10/31 — We know the Jets’ recent history in Buffalo. The Green & White have won just one of their past five meetings with the Bills in Western New York and they’ve ordinarily been slow starters at Ralph Wilson Stadium.

You’d have to go back to 2003 to find the last time the Jets struck first in Orchard Park. Doug Brien’s 38-yard field goal gave them a 3-0 first-quarter advantage, but they’d eventually succumb to the Bills, 17-6, as Travis Henry ran wild for 169 yards and a touchdown.

Much has changed since — Henry’s no longer in the league and just pleaded not guilty on Thursday to federal cocaine trafficking chargers. The coaching staffs and personnel are dramatically different. But the importance of getting off to a good start is no less significant.

“We have to get up there and just keep the game close,” says veteran defender Shaun Ellis. “Don’t allow them to just jump out on us. The last couple of years, they’ve gotten a quick start on us and we’ve been forced to rally back. Roscoe [Parrish] hit us with a big passing play early in the game two years ago. They always jump on us early, so the key for us will be to do what we do: don’t turn the ball over, stop the run and just keep the game close.”

Last year the Jets were able to do that and actually entered the third quarter in a scoreless deadlock. But the Bills got a Marshawn Lynch TD run in third quarter to take a 7-0 lead and they eventually captured a 17-14 contest. Parrish (as Ellis alluded to) scored a minute into that ’06 contest before the Jets rebounded and took home a 28-20 W for then-rookie head coach Eric Mangini. The Bills also gained quick 7-0 first-quarter leads in both ’05 and ’04 in taking 27-17 and 22-17 decisions respectively.

“Buffalo plays great at home,” Ellis said. “The fans really get behind them and they make it hard for us. They don’t beat themselves at home with turnovers or making penalties and stuff. We really have to force them to mess up.”

The Jets, who’ve compiled a minus-8 turnover margin in their past three games, will need Brett Favre to be on his game Sunday. He’s never beaten the Bills in Buffalo, dropping all three of his B-Lo meetings while he was a Packer.

“They are playing outstanding — they are no fluke,” Favre said this week. “It will be a difficult game for us, no doubt about it. It has been in the past. I had gone to Buffalo numerous times and it's a hostile environment.”

Arguably this is the best Bills team the Jets have played in Buffalo over the past decade — the Bills have entered this annual Western New York showdown with no better than a .500 record every time since they were 9-5 in 1998.

“Our young quarterback, Trent Edwards, has come along very quickly,” said Bills head coach Dick Jauron. “He’s playing at a level that has given us a chance to win on every weekend that we’ve played. You clearly need that, too. You really need that guy.”

As the leaves fall and temps drop, November begins with one large football game for this Jets team. They’ve won three of their past four to get to 4-3, but this division game means a two-game swing either way. The Green & White will either move to 5-3 at the halfway point and essentially move ahead of the Bills because of a better division record or they'll find themselves at .500 and two games behind 6-2 Buffalo and possibly New England (the Pats visit the Colts Sunday night).

With all this on the line, the Jets don't need a slow start. It's not that they can't come back from a deficit — come on folks, this team has Brett Favre at the controls. But an early lead would provide a tremendous boost and it would also calm the frenzied fans.

Ellis, a defensive captain and the longest tenured player on the team, says the Jets have to come out swinging

“You have to force them into those bad plays," he told me. "They’re not just going to give it to you, so you have to force the action.”