conner seconded Mac’s nomination but added another favorite, the Monday night 24-6 win over the Dolphins on Oct. 17.

“I thought the fans did a great job that night. It was a big win for us on national TV,” Conner said. “We had a lot of fun as a team that night. Hopefully we’ll have a lot of people there supporting us and hopefully more fans will be in green than in blue.”

Certainly Giants fans are quite resourceful and will find a way to have representation at this Jets home game for a game that is nearly the same for their own playoff chances. And it is true that the Giants are playing this road game in their home stadium.

As Plaxico Burress, the former Giant and current Jet, noted this afternoon: “I’ve played in one and it’s just a fun game. The New York Jets vs. the New York Giants and it’s a 50-50 kind of crowd and when something good happens, somebody is always cheering. This is an exciting game for the city and definitely for the organization. It’s basically, whoever wins this game wins those bragging rights for the next four years or so. So I’m going to just go out and get this victory in JetLife Stadium.”

But Rex and the Jets are hoping that the first Jets-Giants game at a Green & White home stadium not bearing the name of Big Blue on the outside will help turn this very important trick for their now two-game regular season.

“This is our stadium. I’m sure they feel the same thing,” Rex said. “But the way the stadium is, you’ve got our colors, our fans and everything else. This year we’re 6-1 at home and we’re trying to go 7-1. I think that will tell you that this is our stadium and obviously it’s been a big help for us this year.”

Injury Reports

The Jets had 12 players on their first official injury report of the week, topped by rookie WR Jeremy Kerley, who was sent home for a second day with an unspecified illness and did not practice. Another WR with an illness was Burress, who was limited.

Other limited Jets included DT Mike DeVito (knee), G Brandon Moore (hip), S Eric Smith (knee), RB-KR Joe McKnight (elbow/shoulder) and CB Marquice Cole (knee). Among the full-gos was QB Mark Sanchez (neck).

Kerley and McKnight, of course, are two of the Jets’ primary returners, but Ryan was optimistic about Kerley and hopeful about McKnight.

“We feel great about having Cro [Antonio Cromartie] back there as the kick returner if McKnight can’t go,” Ryan said. “Jeremy, when I talked to the trainers, they feel like he’s going to be fine for the game. Even if he’s sick, let’s go, we’ll worry about that later.”

On McKnight, “That one I think’s going to be a gametime deal. He looked OK out there today. I think he’s getting better. But I’m not ready to say he’s going to play.”

Conspicuous by their absences on the list: C Nick Mangold had spend 12 consecutive game weeks on the I-list with his high ankle sprain suffered in Game 2 vs. the Jaguars, while LB Calvin Pace had been reported for seven straight games with a groin injury.

The “Twelve Days of Christmas” injury news from the Giants is that three tight ends, two running backs and one Umenyiora are among the 11 listed players. Among the TEs, Jake Ballard (knee) did not practice in team drills today while Travis Beckum (chest) and Bear Pascoe (ribs) were limited. The two backs are D.J. Ware (knee, DNP) and Ahmad Bradshaw (foot, limited).

Among the other DNPs were DE Osi Umenyiora (ankle/knee), WR Mario Manningham (knee) and LB Mark Herzlich (ankle). Other limited players were C David Baas (neck), S Derrick Martin (back) and WR Devin Thomas (neck).

There’s a new wall wrap gracing the second floor of the building where the business folks, including yours truly, work. It’s right at the top of the stairs, facing all the folks who use the servery during lunch.

It’s a panoramic photo 50 feet long by 8½ feet high of Nick Folk’s game-winning kick against the Cowboys on Sept. 11, this year’s opening night.

“I think it’s really impactful and bright,” said Rob Krolick of NCG, the New York graphics firm that laid out, produced and, just this morning, installed the 12 panels of adhesive vinyl on the recently bare walls. “We’d been pushing for well over a year for the right photo for the wall. I’ve been working on it since last October.”

The action on the field — small figures of the officials with their hands in the air as well as Folk, holder Mark Brunell and the Jets celebrating and the scoreboard just having been updated to 27-24, Jets, with 27 seconds to play — is ringed by the full, tumultuous stadium, including fans both large near the camera and small all the way around the MetLife bowl, videoboards pulsating with images of the decisive play.

It’s an inspiring photo, so much so that Jets executive vice president Matt Higgins earlier today tweeted a photo of the photo, almost completely installed. You can see Matt’s shot on Twitter here, and Joe Rey will have another view of the wall posted on the site this afternoon.

The new image replaces an equally sizeable artist’s rendering of the outside of the new stadium, produced well before the stadium opened for business on Aug. 16, 2010, for the Jets-Giants preseason lidlifter. That image had been on the servery wall since the AHJTC opened its doors on Sept. 1, 2008. And when that wrap was taken down, the bare white wall dominated the area for a few days.

