Kiss that, Patriots! The Jets delivered the goods on their words of bravado yesterday with a rousing 16-9 win over their hated rival, the Patriots, before a raucous Giants Stadium crowd that brought the kind of noise you’d expect at a playoff game.
The statement victory came after a week of bold talk from the Jets, who seemed determined to tweak the Patriots at every opportunity before the teams took the field.
“I don’t know how much talking was done last week. Was there some?” Rex Ryan said, tongue firmly planted in cheek. “Sometimes we talk a little, but only because we have confidence in our football team. We’re a football team that should be respected.
“We believe it to be true that we’re an outstanding football team, and we’ve got to go out and show it each week.”
Through two weeks — 2-0 and atop the AFC East — they have.
“The Patriots are a hell of a football team,” Ryan said. “I just thought we were the better team today, and we went out and showed it.”
Ryan was a big part of the pregame chatter, too, getting Jets fans riled up with a recorded phone call imploring them to make Giants Stadium “miserable” for Tom Brady and the Patriots offense.
Mission accomplished. There wasn’t an empty seat in the house and the place rocked — particularly while the Patriots’ offense was on the field.
“The crowd was the difference,” defensive end Shaun Ellis said. “We needed them.”
Ellis said the stadium hadn’t been this loud since the Jets beat the Colts in the 2002 playoffs.
“Our fans were huge in this victory,” Ryan said. “In fact, we’re giving the game ball to our fans; it’ll be up in our trophy case. We thought they were the difference. I never saw that crowd in the preseason. It was really intense out there. It was loud.
“That’s what I was talking about: Make it miserable.”
For a change, the Jets made it miserable for the Patriots, who had won their previous eight games against Gang Green at Giants Stadium.
Sure this season is a mere two games old, but the Jets are flying as high as they have in years and feeling great about themselves.
Their defense, which hasn’t yielded a touchdown this season, battered, bruised and baffled Brady into a forgettable performance (23-of-47 for 216 yards and an interception).
Their offense, led by poised-beyond-his-years rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez, did just enough against the game Patriots’ defense in a taut defensive struggle.
A 9-yard Sanchez scoring pass to tight end Dustin Keller in the third quarter gave the Jets a 10-9 lead, their first of the game and one they did not relinquish en route to vanquishing the favored Patriots.
The Patriots had incredibly good field position early in the game (starting one drive on the Jets’ 49 and one on the Jets’ 17), but managed only one Stephen Gostkowski field goal in the first quarter.
The Jets trailed 9-3 at the half and were anemic on offense (four first downs and 57 total yards), but Sanchez led them to the only touchdown of the game on the opening drive of the third quarter.
Sanchez was 3-of-5 for 15 yards in the first half and 11-of-17 for 148 yards and the TD in the second half.
After the Jets took a 16-9 lead with 9:48 left in the game on the third of Jay Feely’s three field goals, their defense held Brady & Co. scoreless on three possessions, the last of which began from the New England 10-yard line with 1:48 remaining.
“I know everyone was thinking, ‘OK, two minutes, Brady time. March down the field, tie the game, go for two and win the game,’ ” linebacker Bart Scott said. “No, I’m not used to that. I’ve never been a part of that. Maybe people expected that time would run out [on the Patriots]. No, maybe we’ll stop them four times and then it’s time to warm up the [bleeping] bus.”
What Scott was really saying was something like “Kiss that,” which has a nice ring to it.