SUNDAY PAPER

Someday soon it will be time to measure up Mark Sanchez again. Maybe the next time he plays in cold weather, which wasn't so successful two weeks ago against Buffalo. Maybe it's when he plays Buffalo next, since that's the team that picked him off five times in that game. Maybe it's the next matchup against the Patriots - in New England, instead of in front of the home crowd.

But this week the object of scrutiny is not the rookie quarterback - it's the rookie coach. The last time the Jets played the Dolphins, Sanchez was fine. It was Rex Ryan's vaunted defense that looked exposed just three short weeks ago against Miami and its wildcat formation.

That shortcoming seems a bit more magnified following the Saints' ability to neutralize the wildcat last week as they staged a monster comeback on Miami.

At the same time, the Jets' defense was showing signs of life again after a couple of 'just OK' weeks - nothing close to the way they started the season. But that performance comes with a huge asterisk, because it was against the subpar Oakland offense.

And now it's Jets-Dolphins again, and it's a chance for Ryan to show how he can game plan.

*Tough to see Pedro Martinez pitching for the Phillies in the World Series. That was the dream in 2006, and after helping the Mets to first place that season, Pedro wasn't around for the post-season. The Mets wouldn't be back to the post-season in the rest of Pedro's tenure. I had no doubt Pedro would be able to help someone this year after seeing how he pitched in the World Baseball Classic way back in March and April...but to have it be the Phillies and to have it go this deep into the post-season is a little hard to take.

*I know it's a little late by now, but I haven't addressed it yet: I don't see how Mark McGwire coming back to be the St. Louis Cardinals hitting coach does anyone any favors. For baseball in general it's a scar that becomes visible again. Unless he plans on having a tell-all press conference and owning up to the black eye he contributed to (and which he has hid from these past few years), it's going to be a burden for him. And it's certainly not doing the Cardinals hitters any favors - since when is Mark McGwire qualified to coach hitting?

*I'm already bored with the NBA.

*Nothing freaks me out more on Halloween than a kid standing at my door wearing one of those masks from 'Scream'. It happened again Saturday night. This year, my 3-year-old daughter happened to be with me, and it got her a little frightened. So I asked the kid to take off the mask to show her it was no one to be afraid of. The kid was nice enough to do it. I think it worked. You know. For my daughter.

*I'll go with the Jets to get that revenge win over Miami today, but it won't be by much. I'll say a touchdown. Jets 27, Dolphins 20

*How much disrespect are the undefeated Broncos getting? They're underdogs (again) in Baltimore today. I haven't picked the Broncos right all season, and I haven't picked the Ravens right all year. I'm taking Denver getting points, because I think they win this game outright...but that probably means it'll turn out to be their first 'L' of the year. How bad are the Jaguars to go into winless Tennessee as underdogs? I'm picking the Jaguars getting those points, which means welcome to the win column, Titans. And I don't think the Falcons hand the Saints their first loss Monday night, but I also don't think the Saints win by 10 (despite their unimaginably doing so last week). I'm taking Atlanta getting 9-and-a-half.

SUNDAY PAPER

I'll admit, I was less than pleased all last week when the Jets talked and talked leading up to their game with the Patriots.

The truth is, when they do things like that, it makes them look even worse when they get beat.

But the fact that they were able to back up all that talk and win the game makes me kind of happy they did it.

I think I like a team with some swagger.

And I think I like that it starts with the coach.

This is certainly not the type of thing that would have happened under Eric Mangini. A player who said anything under Mangini would face a fine, I'm sure...or worse.

I suppose it could have happened when Herm Edwards was at the helm, but it didn't really seem to. That was the kind of team that let Herm do the talking and they just went out and played. And while it was fun to listen to Edwards most of the time, the team was never really what you'd call dominant. More of a by-the-skin-of-their-teeth team.