And today the NCG team has turned the wall jubilantly multicolored, with a definite accent on the green, once more. It’s the kind of look we’re all hoping and planning for on Saturday for the Giants — a green blur of emotion in the stands and another big play that brings a Jets victory in the final home game of the season.

“There’s a whole new market out there,” Krolick said of the wall-wrap concept. “A lot of people like putting large photos like this up in their homes. And from a corporate standpoint, the wrap doesn’t even have to be a photo. It could be a work of art. We did something like that recently for The Johnson Co. [owner Woody Johnson's firm] in Manhattan. We do much large-format now. It’s exciting.”

NCG also has a West Coast office and is currently involved in lots of large-image and graphics work for the Rose Bowl, around the Staples Center and up in the bowl’s home of Pasadena, Calif.

Indianapolis in February as well? “We’ll try to have our presence there for the Super Bowl,” said Krolick. “We usually have our fingerprints on the NFL’s big game in some fashion.”

It could be on the credentials that will be seen around town, or something as grand as a wall wrap on a building or two in downtown Indy. And it would be exciting if somehow it can be arranged for the Jets and Giants to get together there for a rematch. But for this week, Jets-Giants at MetLife is the only game in town.

Buzz, Buzz, Buzz

The Jets-Giants game is creating a stir all around the New York/New Jersey area, such as in ticket sales. The game is listed as the No. 2 most popular NFL Matchup on the NFL Ticket Exchange Buzz Index. The “Buzz Index” has its own page that will be updated today at ticketmaster.com/nflbuzz.

Sometimes, though, Sione doesn’t speak it — he bellows it, putting his hands around his mouth and shouting in approval toward the MetLife stands, as he did after scoring the first points of his career on the late safety against the Chiefs two games ago.

“The big guys, we like to hit the weightroom hard,” he explained. “To motivate ourselves, we go in there with a “HOOOOAAHH!” like we’re going to conquer the weightroom. We call it the Association of Heavy Lifters.”

Pouha, coming down the homestretch of his seventh Jets season, has been doing more heavy lifting than ever. He leads the D-linemen in tackles this season. At Philadelphia, an unofficial personal streak was broken — he had at least half a tackle for loss or no gain in 12 consecutive games, with his 11.5-tackle total equaling Calvin Pace’s total for the Jets’ lead in that category.

He’s even been showing some quickness off the snap lately that led to him getting one of the few pressures on Michael Vick on Sunday and getting him his first sack of the season as well as the safety vs. Kansas City the week before.

Is this his best year yet in green and white? He had an interesting take.

“Every year, it feels like the year I prepared for. Starting from my rookie year, you never forget your growing pains, how things went when you started,” he said. “You don’t build for your career. You build for the year. Because you don’t want to view your career while you’re in the middle of playing.”

Big Bo’s play did not get him into the top five among defensive tackles in the fans’ Pro Bowl voting, which wrapped up Monday night, but he has gotten some All Star-like recognition from league observers this season. All that, he said, is nice, but it’s not why he plays the game.

“My goal is how can I be the best number 91 to help the guys in green and white,” he told me recently. “Pro Bowl and all that stuff are indications of what other people think, but I think the most important opinion is how your teammates view you, how they can depend on you, how your coaching staff can depend on you.”

In keeping with that philosophy, he said something today that sounds over the top, except that, one, it’s true, and two, when Sione says it, there is no doubt about his sincerity.

“The way I look at it personally, these next 12 days are probably the most important 12 days of my professional career.” The next 12 days include the Jets’ playoff-determining matchups against the Giants and Dolphins.

If Pouha could will those victories, he would do it. As it is, he is thankful for the defensive mates around him and for the fans in the stands. There will be more than a few in blue on Saturday afternoon cheering on the Giants, but the majority will be those green-clad stalwarts that are developing a strong relationship with No. 91. He hollers “HOOOOAHHH” at them and they yell “BOHHHOOOH” back.

Said Shonn Greene as he overheard our interview in the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center Fieldhouse, “I just want my name chanted and shouted by the whole crowd.”

“How could you not play for such a great fan base as Jets Nation?” Pouha asked. “These fans, man, if you can’t feel the energy, you’ve got to check your vital signs. I would be doing a disservice if I wasn’t able to put everything out there.”

By the time night falls on Christmas Eve, Pouha, the Jets and their fans will know what their vital signs tell them about the final eight days of the most important 12 days of Sione’s pro career.

Rex Cetera

Rex Ryan laid out his injury report a day earlier than required by the NFL, and on his list were three Did Not Practice players — RB Joe McKnight (elbow/shoulder), G Brandon Moore (hip) and newest addition, WR Jeremy Kerley, who was sent home with an illness.

DT Mike DeVito, S Eric Smith and CB Marquice Cole were all limited with knee injuries. And of the four full-go players, QB Mark Sanchez’s status was of the most concern.

