Peter king's take on the jets win last night

Rex Ryan and his Democratic form of government.

"I knew I'd get one shot to do this in my life,'' the man of the hour said from one of the Jets' team buses Sunday night, on the way to the airport and a joyous flight back to New Jersey. "One opportunity. I'm just an average guy. I'm not for everybody. The only thing I know how to do is coach. For a while, no one had the guts to give us a shot. But [owner] Woody Johnson and [GM] Mike Tannenbaum did, and you know it hasn't been easy. I'm not perfect. I've put them through some hard times this year; you know that. I'm not going to apologize for who I am.''

You are what your record says you are. In two years, Ryan is 24-13. That includes a 4-1 record in the playoffs, with postseason wins at a No. 1 seed (New England, 2010), at a 2 seed (San Diego, 2009), at a 3 seed (Indianapolis, 2010) and at a 4 seed (Cincinnati, 2009), all in the last 54 weeks. And it now includes two consecutive conference-championship game appearances, the first time in the 50-year history of the franchise that's happened.

Since Ryan has taken over as coach, the Jets and their arch-rivals, New England, each have 24 wins. Playoff wins in the last two seasons: Ryan 4, Bill Belichick 0.

What I thought was the most telling part of Sunday's 28-21 win in Foxboro was watching Tom Brady stand in the pocket (when Shaun Ellis wasn't chasing him) and look at his options --1, 2, 3, 4 and maybe back to 1 -- and pat the ball, and then throw it away or dump it for a miniscule gain he didn't want. I have never seen Brady, at least for the first three-plus quarters, survey the field and take so much time and see so little open. It was stunning, really.

"Did you know,'' GM Mike Tannenbaum said this morning from New Jersey, "we dressed 11 defensive backs for this game? Eleven out of 45 players. That's pretty amazing.''

Let's count them. The Jets started in nickel. Eric Smith and Brodney Pool at safety, Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie at corner, with Drew Coleman the extra corner. That's five. Three extra corners dressed: Kyle Wilson, Dwight Lowery and Marquice Cole. That's eight. Three extra safeties: James Ihedigbo and United Football League refugees Isaiah Trufant (the UFL defensive player of the year this season) and Emanuel Cook. They all played, combining for 36 tackles, and they contributed to clogging the lanes and forcing Brady to pat, pat, pat and throw gopher balls.

It was no secret that Ryan felt the Jets lost the AFC title game last year because of poor depth in the secondary, particularly at corner. It didn't take him long to lobby for help -- just 24 hours. On the day after the season, he and Tannenbaum were standing at the baggage carousel in Mobile, Ala., waiting for their luggage; they were in town to scout players for the draft at the annual Senior Bowl. "If we're going to beat Indianapolis and New England,'' Ryan told Tannenbaum, "we're going to need more speed and athleticism. It's that simple. If we don't have more speed and athleticism, all the other stuff won't matter.''

"Mike took it on himself,'' Ryan said Sunday night. "He went and got us what we needed.'' Cromartie, a risk, in exchange for a second-round pick from San Diego; and Kyle Wilson in the first round of the draft.

One other thing came into play Sunday, and that's a goulash form of game-planning. Last time these teams met, Tom Brady threw for four touchdowns and no interceptions in a 45-3 win. "We listened to every suggestion known to man about scheme and coverage,'' Ryan said. "When I hire coaches, I want coaches who work with me, not for me. Last week, I challenged every coach. Come up with a plan. Help us find a way.

"We got help from players too. Jimmy Leonhard [a starting safety now on injured-reserve] even came up with a concept we used tonight involving quarters coverage and a little wrinkle we used. I really leaned on [coordinator] Mike Pettine and [secondary coach] Dennis Thurman to get it all straight. We kept mixing 'em all day. Sometimes we'd play standard stuff, then we'd change up. We probably were more multiple than they'd seen, by anybody.''

The Jets seemed content to put Revis and Cromartie out wide, mostly in single coverage all day, and Deion Branch and Brandon Tate didn't do much against them until semi-garbage time. They didn't blitz much, preferring to bring a safety down to stop the Patriots from doing what they do so well -- get Welker or one of the rookie tight ends the ball on a quick route of some kind, then make a bunch of yards after the catch.

Since trading Randy Moss in October, the Patriots haven't had the kind of big receiver to threaten the edges; and Branch, Tate and Welker didn't do that Sunday, nor did they grow to be 6-3. The Patriots kill teams with the catch-and-run plays, and if Brady couldn't get the ball to the good after-the-catch guys, or if they got felled immediately by the omnipresent Eric Smith down near the box, that way of moving the ball down the field all of a sudden won't work. Those 11 defensive backs just made the picture cloudy for Brady underneath all day.


After a week of trash talking between the teams, Patriots fans were relentless Sunday, but Rex Ryan and the Jets got the last laugh.
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The hue and cry around Ryan this year almost seems to bring the best out in his players. He says he's put Johnson through a lot this year, flipping off a fan at a fight in Miami, being hugely off-color in HBO's Hard Knocks and, of course, the whole foot-fetish thing, which -- and this is just an educated guess -- will never, ever die. See the front page of the New York Post Sunday, prior to Pats-Jets? Picture of Ryan, a huge bare foot with toenails painted "GO JETS'' and the headline, "LICK 'EM.'' But if anything, stuff like that just makes his players more defensive about him. I do believe Bart Scott is still yelling in defense of him at this hour.

It was a brilliant day for Ryan and Pettine. Now they've dispatched Manning and Brady. Next is Big Ben Roethlisberger, the third straight Super Bowl winner who will get to play the Jets at home. Those who've bet against the Jets have lost a lot of money and a lot of face this year. Roethlisberger had better do his homework this week -- not that it will do a lot of good with the changeup pitches Ryan's going to plot for him...