Enter Rex Ryan. He started the talking in the middle of the off-season, first targeting Bill Belichick (which is tremendously overblown, incidentally - tell me something he said that has been wrong. Of course he's not going to worship Belichick - he's out to beat him. He just said what others keep to themselves.), but don't forget that when the Jets play the Dolphins, Channing Crowder says he has a score to settle with the Jets coach dating back to an off-season war of words.

The team picked up on the chatter in Week 2, and I think I'm a little disappointed that it hasn't continued into Week 3.

Well it has, kind of. Bart Scott took to the airwaves this week to call out Randy Moss, who belittled some of the Jets' defensive performance. And the target wasn't Scott specifically - he was backing up his teammates.

Listen, I know the Jets are just 2-0. I know it's not like they are a threat to win the Super Bowl...yet. (I was talking to a Patriots friend of mine this week after the Jets-Pats game and he said, "I wouldn't get too excited about your team yet." I had to respond, "I'm a Jets fan. You don't have to tell me that.") But you have to get a little excited at the atmosphere around the team Rex Ryan has created.

They believe they can win. They'll talk about it and they'll back it up. Most importantly, they'll back each other up on and off the field.

There's a lot to like - and believe in - about that.

**All of the talk around Boston is who the Red Sox are going to start in Game 1 of the ALDS...not an 'if' but a 'when'. I know they're very close to clinching...but after what I've seen with the Mets the past couple of years it gives me pause to hear people talking about the playoffs as a sure thing when it's not locked up yet. It's like when the Mets were in the playoffs commercials MLB was airing last year through the summer. That turned embarrassing come late September. And then you watch Jon Lester take a line drive off the knee and you think, 'Maybe everyone should keep their mouth shut.' Or at least stop talking about the ALCS versus the Yankees and only focus on an ALDS.

**You may remember two weeks ago I (slightly accidentally) gave you the Bills getting big points against the Patriots. I forgot to pick an underdog last Sunday, but if I had I like to think I would have gone with the Cardinals to outright win getting points in Jacksonville (I had them and felt great about them in my picks pool). But I won't let another "would have" situation go by. This week, I notice there are quite a few home underdogs, which are always hard to pick against. I do not like the Lions or Rams, both getting points, nor do I like the Bengals or the Seahawks. I think all of those teams lose and fail to cover at home. I do like the Bucs to at least cover against the Giants and the Bills to at least cover against the Saints. I'm not sure either team wins, though. And then finally, I can't believe the Broncos are underdogs in Oakland. Is there any way they lose to the Raiders? I don't think either team is very good, and I have a hard time seeing Denver getting to 3-0, but I think they win again on Sunday.

**That reminds me - I think it's time to start figuring out who's for real and who's not some time this week I'll write about the legit teams with winning records (like the Falcons) and the frauds (Denver). Also, the hard-luck losing teams (like the Titans) and the flat-out bad teams (like the Rams).

**I know you're dying to know a little more about the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs, opponent of Hall of Famer Gary Carter's Long Island Ducks in the Atlantic League playoffs. In Game 1 of their series, the Ducks were beaten 1-0 by former major league pitchers John Halama and Mac Suzuki (the closer). The manager is Butch Hobson, which I'm sure resonates with the many Red Sox fans who read this blog.

**I was able to listen to the last couple of innings of Game 3 of the series on WNYG streaming over the internet and it was pretty excellent quality, all things considered. Surprised to hear that Gary Carter also coaches third base, but I guess it makes sense at that level. I guess I always assumed Buddy Harrelson would man third for Carter like he did for the 1980's Mets teams. Anyway, the Ducks pulled out an 8th inning rally to win Game 3 and stave off elimination in the best-of-five series. They trail the series 2 games to 1.

**Update: Forgot to make a Jets pick in my original posting...The Jets and Titans always play each other tight (in today's case, incidentally, it'll be Titans-Oilers - one of the AFL anniversary games, with the Jets as the Titans). I say Jets 23, Titans 20.

MONDAY MORNING IMPRESSIONS: JETS 16, PATRIOTS 9

I don't want to make a huge deal out of this...but I got a game ball on Sunday.

