“There’s a side where a man’s will counts for a tremendous amount,” Byrd said before the game Sunday. “And that’s what we talked about and I shared with the team: You have a body, a mind and a will. What we talked about was the will.”

Edwards, for one, called the speech “the most inspirational thing I’ve ever heard in my life,” and said he had trouble sleeping afterward. Late in the second quarter, he said the effect was even more profound. The Jets led 7-3, and New England Coach Bill Belichick helped provide New York a chance to extend the advantage with his decision to fake a punt with 1 minute 14 seconds left in the half and the Patriots at their own 38-yard line. Safety Patrick Chung fumbled the snap, and the fake failed.

“It was a bad mistake,” Belichick said, though he declined to elaborate on whether he meant the fumble or the decision.

The Jets quickly moved the ball to the New England 15. From there, on third down, Sanchez found Edwards inside the 5. And Edwards, with two New England defenders on him, somehow struggled forward for the touchdown.

“I just felt Dennis Byrd as I was going into the end zone,” Edwards said. “I’m not trying to get cheesy or anything like that. It’s honest.”

Whatever the reasons, the Jets led 14-3 at the break. And even when Brady – who finished 29 for 45 for 299 yards, two touchdowns and his first interception since Oct. 17, 11 games ago – ended the third quarter with a masterful drive and a touchdown pass to tight end Alge Crumpler, the Jets’ swagger remained.

Sanchez responded by hitting Jerricho Cotchery over the middle for a 58-yard gain that pushed the Jets to the New England 13. Two plays later, on a third down that could have swung the game in either direction, he beautifully feathered a pass toward the back left corner of the end zone, “maybe his best throw of the season,” Edwards said. There, wide receiver Santonio Holmes mimicked the drag-the-toe catch he made for Pittsburgh in Super Bowl XLIII, hauling in the ball for a 21-11 lead.

“I think the pass that he threw was more tremendous than me making the catch,” Holmes said.

That, then, is the kind of debate the Jets can have now, with their season still barreling forward – whose contributions were more important, why their brand of trash talk seems to work, whether there’s anyone out there who truly believes in them. They understand the results: A second straight trip to the conference title game, with more possibilities ahead.

“Same old Jets, going to the AFC championship two years in a row,” said Ryan, in his second year. “The only difference is: We plan on winning this one.”

Who, outside of Pittsburgh, is going to tell them they can’t?