FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — This must be an optical illusion. These can’t possibly be Rex Ryan’s Jets playing the Patriots for first place Sunday. But yessir, that’s Rex Ryan stepping off the bus looking yet again for Bill Belichick, unfazed that Tom Brady will be behind the wheel of a New England 500 racecar, and Mark Sanchez will be at the controls of a tractor, with Tim Tebow riding shotgun.
Only in this NFL is it possible for a team left for dead after losing its best defensive player and best offensive player rise from last rites to first place.
Chiller theater in Foxborough: “Night of the Living Dead,” starring Rex Ryan and the New York Jets
Of course, everyone from Las Vegas east figures the Jets have as much chance as Alex Rodriguez landing the lead role in a remake of “Pride of the Yankees.”
Everyone except the Jets.
“This is not the Darrelle Revis Jets,” Muhammad Wilkerson said. “This is the New York Jets.
“You’re a team, and even though those guys are not here, we’re still gonna play for them as if they are here, and we just gotta go out there and make sure we just play that much harder. Guys just gotta step up and play. Eveybody’s gotta be prepared to be a starter.”
An upset of the Patriots at hostile Gillette Stadium would not merely alter the fortunes of these hated rivals and the complexion of their seasons, it would establish the Jets as legitimate contenders, and expose the Patriots as suspect pretenders vulnerable to the coup d’etat that Ryan has been lusting after from the second he set his GPS for the White House. It would send tremors of angst and horror throughout New England and aftershocks of euphoria and hope in and around Florham Park, N.J.
But how do these Jets pull this off?
The Serby Plan:
It starts, as always, with Tom Brady. The Straw That Has Stirred Belichick’s Drink while the Jets have had Vinny Testaverde, Chad Pennington, Kellen Clemens, Brett Favre and now Sanchez stirring theirs.
“He’s a guy who makes everyone around him better,” Yeremiah Bell said. “He can turn the household name into a pretty reliable player in this league. You always want to talk about getting quarterbacks off their spot and things like that, but this is a guy that you really want to do that to. Because if you let him stand there, I’ve never seen a guy with the accuracy that he has. He always seems to put the ball in the right place, and he always seems to make the right decisions, so definitely a guy that you gotta get off his spot.”
It’s all outlined in the Rex Ryan Manual For Fellow Defensive Geniuses. “Don’t let him get comfortable,” Wilkerson said. “Once you get pressure on him, he starts to feel pressure, he thinks pressure’s there and it’s not even there.”
The last thing the HC of the NYJ wants is Pretty Boy pointing at his deflated sidelines following a touchdown pass Rob Gronkowski. Or Aaron Hernandez. Or Wes Welker. Or Brandon Lloyd.
“He’s a quarterback who talks trash, and not many quarterbacks talk trash,” Bell said, “so when he does it, it kinda catches guys off guard because not your typical quarterback talks trash.”
The emergence of RB Stevan Ridley makes defenses more hesitant to flood the field with DBs, yet another poison to pick.
“I think with the way they’re running the ball, it’s hard to play what we called ‘small ball’ against them,” Mike Pettine said.
Hound Gronkowski.
“If you kinda slow him down before he gets started, you can mess with him a little bit,” Bell said.
Treat Hernandez as a receiver.
“You almost have to keep a fast guy on him and keep your eye on him because he’s sneaky,” Bell said.
It is imperative to keep Brady and his fastbreak offense off the field so Gang Green doesn’t wilt. Use Tim Tebow as a running back and hope he and Shonn Greene can ground and pound out 120 yards.
Which means it is imperative that Mark Sanchez is not forced to play catchup. It is imperative that Sanchez throws no more than 25 passes and completes no less than 60 percent against a reeling secondary capable of being torched. Throw the checkdown to Greene (or even Tebow). Try a bomb to Antonio Cromartie.
Forget the fake punt, because Belichick will be waiting for it, but do not be afraid to play to win with another form of chicanery, perhaps a fleaflicker, or even a quick kick.
The Jets, 11-point underdogs, must play with no pressure on them.
“When we’re the underdog,” Mike DeVito said, “and the bull’s-eye’s off of us, I feel like that’s when we prosper. We do the best when everybody’s kinda counting us out and betting against us. I feel like that’s when we kinda rally together and put our best stuff forward.”
They must believe.
“We believe,” Bell said. “We’re more together in this locker room than people think.”
So who knows? Maybe first place won’t be the last place we’ll find these Jets.
steve.serby@nypost.com