11/17 — In the giddy moments after the 34-31 victory at Foxboro was in the books, Eric Barton offered a thought for the future.

"If we build from this, it will be tremendous," Barton said. "We can't celebrate for long."

And now the Jets' celebration is done. Even though their next team gatherings won't be until Wednesday, the players are filtering back from "parts unknown," checking back into the Atlantic Health Training Center today and Tuesday, and are already in Titans mode.

Not New York Titans. Tennessee Titans. The NFL's "Perfect 10(-0)" this season.

And 10-0 is tough to beat.

Well, in franchise history, it's an unknown challenge, since the Jets have never played a 10-0 team before. But they have played five games against opponents who were at least 8-0 and they lost each one. Those games:

Probably the Jets' biggest upset in terms of record of opponent came when the 9-1 Vikings visited Shea Stadium in 1970 and the 3-7 Jets prevailed, 20-10. A dozen years later the 7-3 Jets bumped off the 9-1 Raiders at Los Angeles in the 1982 Super Bowl Tournament.

And as Pro Football Hall of Fame candidate Joe Klecko reminded Eric Allen and me for this week's "Jets Two-Minute Drive" radio show, the 1985 Jets took a 13-1 Bears team headed for Super Bowl glory into the fourth quarter before falling at home, 19-6.

League-wide, 10-0 has been a large but not insurmountable obstacle. Ten times since the 1970 merger teams have taken an unbeaten record into their 11th game. Seven of those 10 won. Here are those games vs. 10-0 teams:

The last time a 10-0 team lost, it happened twice in the same 1990 weekend, when the Giants and the 49ers, a week before their long-anticipated matchup, each lost for the first time. Also, the Niners, with their home loss to the then-Los Angeles Rams that week, are the only 10-0 team to lose Game 11 at home since 1970.

But really, the Jets will publicly say that none of this has any relevance to their Sunday game in Music City. As T Damien Woody said after the New England win and before Tennessee's game at Jacksonville about whether he'd prefer to face the Titans undefeated or with one loss:

"It doesn't matter to me. They're the best team in the AFC. Any way, regardless of whether they win or lose, it's going to be a heck of a game."

Upon Further Review

Just to follow up on the observations of some fans who thought the Jets should have benefited from a 10-second runoff to help them possibly win last week's game over the Patriots in regulation, referee Gene Steratore and his crew got the call right.

The 10-second runoff is enforced in the last minute of either half when an offense commits any from a list of penalties that stop the clock, such as a false start. But the intent of the rule is to prevent offenses from "conserving time." As the penalty paragraph of Section 7, Article 1 of the NFL rulebook states:

When actions referred to above are committed by the offensive team while time is in [emphasis added], officials will run 10 seconds off the game clock before permitting the ball to be put in play on the ready-for-play signal.

The key phrase is "while time is in." Time was out when Patriots center Dan Koppen was called for a false start with 23 seconds left in regulation. The clock had been stopped because Matt Cassel had legally spiked the ball the play before.

Media Monday

The Green & White may not have played Sunday but "Inside the Jets" goes on. Kris Jenkins, Kareem Brown and Ropati Pitoitua are set for tonight's show, being held at Charlie Brown's restaurant in Chatham, N.J., and being aired on 1050 AM ESPN. Also at the steakhouse will be Flight Crew members Doris and Kazuyo.

Also on the ESPN air today will be kicker Jay Feely with a scheduled 4:10 p.m. appearance on the Michael Kay Show