09/21 — You may have heard Randy Moss' remarks in the Patriots' Meadowlands locker room after Sunday's 16-9 Jets triumph about whether or not Darrelle Revis was a shutdown cornerback.

"All week he was talking about a shutdown corner, but really there are no shutdown corners in the league because they have help most of the game," Moss said. "I probably could be a shutdown corner if I had [Brandon] Meriweather over the top the whole game. I could be a corner."

This afternoon, Darrelle Revis made one thing clear.

"There was no help," Revis said with a smile. "The only time we played Cover-2 was in the fourth quarter. It was a good competition between us. I still respect him. We won."

Of course, Revis was only answering questions that Jets and Patriots reporters were asking him last week. He has a great mix of confidence and humility — not to mention ability — that endear him to his teammates and coaches.

Donald Strickland, who of course is Revis' teammate, stated this afternoon without hesitation, "Darrelle? He's a shutdown corner."

And Rex Ryan, known to be biased toward his players, repeated his assessment of "Reeve" in this afternoon's news conference: "Revis? Just amazing. It's not hard to figure out that we think he's the best corner in the league. When you're out here on the practice field and he catches as many passes as he gives up in 1-on-1 drills? I've never seen that before."

And for an independent voice, Peter King of Sports Illustrated elevated No. 24 to No. 4 on his weekly MVP Watch List.

As for upcoming opponents, beginning with two more tall orders in Tennessee and the following week at Drew Brees and New Orleans, Revis had this scouting report not on himself but on the Jets' defense and on the prospect of future opponents figuring it out:

"A lot of teams don't know how to handle it. We'll see how they catch onto it. If they don't, they don't. If they do, we're still coming."

Rex Still Thrills to the Crowd

Ryan passed out more verbal bouquets to the Meadowlands spectators who roared themselves hoarse like they perhaps hadn't since the 2002 playoff shutout of the Colts.

"I think our fans were an even bigger part that game than I first thought," he said. "What did they have, four or five penalties against their offense, four delay of games? That doesn't happen really to any team but especially to New England. Our crowd was really into it. They deserve the game ball we're giving them. We'll have it out in our trophy case. We should have it here by Friday."

One reporter asked Rex what about the Titans? Will he re-challenge the fans again this week for that game? Not necessary, said Ryan.

"They know what we want," he said. "Our fans know what we want."

Captain O'Connell

Another line of questioning concerned what Kevin O'Connell's game captaincy and third-QB status for the Patriots has to say about the QB depth chart. Rex's message is that O'C hasn't passed EA (Erik Ainge, not Eric Allen) on the depth chart, but he will remain flexible from week to week as to how he'll use his players, both in practice and in the game.

"The kid did a great job of preparing our team, running the scout team, putting in some plays they'd check to if they saw a certain look, so he helped out our defense," the coach said.

As for O'Connell's elevated status for the Pats, Ryan said, "Ainge is our third-string quarterback, but this young man I think's got a lot of ability and it's something I thought was important. I wanted New England to know this is our quarterback, this is our player. He's on our team now.

"Whatever reason they thought — 'Oh, he's just going to pick his brain' — we've got plenty of coaches here. But he was helpful on the practice field and the kid is a Jet. So I thought it was the right thing to do."

Walking Wounded

Ryan didn't have many details on the two players he mentioned as injured, cornerbacks Lito Sheppard (quadriceps) and Donald Strickland (ankle) and NT Kris Jenkins.

Jenks, Rex said, "was more just the wind was knocked out of him. He's a little sore but I think he should be fine."

On his CBs, he wasn't exactly sure of their status, but he added: "They may be limited in practice, but right now I don't believe anybody is listed as out" for the Titans.

On the Mark

We had some charts last week that spoke to how nicely Mark Sanchez fared in his pro debut at Houston. This week we have a chart that shows a different quality. Four Jets teams had minus net passing yardage (which includes sack yardage) in one half since 1995. All figures, as it turns out, were for first halves:

So Sanchez certainly had some difficulties getting the offense back on track after a historically low first-half production. But then what does it say that he did get it back on track, coming out of the tunnel firing?

The rookie also continued with his third-and-long success. After converting seven third-and-7's or longer at Houston, he added two more vs. the Patriots, including a 13-yard catch-and-run with Leon Washington on third-and-13 that helped get the Jets their final field goal.

And one more sign that Sanchez is a quick study. His first two pro kneeldowns at the end of the 24-7 win at Houston lost 6 yards. That comes off the team's offensive yardage, affects rankings, etc. Against the Patriots, the rookie's two KDs lost 2 yards. That's the ticket.