"I think our fans are huge in this victory," said head coach Rex Ryan. "In fact, we're giving a game ball to our fans. It will go up in our trophy case. I thought they were the difference."

It's not the first time I've been given a game ball, incidentally. I remember I was awarded one after the Jets' playoff win over Jacksonville in 1999. I was loud then, too.

But I wasn't alone in this - I did have help. Besides the 70,000+ others screaming for much of the game, there was the Jets' defense. They played pretty well. They still have yet to give up a touchdown on this young season, holding the Patriots to three field goals (and after the Texans scored last week on only a defensive score).

And then there was Tom Brady. I'll delve into this one later in the week, but again he looked terrible, this time without the end-of-game flurry like the ones the Bills handed him last week. And there were times that he had the Jets' defense beat, but threw a terrible pass, and didn't seem on the same page as his receivers.

Sure, I'd like to think it was all me causing the back-to-back delay of game penalties (following a time out, no less), but some of that blame falls on the quarterback. And on this day that QB did not look like a former Super Bowl MVP.

The Jets' rookie quarterback, meanwhile, was able to bounce back from his mistakes. (And I did my part to help the offense by resting my voice while they had the ball...but again, this isn't about me. I was only part of the team, game ball or not.) After a first few possessions that were just terrible (a Sanchez fumble that put the ball inside the 5, a Leon Washington fumble that the Patriots recovered), Sanchez managed to get the Jets 3 points in the second quarter (after some questionable play-calling where the Jets seemed to give up the chance at a TD), and then came out of the gates in the third quarter with a quick, efficient touchdown drive to give the Jets the lead for good.

Sanchez could have easily had a second touchdown but he overthrew a receiver in the end zone...but he managed to limit the mistakes and help the Jets hold the lead.

In the end, as Rex Ryan said, the Jets were the better team on this day. They're starting to look like they might just be a better team than most this year. Again, we'll have a better idea when the Jets take on the Titans at home next week.

I just hope they can manage without me there.

THE ONLY CHOICE

The official word was handed down Wednesday: Mark Sanchez will be the starting quarterback for the New York Jets to start the 2009 season.

The unofficial word: Hopefully he will also be the starting quarterback for many additional years to come.

Rex Ryan gave a fair shake to the "incumbent", Kellen Clemens, whose only claim to the job, really, was having already been on the Jets' roster. Ryan declared the position open to a competition, may the best man win.

Trouble was, no one was best...the numbers this pre-season were pretty equal. And that's bad news for a veteran versus a rookie, because if the rookie can do what the veteran can do, why not go with the rookie...in this case the number five overall pick in the draft.

And in reality, the way the competition turned out is the way it should have gone anyway, because Kellen Clemens has not given any indication that he is capable of leading a franchise. That's why the Jets drafted Mark Sanchez, and now that the "Who's the starter?" discussion is settled it's time to get down to the business of football, and see if Sanchez is the guy capable of leading a franchise.

I have nothing against Clemens. Really, I don't. Unfortunately for him, he was caught in the wrong place, wrong time with the Chad Pennington's situation, when I felt that Pennington did not get a fair shake from the Jets. So I hold Clemens up to a standard that he is not capable of reaching. Now Sanchez has his own standard to uphold.

It's very exciting to follow a guy from the beginning of his career, especially at a position like quarterback. I was shocked to learn that the only other time a rookie quarterback started a season for the Jets was their first year of existence, in 1960.

What's fair to expect from Sanchez? I think it's unfair to make comparisons to Joe Flacco and Matt Ryan and expect a playoff appearance right off the bat. Certainly it's possible in the NFL, where anything can happen any year, but I think it's more realistic to expect Sanchez to keep the Jets in games, and lead them to more of an 8-8 record than a 3-13.

Other than that, it'll be exciting to watch this career get started on the field instead of on the sideline and to see what the Jets have for the future. And it will certainly be more exciting than watching Kellen Clemens quarterback the team.