The Patriots may have won 25 straight games at home when Tom Brady is under center, but the Jets aren’t about to flinch over going to Foxborough on Monday Night with the lead in the AFC East and home-field advantage through the playoffs at stake.
Two things feed into the Jets’ confidence as they enter the biggest game of their season:
1). They beat the Patriots, 28-14, at the Meadowlands in Week 2 of the season.
2). The Jets are infinitely better than they were in that first meeting.
Sure, every team would like to say it has improved over the last nine weeks. But it’s not just lip service when it comes to the Jets. Let us count the ways:
l Wide receiver Santonio Holmes wasn’t with the Jets when they met on Sept. 19, sitting out the second game of a four-game suspension for violating the NFL substance abuse policy. He has since become the big-play performer Rex Ryan envisioned when the Jets traded for him during the offseason.
l Linebacker Calvin Pace, perhaps the Jets’ best pass rusher, didn’t play in the first meeting because of a foot injury suffered in the preseason. He missed the first four games of the season and is rounding into form after recording four solo tackles and a sack against the Bengals.
l Cornerback Darrelle Revis wasn’t in football shape after missing all of training camp in a contract dispute and pulled a hamstring trying to cover the since-departed Randy Moss in the first half of the Jets’ first game against the Patriots.
l WR Brad Smith was a non-factor in the first game, touching the ball just once on a kickoff return for 15 yards. Against the Bengals he accounted for 200 all-purpose yards.
l Matt Slauson was making just his second start at left guard and was more of swinging gate than a protector of quarterback Mark Sanchez.
No, these aren’t the Same Old Jets from Week 2.
“We’ve grown as a team,” said wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery, who plans on playing Monday Night after missing the last two games with a groin injury. “We’ve been climbing up the ladder statistically as an offense and the defense has been doing the same thing. That’s why it’s hard to say we haven’t gotten better.”
Defensive tackle Sione Pouha put it this way:
“We’re nine games better. We’re nine games into communicating better. We’re nine games into knowing how each other reacts, the chemistry and our ability to play together. We’re nine games better at knowing our ability to bounce back in games. We’ve been around the block a couple of times and we know each other’s mojo.”
And it’s not just lip service.
george.willis@nypost.com