NFL

Jets back after bye with shot at AFC East lead

Jets coach Rex Ryan gave his team a lesson in the AFC East standings when it arrived back at the team’s headquarters yesterday after its bye week.

Many players did not have power at their homes Sunday or were traveling back to New Jersey, so they were unaware the Patriots lost to the Steelers. Ryan let the Jets know about the Patriots’ loss, and that it means his team could be tied for first place this Sunday with a little help from their crosstown rivals.

A Jets win in Buffalo and a Patriots loss to the Giants would put the Jets in a three-way tie atop the AFC East with the Bills and Patriots.

“It’s right there in front of our face,” cornerback Darrelle Revis said. “That’s all we’ve got to do is go get it as a team. I think that’s the biggest thing. That’s why he let us know. That’s the focus. Win these next couple of games and we’ll be right back where we want to be.”

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The Jets enter a crucial stretch of their season this Sunday against the Bills. Three of their next four games are in the division with two games against the Bills and a showdown with the Patriots on Nov. 13. They also play the struggling Broncos, but that game is on a Thursday night in Denver just four days after the Patriots game.

The Jets’ season could look vastly different by Thanksgiving.

“We’re 4-3, but we have it right in front of us,” Ryan said. “This is what I talked about before. The teams you have to beat are right in front of you, so we’ll know. These next few weeks are going to be critical for us.”

Just a few weeks ago it seemed like the Jets’ season was ready to spiral out of control. A three-game losing streak and sniping inside their locker room made the Jets look like a team about to plummet over the edge. But two straight wins have put them back on track, and the bye week gave them a chance to catch their breath and refocus.

“We didn’t want to lose three games in a row, obviously, but we weren’t left for dead either in this locker room,” outside linebacker Calvin Pace said. “I don’t think guys thought we were in serious trouble. We needed a win.”

Pace pointed out that several teams that went on to win the Super Bowl recently started out slow. The Packers were 4-3 a year ago before capturing the No. 6 seed in the NFC and then getting hot in the playoffs. The 2008 Steelers, 2007 Giants and 2005 Steelers were each 5-2 after seven games on their way to the Lombardi Trophy.

“A lot of times when you see teams that eventually do win Super Bowls, they don’t start off great,” Pace said. “Obviously, they don’t plan it that way. I think if you look at the game, when teams hit their stride hopefully in early November, they end up doing well. We’ve done it [the last two years]. Like people say, it’s not always how you start but how you finish.”

The Bills game will be the halfway point of the season for the Jets. However, it already feels like the Jets have shifted into the second half of their season with the bye falling so close to the true midway mark. Players returned to practice yesterday feeling refreshed.

Ryan let them know the division title is still within reach. For all of the obituaries that have been written for this Jets season, they could be sitting in first place by Sunday night.

“You can’t say enough about how important these next three or four games are for us,” safety Jim Leonhard said. “We need to come out of this bye strong. We can’t afford to come out flat. We need to carry over that emotion that we’ve been playing with before the bye.

“We know we put our backs against the wall. We’ve got to come out swinging.”