09/14 — Today the Jets basked in the glow of their successful season premiere in Houston, while remaining quite aware of the work on the first sequel ahead on Sunday.

The light day of work at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center included a viewing of the 24-7 win at Houston that for Darrelle Revis was like a trip to the local DodecaPlex to see a late summer blockbuster.

"It was like watching a new movie coming out — it was great," said the cornerback, one of the stars of the solid performance in Game 1 of Rex Ryan's NFL head-coaching career. "It was good for us, as a defense, to establish ourselves. We want to be one of the best defenses in the league."

"It was good to see what the guys did in the game. It was somewhat entertaining," replied nose tackle Kris Jenkins. "I think it was definitely having a step in the right direction for us. It helped the guys understand that we do have this type of team with the skills to compete with anybody.

"But we're focusing on putting this behind us. We have a huge, huge opponent ahead."

That opponent is the New England Patriots, who host the Bills tonight, then immediately begin their preparations to provide the opposition for the Jets' home opener for the fourth consecutive year. And Ryan, while still pleased over the way the Jets opened things up, said all the right things about the Pats — and the Jets — at his day-after news conference this afternoon.

"I'm looking forward to it," Ryan said. "They're better than us in two spots, I know for sure — head coach and quarterback. But we'll find out who has the better team. It's not about me against Belichick. That'd be one-sided. But I think I'll compete — I know I'll compete. He's going to get everything I've got. And I think New England will get everything Mark Sanchez has, too."

Rex was happy to reflect on how the Jets hid things they wanted to do defensively this preseason and how the opponents when he was with the Ravens hated opening up against his defense. But the Jets boss wasn't going to fall for the bait when asked if the Patriots will be surprised Tuesday morning when they first click on video of the Jets' swarming defense against the Texans.

"I don't think they'll be surprised at all," he said. "I think more than anything, maybe some of the so-called experts might have been surprised. But New England won't be surprised. They know how we're going to play defense."

But as Jenkins alluded to and CB Lito Sheppard confirmed, the Jets also were not caught off guard by how well their "D" came out of the starting gate.

"We knew what we had. These guys see it every day with each other," said Sheppard, who came up with his first interception as a Jet and the 19th of his career in the fourth quarter. "We just hadn't shown it all yet. But it's just one game. You can't get too high, you can't get too low. It's a victory, it's a conference game, so it's a good thing."

We'll hear more and more about the Jets-Patriots rivalry all this week, how the teams don't like each other, and particularly about how the Pats have this thing over the Jets at the Meadowlands. None of this fazes Sheppard in the least.

"Coming from Philly, we played New England quite a bit and it was pretty intense in those games," he said. "Whenever you have a chance to play against one of the top teams in the league, there's going to be some head blows, it's going to be a back-and-forth game.

"But every year is different," he advised about the Jets-Pats rivalry. "This is the NFL so you never know. Any given Sunday, that's why we play. That team is different than in previous years and this team is different. So it's a whole new ballgame in that aspect."

So while the Patriots won't be surprised by the Jets, neither will the Jets be surprised by the Pats. Let the sequel to Jets-Texans begin.

More Game Balls

Ryan and his staff, who awarded owner Woody Johnson and strength coach Sal Alosi and his crew game balls after Sunday's game, passed out more leather largesse, to RB Thomas Jones, QB Mark Sanchez, CB Darrelle Revis, LB David Harris, and special teamer Jason Trusnik for his work on the punt return team. No blocks for Trusnik but twice he skated the Texans' personal protector into the kitchen of punter Matt Turk.

Injury Front

Ryan gave a brief injury report, saying that Sione Pouha, who got his second pro start at DT on Sunday, "had a bit of an ankle," while S Eric Smith, who had a few nice plays, "got kicked in the nose when David Harris got that wide receiver." Rex didn't know of E.Smith's nose was broken or not. As for Mike DeVito, who got his first pro takeaway on the second-quarter fumble return despite his tender hamstring, the coach said "he looks pretty good."