“It’s not a major injury because it’s not us that has the injury,” Ryan said of Sanchez’s sore neck, sustained in the second half at Philadelphia. “I just think Mark is a little stiff. He looked fine today.”

Nevertheless, Ryan and OC Brian Schottenheimer got backup QB Mark Brunell perhaps three snaps with the first unit. “Bru has got to be ready to go if something would happen to Mark,” Ryan said.

TE Dedrick Epps joined the Jets practice squad. He made his pro debut last year in the Dolphins’ 10-6 win over the Jets at MetLife Stadium. You’ll find more info on Epps here.

“We have to be better than that. That’s about as bad as we’ve played since we’ve been here. Maybe not as bad as we played against New England [a year ago] but close,” the Jets head coach told beat reporters on a conference call this morning. “But I still believe in the talent we have here both as players and coaches. … That being said, we have to play up to our capabilities and we certainly didn’t do that. We helped the Eagles instead of hurting them.”

But dwelling on the loss just past won’t help the Jets, especially because they have a shorter week than normal to get themselves prepared for a challenge similar to the Eagles in the Giants on Saturday afternoon, Christmas Eve.

Similar except with a large dollop of braggin’ rights on top.

“We have to win this game, we have to get into the playoffs, and the Giants have to do the same,” Ryan said. “It’s going to be huge. The atmosphere’s going to be great. I just hope for everybody to be safe and enjoy the game and cheer for your team … forget about cheering for the Giants. Cheer for the Jets.”

Ryan was asked from several different directions about the Jets-Giants rivalry, a weird one that, like all NFL interconference rivalries is renewed just once every four years. He still made no bones about “not wanting to be anybody’s little brother.”

“There’s no way I’m going to be second fiddle,” he said of his and the Jets’ position vis-a-vis the Giants in the New York market. “If we were playing the New York Yankees, I don’t want to be second fiddle to them. That’s kind of my approach coming in here. I want to be the best team in football, not just in this city, but I’ll start with this city.”

If that burning desire to beat the Giants helps focus Ryan, his coaches and players, so much the better. The Jets know that the only way they’ll make the AFC playoff grid is to beat the men in blue and then go down to Miami and topple the Dolphins on New Year’s Day. But they didn’t play like they were intent on running the table against Philadelphia.

“I’ve got to give the Eagles credit. They played like the team they were supposed to be and we couldn’t match it,” the coach said. “It wasn’t for lack of effort. We were trying. But we made too many mistakes.”

One measure of how the Eagles jumped on those mistakes: They averaged 7.2 offensive yards per play (58 plays, 420 yards). That’s the highest mark by a Jets opponent since the Rams averaged 7.7 YPP (62-479) in the 2004 regular-season finale in St. Louis.

Ryan was asked about the coincidence of his defense giving up 45 points for the second straight year in the game following a season-ending injury suffered by S Jim Leonhard.

“Jimmy’s a great player, but he’s not that good a player. You’re not going to make up 45 points with one player,” he said. “We’ve got to look at things, what we’re doing, how we’re tipping our hand if that’s the case.”

That was one issue that arose after the game when S Eric Smith said Eagles players were communicating some of the Jets’ defensive coverages and disguises before the snap.

“It tells me we’ve got to do a better job,” Ryan said of that report. “There are a lot of tells on most teams. Quite honestly, we knew what they were doing on third downs, but it never mattered. It happens a little more than you’d think. It generally doesn’t happen with our defense. But we’ll try and change it this week. Eli and company over there, you don’t want them to know exactly what you’re in, so we’ll certainly look at that.”

One thing the Jets may not have to look at because they’ve gotten used to it for a while is playing with their backs against the wall. They needed a strong closing kick in 2009 just to finish at 9-7 and squeeze into the playoffs. This time they know they have no wiggle room left if they want to reach the postseason for the third time in three tries under Ryan’s watch.

“Do we play better that way? Maybe there’s some truth to that,” Ryan said. “There’s certainly a sense of urgency. You have to get it done or you go home. That’s the way it is.”

And that’s the way it is for the Green & White going up against Big Blue in five days.

“We laid an egg today,” Holmes said of the unexpected outcome.

Calling it “one of the most inconsistent games” he’s had as a Jet, Tone had a 7-yard reception on the visitors’ first drive. But he was separated from the ball by S Kurt Coleman, and DE Juqua Parker scooped up the fumble and raced 47 yards for the game’s first points.

“He got his head probably down on the ball. I thought I had control of it until I hit the ground, but the replay revealed that I didn’t,” Holmes said. “Turnover by me. A costly mistake by a veteran receiver who takes care of the ball every time he puts his hands on it and didn’t do it today.”

“He had the fumble, trying to secure it before he got hit,” added QB Mark Sanchez. “Very uncharacteristic of Santonio. That’s not the way he plays. We know he’ll be fine. It was just a physical mistake.”

