NFL

Patriots still big obstacle for Jets

A funny thing has happened to the Jets on their way to establishing themselves as the kings of the AFC East en route to the Super Bowl this year.

With the season about to hit the halfway mark Sunday, the 5-2 Jets still are looking up at the 6-1 first-place Patriots in the division.

Until further notice, the Jets remain in position to have to kiss Bill Belichick’s rings.

Does that mean the Jets will not supplant the Patriots as AFC East champions — something New England has made a habit of under Belichick, winning seven of the nine titles since 2001?

Not at all.

The Jets already have beaten the Patriots once this season, and are one game back in the standings, making the Dec. 6 rematch in Foxborough the likely decider for the division title.

But as Jets right tackle Damien Woody told The Post before the season began: “Until we knock them off and win the division, everything still goes through Foxborough. Despite the fact that we went to the AFC Championship game, they still won the division last year.

“That’s got to be our main focus,” he said. “Before we start talking Super Bowl, our main focus needs to be winning the division.”

Not long ago, the Jets appeared to be headed to the AFC East title on roller blades. They had the upper hand on their division rivals and were considered by many experts around the league as perhaps the best team in the NFL.

Then the Jets lost their focus against the Packers on Sunday and suddenly they find themselves chasing the Patriots again.

“It’s not like they’re a slouch all of a sudden,” Woody said of the Patriots. “They’ve got players now.”

Ironically, the one player that best symbolizes the difference between the Jets and Patriots right now is Danny Woodhead, the unheralded running back the Jets released after the season opener and the Patriots quickly signed.

At first, New England’s signing of Woodhead was considered gamesmanship, because the Patriots brought him in the week they were playing the Jets at New Meadowlands Stadium. But the Woodhead acquisition has represented so much more than a ruse to pick his brain for trade secrets.

Woodhead can play and, with Kevin Faulk lost for the season shortly after Woodhead was signed, he has become a do-everything savior of sorts for New England. He has rushed for 178 yards, a 4.9-yard average and two touchdowns. He has caught 14 passes for 136 yards and a TD out of the backfield.

Though the Jets dazzle you with flashy offseason acquisitions (Santonio Holmes, Antonio Cromartie), former first-round draft picks and future Hall of Famers (LaDainian Tomlinson and Jason Taylor), the Patriots are doing it with no-names role players such as Woodhead.

The Patriots are doing it by making fewer mistakes than the opposition every week — a hallmark of Belichick-coached teams.

The Jets? They handed Sunday’s game, a 9-0 loss, to the Packers because of three turnovers, a half-dozen dropped passes and bone-headed penalties.

The Patriots fittingly sealed their 28-18 win over the Vikings on Sunday with a huge third-down catch-and-run play by Woodhead. He was released by the Jets because they reserved a roster spot for disappointing draft pick Joe McKnight, a player Woodhead dramatically beat out in training camp and preseason and one who has been active for one game this year.

“Danny has the little knack about him,” Patriots running backs coach Ivan Fears said yesterday. “He knows how to make things happen when he has the ball in his hands. That’s what attracted us to the guy. He hasn’t let us down. Boy, he hasn’t let us down one bit.

“We had seen his films,” he said. “We saw him play for the Jets. It was kind of, ‘Well, let’s see if this really is true that this guy’s as good as we think he is.’ We lucked out there. We lucked out and got ourselves a nice find.”

The Patriots’ find was, of course, the Jets’ loss.

Rodgers rips into Jets fans

Since his arrival, coach Rex Ryan has made it a habit to try to stoke up the Jets and implore their rabid support. Ryan has even gone as far as to record phone messages to be sent out to season ticket holders to urge them on.

Based on the observations of Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers from Sunday’s game at the Meadowlands, it might be time for Ryan to send out another of those pre-recorded messages. Rodgers, leaking all over the passive and indifferent Jets home crowd, said, “It wasn’t that wild to be honest with you. I was surprised. Fans, a lot of them didn’t show up until the second quarter.”

Rodgers said he was particularly surprised at how quiet the place was considering the Jets entered the game as the NFL’s hottest team, having won five in a row.

“All of us were very surprised, a 5-1 team, as well as they were playing, [that] it wasn’t a louder stadium,” he said.

Ouch.

Johnson a ‘Mega’star

Woody, who played in Detroit from 2004 to 2007, disputes the fact that former Lions receiver Roy Williams gave current Lions receiver Calvin Johnson the nickname “Megatron” from the “Transformers” movie.

“I’m the one who gave him the ‘Megatron’ name, though Roy Williams got credit,” Woody, who played with Johnson in 2007, said. “I’ve never seen a receiver like him and still have not seen a receiver like him — someone that tall and that big (6-foot-5, 236) and who runs the 40-yard dash in 4.3 seconds. With his skill set he’s the most unique receiver in the league.”

One player (San Diego’s Antonio Gates with nine) has more TD receptions than Johnson’s eight this season and Gates has played one more game.

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Mark Sanchez delivered an interesting anecdote during his weekly radio spot with ESPN.

While the offense was watching film of Sunday’s loss to the Packers, after the clip of Jets running back LaDainian Tomlinson getting beat for a sack by Green Bay’s Brandon Chillar in the first quarter, Tomlinson turned to Sanchez and said, “I got you, man. That won’t ever happen again.”