If we’ve all learned anything over the years, it’s that you hop aboard the Jets’ bandwagon at your own risk. If there is a way to snatch despair from the jaws of exhilaration, the Jets will find it. There are always vacancies for them and their fans at Heartbreak Hotel.
But I’m certain that’s Rex Ryan I see checking out at the front desk tonight, and throwing away the room keys.
“Our No. 1 goal is to win a Super Bowl,” safety James Ihedigbo said, “and the Patriots are another team that’s in our way, and we’re looking to eliminate them and move on forward.”
The Jets are ready to move on forward. This is their watershed moment, when they make a powerful statement, when they show us how big teams do it and beat the Patriots, and seize control of the division, and stamp themselves as a team to be reckoned with from here to Super Sunday.
And here’s why:
I — YA GOTTA BELIEVE
And believe you me, the Jets believe.
“We feel that the guys in this locker room are better than the guys in their locker room, hands down,” Ihedigbo said.
They pride themselves on overcoming adversity with their mental toughness and resilience and finding a way to win. Jim Leonhard’s season-ending broken leg Friday shook the Jets’ confidence level.
“It took a blow when Jim went down today,” Eric Smith said Friday night. “But we have confidence in our guys that are gonna step in. It’s not like we have rookies just stepping off the bus out there to play. So I think once we get through tomorrow, our confidence level will be back up where it was.”
Smith will now become the quarterback of the defense. He had a 3.95 GPA in high school.
“I pretty much know what everybody but the linemen are doing,” Smith said. “We’re not gonna have communication issues, ‘cause I’ll handle that.”
So Jet fans should breathe a sigh of relief?
“We’ll be all right,” Smith said.
II — THE GAME PLAN
“The game plan is good because we’re getting pressure on Brady, which is gonna force him to get the ball out quick, then we have a lot of coverage behind him,” one Jet said. “I feel like we have good matchups with our guys we have on [Wes] Welker and [Deion] Branch and those guys. And we have help on the inside with the tight ends, guys he likes to go to. I feel like we’re doing a good job changing up our looks so he can’t necessarily stand back there and say, ‘OK, this is man to man, I need to go here with the ball.’ He’s gonna have to stand back there and hold it to figure out what we’re gonna do.”
Is the word confusion?
“Disguise. We’re trying to make it cloudy, so he can’t just take the snap, step back and throw.”
More so than the first meeting? “Yeah.”
Why the change? Is it based on them not having Randy Moss?
“That did change our game plan quite a bit, because they don’t necessarily have that deep threat. So we feel like we can pack four guys inside, where most of their throws go.”
III — RYAN
Everyone, including Ryan, acknowledges that Bill Belichick is the best coach in football. Ryan, however, may be the best motivator in football.
I don’t buy into the theory that states Belichick is more dangerous with 10 days to prepare. I think Belichick’s greatest advantage comes when he has a short week. Plus don’t forget that Ryan picked twin brother Rob’s brain about how the Browns stymied Brady.
IV — GROUND & POUND
The bigger the game, the better Mark Sanchez plays. But Ryan wasn’t kidding when he said the Patriots had the edge at coach and quarterback.
Sanchez, however, has a fallback option should he struggle against a vulnerable secondary. Temperatures are expected to dip into the low 20s tonight, and it likely will be windy. Not California Dreamin’ weather. This is the time of the year when Ryan prefers to run it down people’s throats.
V — BIG GAME
The Jets won’t be overwhelmed after making the AFC Championship Game a year ago, and the game won’t be too big for a quartet of newcomers — Super Bowl hero Santonio Holmes, LaDainian Tomlinson, Jason Taylor and Antonio Cromartie.
“I don’t feel like we’ve put together that complete game, where special teams, offense and defense play well,” Smith said, “and I feel like we’re ready to do that Monday.”
VI — REVERSE THE CURSE II
No one ever imagined the Red Sox could storm back from an 0-3 deficit to shock the Joe Torre Yanks, and then go on to shoo away the ghosts of 1918. If anyone can scratch a 42-year itch, it’s The Rexorcist. This is the biggest step. The Jets take it.
steve.serby@nypost.com