The Jets actually had a golden chance to tie the game in the first quarter after Ellis Lankster made his first of two heads-up plays on special teams, recovering a muffed punt at the Eagles 14. But the NFL’s top red zone unit saw its 12-for-12 TD streak inside the opposition 20 come to an end when a Sanchez toss hit Holmes in the hands and then popped right into the welcoming paws of CB Asante Samuel.

“That was a good pass. I think I was trying to play fast, turned upfield because the corner, the way he played, wouldn’t be as close as I would anticipate,” said Holmes. “So I was trying to get out of there and spin-move real fast, get upfield, and I took my eyes off the ball. He happened to be sitting right there and he made a great play.”

“He was ready to run after the catch down by the goal line and he popped it up right to the defender,” Sanchez said. “That’s a catch he can make in his sleep. Those things happen. It’s unfortunate they happened early and we gave them 14 points off of those two turnovers.”

After falling behind, 28-0, the Jets tried to claw back into the game and closed the first half with 13 unanswered points. Sanchez threw a beautiful toss to Holmes for a 26-yard score to make it 26-10, but the six-year wideout was called for unsportsmanlike conduct after placing his foot on the ball and making like an eagle while waving his arms.

“A veteran can’t do certain things like that. It cost our team 15 yards on special teams, giving these guys field position the way they’ve been playing,” he said. “I just can’t do that.”

The Jets turned the ball over four times in all and Sanchez was sacked four times. Holmes finished with four receptions for 40 yards and a TD and Plaxico Burress was limited to a wonderful 9-yard TD when the outcome had already been decided.

“It was tough today,” Holmes said. “Turning around and having to see your quarterback laying on the ground is not a good feeling when you’re a wide receiver when you’re expecting passes to be thrown to you. We just have to do a better job overall: protecting our quarterback, we have to do a good job catching the ball, myself included.”

If the Jets are going to make the playoffs, and they still appear to control their own destiny, then they have to continue to target Holmes. He is a game-changer who can be the difference down the stretch.

“There is no chance we’re going to lose confidence in a guy like that,” Sanchez said. “He’s one of our best players and he never plays like that. That stuff happens to everybody. He’ll bounce back and he’s a hell of a player, so we’re not worried about it.”

It’s time to bury the egg.

“We have to play better football. We have to play like Jets,” Holmes said. “We want to go to the Super Bowl, we have to play a lot better than we did today.”

It was also a good week for the Jets’ specialists and coaches because they didn’t hear Purdum’s name on the team’s injury report, as they did the week before and two weeks earlier in the season. Purdum didn’t say he was close to not being able to snap any of those weeks, but all three weeks his low back issue was not a triviality for the Green & White.

“They do a great job in the training room, putting in, it’s got to be 80 man-hours on me in my three days in there,” Purdum calculated. “They do a good job of getting you right, and Coach Westhoff and Ben [Kotwica], they’re both good enough to realize, ‘Get through the practice because we need  you but we won’t kill you with reps.’ Even this week they tell me, ‘Take it easy. You might feel 100 percent but we don’t want it to relapse.’ “

Purdum’s injury is probably a common condition in the snappers’ upside-down world.

“It’s one of those things where you just get tight hips at my position, being bent over all the time,” he analyzed. “Most of my power is in the nips. Once those get too tight, your back flares up and slips out or, in my case, spasms. It just happens. This time I happened to be lifting. Last time it was at practice.”

Sounds like a job for your friendly chiropractor. And Tanner’s one of those people you’ll meet occasionally who recommends chiropractic for what ails you, because it’s helped what ails him over the years. In fact, his father-in-law is award-winning Dr. Mark Pick out of Dodge City, Kans., who has worked with the Chiefs and at the NFL combine.

“I’m pretty picky” when it comes to chiropractors, said Purdum, no pun intended. “He does a very, very good job, and when I’m in that area I always go to him. But here these guys step up and do the job right too. They know what they have to do to have me fixed before the game.”

Dr. Pick also has treated bull riders over the years, which prompted me to ask Tanner if he’s ever gotten on a bull back in his multifaceted Midwestern upbringing.

“I saddle-broke horses in high school and college,” he said. “He had bucking stock for a long time and I think he just sold them off this year. I’ve helped him with them a little when I was out there. I’ve gotten on a bull once or twice, and it’s not exactly the best time of your life. I lasted about three seconds, which is better than most, I guess.”

But he’s never survived an eight-second eternity, ridden a bull to the bell?

“Noooo,” he said. “That’s like putting an entire offensive line into one and then trying to ride their back.”

Doesn’t sound like an exciting prospect. But then again, who’s to say with a long snapper? His highlights often go unnoticed as he snaps one ball after another unerringly into the hands of holder Mark Brunell for a Nick Folk placement or into the hands of punter T.J. Conley.

