11/18 — The Jets have left their epic with the Patriots behind, but a pair of players — rookie tight end Dustin Keller and veteran linebacker Eric Barton — along with head coach Eric Mangini have been nominated following their 34-31 overtime divisional win for a trio of sponsored NFL awards that fans can vote.

Keller, following up on a career-high 107-yard receiving day against the Rams, caught a personal-best eight balls in Foxboro for 87 yards and was nominated for Diet Pepsi Rookie of the Week. Five of Keller’s catches came on third down and kept drives alive, including his 16-yard gain in the extra session on third-and-15.

“I’m not even going to lie to you. If I sat here and told you what route it was I’d be lying to you,” Keller told me and Jets fullback Tony Richardson on newyorkjets.com radio. “I don’t remember anything about that play except that it was first down.”

During this week’s entertaining installment of “Paving the Way with T-Rich,” Keller also said that he studied film of Chiefs TE Tony Gonzalez after being drafted by the Jets.

“Nobody is going to compare with him at the top of his routes,” said the rookie. “He makes everything look exactly the same, so it makes it impossible to cover a guy like that.”

Richardson, a former Chief, said he talked to Gonzalez last Friday and one of the greatest tight ends in NFL history was “proud” of Keller’s standout performance. At a time when some rookies typically slow down, it appears Keller is heating up for the stretch run.

“I feel really good where I’m at,” he said. “I know everyone says all rookies hit a wall at some point and I don’t see that forthcoming at all.”

A number of Jets veterans have been instrumental in Keller’s development. Bubba Franks, a teammate of Brett Favre in Green Bay, has taken the youngster under his wing and Richardson, whose locker is alongside the talented rookie, is his workout partner.

“We motivate each other,” Richardson said. “We make it a point to run together on Mondays and on Tuesday we get our lower-body workout in.”

Barton, up for the GMC Sierra Defensive Player of the Week, may be the Jets’ most understated player. The 31-year-old inside 'backer registered 17 tackles against the Pats, including 14 solos, and he forced a critical turnover early in third quarter. After Ben Watson got New England into scoring territory, Barton took him down hard and safety Kerry Rhodes recovered for the visitors.

And Mangini, who has the Jets on a four-game win streak heading into Tennessee, is a contender for Motorola Coach of the Week. The Jets’ coaching staff has done a tremendous job preparing the Green & White the past two weeks as they outscored the Rams and the Patriots by 66-13 in the first halves. It marked the first time in 36 years that the Jets had scored at least 24 points in the first half in consecutive contests.

“It’s always satisfying to win,” said Mangini, a former Patriots defensive assistant, after his team’s latest triumph. “To win the division games on the road and to win this game with all of the ups and downs that went into it — that’s special. It was special, but it’s special in the context of how we’re starting to play and the way that we’re starting to play.”