But Purdum did enjoy this past Sunday’s game against the Chiefs, which was his only other NFL employer, a team that worked him through the 2009 preseason and then waived him, ultimately so he could sign with the Jets before last season.

“They cut me, fine,” he said without bitterness. “I wound up in a better place. I’m much happier here than I was there, so they did me a favor.”

This Sunday Purdum can do the Jets a major favor by keeping the ropes coming to give the Jets their best chance against dangerous Eagles punt returner DeSean Jackson (whose average nevertheless has slipped from 15.2 yards in 2009 to 11.6 last year to 6.7 so far this season).

“The Eagles come over the middle, mostly, a seven-man front,” he described Philadelphia’s punt block approach. “They like to rush the center, or at least to come across me to the guard. They like to stuff us up front so Jackson can get something going in the back. You’ve got a good returner, that’s what you want to do. You want to create a pile, a big cloud of dust up front so he has some room to run.”

It’ll be up to Purdum and his linemates to defeat the cloud of dust and get downfield quickly to keep Jackson at bay. And with his back back to some semblance of normal, it sounds just like the kind of ride he likes.

*Special Teams Saturday

You would have to trace back more than five years to find the last time WLB Bart Scott, head coach Rex Ryan and defensive coordinator Mike Pettine prepared to face a Michael Vick-led offense. It was Nov. 19, 2006, in Baltimore when the Ravens smothered Vick’s Falcons, 24-10, as the gifted quarterback was sacked five times and held to 82 net yards passing.

So, Madbacker, how do you slow Vick down?

“Just making sure you set edges on him and you’re able to take away the lanes because he’s an explosive athlete,” he told me. “You have to play team defense. You can’t go out and try to be Superman yourself and try to make a play and leave your teammates at risk, shooting up the field and giving him running lanes and throwing lanes.

“You have to play disciplined and play the defense the way it’s supposed to be played and try to keep him in the box,” he added. “If you allow him to get on the edges, he can make plays either running the ball or throwing the ball. When he’s out in space, he’s tough to get.”

The Jets are a well-coached group because Ryan’s message is hammered home to everyone. Scott is 31 and in his 10th pro season, but listen to 22-year-old rookie DL Muhammad Wilkerson break it down.

“You have to take good angles,” he said of Vick. “You have to have some kind of technique when you’re rushing the passer like Mike Vick. He’s definitely mobile, so you have to keep him in the pocket. You don’t want him to escape outside. You’d rather him rush to where he escapes inside to your other teammates.”

Scott had seven tackles in that ’06 meeting, but he was limited to special teams duty when the Ravens and Falcons squared off on Nov. 3, 2002. Vick and the Falcons captured a 20-17 decision in Atlanta, but his numbers were less than ordinary. He was sacked three times and intercepted once while being held to 115 net yards passing. The Falcons, who benefited from a defensive TD, got minus-5 yards rushing from their speedy QB on seven carries.

It’s hard to believe Vick, now in his third season in Philadelphia, is 31 years old. His struggles in 2011 have been a microcosm of the 5-8 Eagles. After completing 62.6 percent of his passes for 3,018 yards with 21 TDs and just six INTs in 2010, No. 7 is completing 59.4 percent of his throws for 2,401 yards with 12 TDs and 12 INTs.

“He probably has another 10 years to play,” Scott said. “What I’ve seen from him is the maturity of a person, as a man, which has translated to his maturity on the football field: the understanding and trusting of his teammates more, allowing his teammates to make plays instead of always trying to make plays with his feet, the understanding that a lot of the times he can use his ability to buy time to get larger chunks by throwing the football than running the football.”

Vick remains a threat on the ground as evidenced by his 8.1-yard average, but he doesn’t have a rush TD after totaling nine in 2010. The most dynamic offensive weapon for the Eagles has been RB LeSean “Shady” McCoy, an explosive performer who’s rushed for 1,172 yards and 14 touchdowns and added 310 yards and three TDs receiving.

“His ability to cut laterally, to stop on a dime … he’s tough mentally and physically. He’ll stick it up in there, but the running scheme doesn’t allow people to see that a lot,” Scott said. “But he’s not afraid, he’s not timid and he’s a guy at some point, watching him play and watching him carry himself, may have been doubted by his size. He kind of walks around with a bit of a chip on his shoulder.”

“He’s got good speed. He can hit the edge and take it to the house,” Wilkerson said. “He’s very elusive out in the open field, so he’s another one we plan on taking good angles with and making sure he runs back to the defense flowing to the ball. We’ll pretty much handle it from there.”

The Eagles might be ranked fourth in total offense, but points win games. The Birds are in the middle of the pack at 15th with just 22.8 per contest and the Jets don’t plan on sitting back and playing tentative.

“Just because Vick can run and they have all these good athletes doesn’t mean we’re going to be hesitant with our defensive schemes,” said Big Mo. “We’re definitely still going to bring pressure and do all the things we’ve been doing for the season.”

Injury Reports

Rex Ryan reported at today’s final news conference of the week at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center that only one 11 players on this week’s injury report is not probable for the game at Philly. That player is CB-ST Marquice Cole (ankle), who is out and will not make the trip down the New Jersey Turnpike.

Among the 10 “probable” players is DT Mike DeVito, who has sat out four of the past seven games with two different knee injuries.

“It’s great to have him back,” Ryan said. “He was having a huge year for us, and now to have him back, the other guys can now back up, but they’ve had a lot of playing time and you’re getting better depth and getting better. Marcus Dixon’s done a tremendous job for us, especially recently. I love the way he’s playing and the way Mo [Muhammad Wilkerson] is playing. It’s a good group.”

The Eagles after today’s practice are listing DE Darryl Tapp as doubtful and four players as questionable — WR Jeremy Maclin (hamstring/shoulder), T Todd Herrremans (ankle), DT Cullen Jenkins and QB Vince Young (ankle). All four questionables practiced full. Remaining full-go and probable for Sunday are seven players, including QB Michael Vick (ribs) and CBs Nnamdi Asomugha (knee) and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie (ankle).

One is it’s great to be employed anywhere. Even in the NFL, especially in the NFL, jobs can be hard to come by.

“It’s just about opportunity. That’s the way it is in this league, being able to take advantage of any opportunity that you get,” said Alexander, who in the wake of Jim Leonhard’s season-ending knee injury has moved in behind Eric Smith, Brodney Pool and Tracy Wilson as the Jets’ fourth safety. “Sometimes the odds of that opportunity may be stacked against you. But this is a blessing to be on this team. I feel honored to be on this team.”

That’s because, being in his fifth season as an NFL player and having made stops with four teams, including AFC opponents Miami and Jacksonville, he’s noticed the Jets and has always liked the cut of their jib.

“This is a team I’ve always wanted to be a part of, just for the way they play, the way they coach,” he said. “I really love the ‘Play Like a Jet’ mentality. I love what it’s all about.”

And that extends to the Rex Ryan/Mike Pettine defensive scheme, which he said after his first two days doing a speed-learning course on it is a little more complex than others he’s known.

“I feel like I know football. I’m really a student of the game,” he said. “It’s fun for me to learn this information from scratch, especially at the fast pace I have to learn. … I want to be a coach when I’m done playing. I’m honored to be able to learn this defense, especially from guys like Mike and Rex.”

Alexander’s even got a former Boise State teammate in the Jets secondary with him. That, of course, would be corner Kyle Wilson, who was a “young pup” in his first two years at Boise while Alexander was in his last two. Now Kyle’s the experienced guy at the door greeting the young Jets pup in a manner of speaking.

“As a player, Gerald was always around the ball,” Wilson recalled. “Just coming in, I respected him right away. He was a three- or four-year starter. He did a lot of things right. I admired his work ethic and attention to detail.”

One last reason Alexander likes the lie of the land here at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center is because he’s already been greeted warmly by Jets Nation.

“I’m very active on Twitter,” said Alexander. “I talk to fans, I conversant, I tell jokes. People can really see the person I am off the field. And the love I got from the Jets fans was unbelievable: ‘Welcome, we’re happy you’re part of it.’ The love I got from Jets fans was unlike any other team I’ve been with.”

He said he knows where the fans, even the feisty ones, are coming from because he was once in that place himself growing up in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.

“I was once a diehard Raiders fans,” he said. “I know what it’s like to have your emotions attached to Sunday, and to not be able to watch TV for the rest of the week when your team loses. You don’t want to see highlights, you don’t want to hear anything.”

Now his goal is to help the Jets be on the winning end Sunday for their game at Philadelphia. Rex Ryan wasn’t committing to Alexander being in uniform on Lincoln Financial Field just yet. But Alexander said he’s ready for the call if it comes.

“I’m going to make sure I’m mentally prepared to play,” he said. “It’s going to be a crash course, definitely. If they feel confident with me on the field with the information I know, then I’ll be ready to go.”

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Michael Vick brings out the lyrical best in opponents. Ryan was asked if the Eagles QB was as elusive as the Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger.

“Ben escapes much differently than Vick does,” Ryan said. “Vick’s more of a make-you-miss-in-space guy. Ben’s more of a shake-you-off guy. They both make plays.”

LB Aaron Maybin was describing how he and the Jets need to approach Vick in the pocket Sunday. He was asked if Vick is almost like a soccer penalty kick, where the defender has to play goalie and guess which way the QB is going to go. Maybin said no, you can’t guess and play tentative against a player with Vick’s quacks.

“Guys like Vick make overaggressive people look foolish,” quota Mayhem. “But he makes hesitant people look stupid.”

Somewhere between stupid and foolish, hesitant and overaggressive, is the path to stopping Vick in his tracks.

Injury Reports

The Jets’ injury list changed little today, but the one move as expected was that G Brandon Moore, who didn’t practiced Wednesday, was limited today. “And he’ll be full tomorrow,” Ryan said. CB Marquice Cole (knee) was the only Jet who didn’t practice and Ryan termed him “very questionable” for the Eagles. S Eric Smith, DT Mike DeVito and DL Marcus Dixon remained limited for team drills.

The only Eagle not practicing today was DE Darryl Tapp (ribs). T Todd Herremans (ankle) and DT Cullen Jenkins (groin) were both limited in team drills, while Vick (ribs) and WR Jeremy Maclin (hamstring/shoulder) both were full-go.

The screen game, which can be so important to defeating an ultra-aggressive pass rush by picking up big chunks of yardage at a time, looked pretty impressive in the Jets’ first three games, particularly on LaDainian Tomlinson’s monster 74-yard catch-and-run from Mark Sanchez.

Then the screen started to get holes in it. In the six-game span from Baltimore through the home game against New England, the Jets completed only eight screens, and only one of them went for at least 10 yards.

But Joe McKnight breathed life into the screen game at Denver, and with two big plays out of it Sunday vs. the Chiefs — Shonn Greene’s 36-yard play to set up the Jets’ second TD and Tomlinson’s ice-breaking 19-yard TD play late in the first half — in the last month the devastating screen play is back on the front burner.

“It’s something we put a big focus on coming into training camp,” guard Brandon Moore said following today’s practice at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center. “They weren’t working as well in the beginning of the year. Just like everything else we try to correct … the things we’ve been working on have been showing up on Sundays. That’s the encouraging thing to see, especially this time of year.”

The screens were a big reason that Greene and Tomlinson were the major targets for Sanchez on Sunday. Greene had three receptions for 58 yards, Tomlinson two for 50. It was the first time in eight seasons and just the 14th time in franchise history that two Jets running backs each had 50-plus receiving yards in the same game.

So if it worked so well against the hard-charging Chiefs’ front seven, surely Brian Schottenheimer and Sanchez will be dialing the screens up against the harder-charging Eagles, the NFL’s top-sacking team?

“Well, they’re easy completions and if they make their way into the game plan this week, that’s great,” Sanchez said. “If not, we have to do it with runs and completions down the field or whatever it is. It’s just a good changeup for us, but you can’t just rely on something like that. We need to be good running the ball and throwing it downfield as well.”

Safety Dance

With Wednesday comes the full-fledged start of the next week of the season. And this time it marks the next December day that Rex Ryan is having to move on down the home stretch without his safety.

“Jimmy Leonhard had surgery today. Everything went well,” Ryan said of the procedure to repair Leonhard’s torn right patella tendon. “And again, they always say that as long as you come out of it, so it went well.”

Ryan said at least he doesn’t feel that the defense will need a game to regroup from the loss of their quarterback as they did last year, when they went from the last practice of the week on Friday, when Leonhard broke his leg, into the Monday night 45-3 loss at New England.

“I think there was some unusual circumstance because he got hurt with one day left in the week for practice,” Ryan recalled. “I think that was what really contributed to that, and the fact that we were playing the Patriots. I don’t want to take anything away from them, but that was part of the issue, part of the problem.

“Right now there are no excuses. We have a full week’s preparation with Brodney Pool and Eric Smith, the same guys that closed out all the playoff games and everything else, so we feel really comfortable with those guys. Obviously, it’s an unfortunate injury, it’s a huge loss to us, but we’re built to still be effective.”

Tracy Wilson moves in behind Smitty and Brodney, and behind them will be Gerald Alexander, the interesting veteran signing announced late Tuesday. Rex said after today’s practice he’s still not certain where his new No. 42 factors into Sunday’s plan for the Eagles.

“We just had him out there today. We have a great deal of confidence in our scouting department. I know they were trying to get us the best player,” Ryan said. “Right now he’s swimming. He just came out there and we’ll see. Obviously, if we signed him, then upstairs feels pretty good about him. And seems like a nice young man.”

We spent some locker room time with Alexander today and we’ll bring you a profile on him Thursday. For now two notes to pique your interest: He was Boise State teammates with Kyle Wilson for one year. And he’s an avid Tweeter who can be found at twitter.com/galexander21

Injury Reports

On the injury report front, the “swelling” on the Jets’ list in recent weeks has been reduced to 11 players. Only two didn’t practice today — G Brandon Moore (hip) and CB Marquice Cole (knee). Three more were listed as limited — DT Mike DeVito (knee), DL Marcus Dixon (hip) and S Eric Smith (knee).

“I feel pretty good about everybody, really,” said Ryan. ‘With Brandon, this was what we had talked about. We’ll probably limit him tomorrow, then have him full Friday. ‘Quice, we’ll see how his knee is. He’s probably questionable right now. All the other guys I think will be able to play, DeVito, Dixon and Smith.”

The coach added that DeVito, who has sat out four of the last seven games with knee issues, worked some 9-on-7 drills, handled some double teams, and “looked pretty good out there.”

For the Eagles, QB Michael Vick (ribs) led the four-man contingent that did not practice today. Also DNP were T Todd Herremans (ankle), DT Cullen Jenkins (groin) and DE Darryl Tapp (ribs). WR Jeremy Maclin (hamstring/shoulder) was limited, but coach Andy Reid said on a conference call with Jets reporters today that he thinks Maclin will play against the Jets.

“Keep in mind, I hadn’t talked to San Diego predraft or anything else,” Tomlinson recalled this week. “I remember when we were both at the draft the day before and Vick actually said to me, ‘You know what, they’re going to trade the pick and Atlanta is going to move to No. 1 and San Diego is going to jump back to No. 5 and get you.’”

Vick was a star at Virginia Tech while Tomlinson helped revive a program at Texas Christian. The Chargers had many needs and they were burned just a few years prior when they drafted Ryan Leaf with the No. 2 overall selection. After negotiating with Vick, the Bolts moved back for a package that included the swap of first-round picks and the acquisition of a third-round pick (No. 67, CB Tay Cody) in ’01, a second-rounder in ’02 (No. 48, WR Reche Caldwell) and WR-KR Tim Dwight.

Almost in disbelief after what he heard from Vick, Tomlinson couldn’t quite get in the SoCal frame of mind until the trade was official.

“I was like, ‘Why would you do that? He said, ‘Well, we can’t agree on the money.’ I still didn’t quite believe him at the time, but laying in my bed that night before the draft, I saw that they traded for Vick,” Tomlinson said. “I said, ‘Oh my goodness, I’m going to San Diego.’ That’s kind of when I knew that it was going to happen.”

The Chargers not only got themselves an outstanding running back, but they came back in the second round and took a flyer on a small quarterback with questionable arm strength. Purdue product Drew Brees was his name and he turned out to be a sensational player in his own right.

“I was the fifth pick and I think Drew Brees was actually like the 32nd pick or something like that. It was the first pick in the second round,” Tomlinson said. “If you think about that, they had two Hall of Fame guys that they drafted that year. So it’s pretty unbelievable picking by John Butler.”

They are working on Tomlinson’s bust in Canton, Ohio. He’s third on the NFL’s all-time list for career touchdowns with 162, and he needs just 73 yards to move past Jerome Bettis and into fifth place on the all-time rushing list.

“I can’t say enough about the late John Butler and his family, giving me the opportunity to play in this league,” he said. “He believed in me and as a younger player he did say I reminded him of Thurman Thomas, who he had in Buffalo. At that time, I just told him that I hoped I could live up to half of the things Thurman Thomas has done. John Butler was great to be around.”

Tomlinson and the Jets have been hanging around the end zone a lot lately. They average 26.2 points a game and have scored 13 touchdowns over the last three weeks, including 12 straight in the red zone.

“I think that’s the thing people really need to focus on because last year we were one of the worst teams in the red zone,” said Tomlinson, who against the Chiefs celebrated his first home score as a Jet. “This year we’re tops in the league in the red zone. Just to kind of show people this offense, when we put our minds that we want to be good at something —we get the job done. A lot of that has to do with coaching. Schotty is the main one up there preaching that to us every single day, pointing out the things we’re doing wrong, correcting what we’re doing wrong. That’s how we’re moving forward.”

The 32-year-old Tomlinson still has moves that wow us. After missing Weeks 11 and 12 with a knee sprain, he again tweaked the same knee at Washington and was limited in Week 13. But he had six touches against the Chiefs, including a beautiful 31-yard catch-and-run after making rookie Justin Houston look like a traffic cone in coverage.

“It was funny because I felt kind of disrespected a little bit. He’s kind of a defensive end/linebacker and they just had him 1-on-1 with me,” Tomlinson said. “In my opinion, at that time, if I can’t beat him, then it’s time for me to retire and get out of the game. I’m done if I can’t win my matchup.”

Now close to 11 years after a historic draft day trade, Tomlinson hopes he can secure a win against Vick’s team. Vick and the Eagles haven’t had the success they’ve wanted, but they remain explosive and Tomlinson would like to see No. 7 on the sideline most of the day.

“That’s going to be critical for us is time of possession,” he said. “We would love to keep them off the field and allow our defense to rest. We don’t know what kind of game it’s going to be as far as the weather. We all know this time of year you have to be able to run the football and that’s one of the things we’ve been doing good of late, so we have to continue that.”