28-year old cornerback Isaiah Trufant played in 1 game as a rookie for the Jets in 2010 and he had 2 tackles.  Last week in the season opener against the Cowboys, Trufant made a name for himself.  He had 2 tackles in the game.  But more importantly, he returned a punt blocked by RB Joe McKnight and he returned it 41 yards for a TD in the 4th quarter which helped the Jets come all the way back and win.  Trufant is likely going to get a lot of P.T. on both special teams and defense in 2011, so the Jets hope he’s up to the challenge.

23-year old rookie QB Greg McElroy is looking good so far in the preseason.  The 7th round pick out of Alabama has gotten a ton of P.T. in the preseason due to ancient Mark Brunell being banged up.  McElroy has played in all three preseason games for the Jets so far and he has completed 33 of 53 passes (62.3%) for 306 yards with 2 TD passes and 0 INTs.  He has also carried the ball 7 times for 31 yards (4.4 ypc) in the preseason.  McElroy has certainly stepped up for the Jets in the preseason and they are likely very comfortable with him as the #3 QB.  He might even push Brunell for the #2 spot later in the year.

UPDATE:  (9/3/2011) – Greg McElroy completed 3 of 6 passes for 29 yards in the Jets’ last preseason game.  But, he dislocated his right thumb, which could cause him to miss the rest of the 2011 season.

UPDATE:  (9/4/2011) – The Jets have placed Greg McElroy on Injured Reserve, ending his season.

The Jets have been getting solid production out of their RBs so far this post season.  25-year old Shonn Greene has carried the ball 36 times for 146 yards (4.1 ypc) and he has also caught 1 pass for 9 yards in his first two playoff games.  31-year old LaDainian Tomlinson has carried the ball 26 times for 125 yards (4.8 ypc) with 2 TD runs and he has also caught 8 passes for 19 yards (2.4 avg) with a TD grab so far in the playoffs.  The Steelers have a great run defense but that’s not going to intimidate the Jets as Shonn Greene & L.T. combined to rush for 89 yards on 23 carries (3.9 ypc) against the Steelers in the Jets’ 22-17 win over them at Heinz Field last month.  Sanchez is going to need the ground support to open up plays down the field off of play action so they hope that Greene & L.T. step up tomorrow in Pittsburgh.

Just like last season, 24-year old QB Mark Sanchez has picked up his play during the post season.  In his first two playoff games this year, he has completed 34 of 56 passes (60.7%) for 383 yards with 3 TD passes and 1  INT (91.6 QB Rating).  The Jets hope that he will be better this time around than he was in the AFC Championship last season.  That being said, Sanchez is a remarkable 4-1 in the post-season in his first two years in the league and all of those games were on the road.  The Jets beat the Steelers earlier this year on Heinz Field (22-17) and they will need Sanchez to protect the ball to duplicate that result.  Sanchez completed 19 of 29 passes (65.5%) for 170 yards with 0 TD passes and 0 INTs (81.1 QB Rating) against the Steelers in December.  He also carried the ball 3 times for 15 yards (5.0 ypc) with a TD run in that game.  This is Mark Sanchez’ chance to follow in the footsteps of Joe Namath.

The Jets have so many playmakers on offense that most teams overlook WR/QB Brad Smith.  Smith runs the Wildcat Formation for the Jets and he is a deadly weapon.  Smith has played in 15 games for the Jets so far this year in which he has carried the ball 33 times for 239 yards (7.2 ypc) with a TD run and he has also caught 4 passes for 44 yards (11.0 avg).  Brad Smith also has completed 1 of 2 passes for 3 with with a TD pass and 0 INTs.  Smith doesn’t stop there either as he is a weapon on special teams too.  Smith has returned 50 kickoffs for 1,432 yards (28.6 avg) with 2 TD returns so far this year.  Don’t be surprised if Brad Smith makes some huge game altering plays in the playoffs.

47-year old head coach Rex Ryan certainly knows how to motivate his troops, especially on the road where the Jets are 5-0.  The Jets are winning the old school way by running the ball (150.7 yards rushing per game) and playing defense (they are allowing only 16.7 points per game).  He sometimes plays things to close to the vest which resulted in home losses to the Ravens and Packers.  The Jets only scored 9 points combined in those two games!  Still, winning is the bottom line and Ryan is doing a good job of it.  The Jets are now 16-9 (64%) during the regular season under Ryan.

It has been said that a TE is a young QBs best friend.  That appears to be true for the Jets as 2nd year QB likes throwing to 26-year old TE Dustin Keller, especially in the red zone.  Keller has played in 6 games for the Jets so far this year and he has 24 grabs for 343 yards (14.3 avg) with 5 TD grabs.  Keller has now played in 38 games in his first three years with the Jets and he has caught 117 passes for 1,400 yards (12.0 avg) with 10 TD grabs.  Look for Sanchez to be looking for Keller a lot this weekend against the Packers so that he won’t have to deal with the outstanding corners of the Pack.

26-year old cornerback Antonio Cromartie has really played great football for the Jets so far this year.  With Darrelle Revis coming in late and having injury problems, Cromartie has been the top corner for the Jets all year long.  Cromartie has played in all six games for the Jets so far this year and he has 17 tackles, 11 passes defensed and 2 interceptions (66 return yards).  Cromartie has now played in 70 games in his five years in the NFL and he has 182 tackles, 52 passes defensed and 17 interceptions (293 return yards, with 2 TD returns).  Getting Cromartie in the off-season might have been the best move the Jets made.

23-year old QB Mark Sanchez has really improved in his second year with the Jets.  But they don’t seem to trust him yet with the keys to the car as they are only averaging 175.0 yards passing per game this year.  The simple reason for that is that the Jets are rushing for 159.2 yards per game (4.9 ypc) so far this year.  Sanchez had a rough time as a rookie for the Jets during the regular season last year.  He played in 15 games in 2009 and he completed 196 of 364 passes (53.8%) for 2,444 yards with 12 TD passes and 20 INTs (63.0 QB Rating).  Sanchez also carried the ball 36 times for 106 yards (2.9 ypc) with 3 TD runs last season.  Sanchez really grew up in the post season for the Jets.  They then went out in the off-season and added LaDainian Tomlinson and Santonio Holmes to give Sanchez more weapons on offense.  The results have been good as Sanchez seems to be growing as a QB.  Sanchez has played in six games for the Jets so far this year and he has completed 98 of 177 passes (55.4%) for 1,100 yards with 9 TD passes and 2 INTs (86.4 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 9 times for only 5 yards (0.6 ypc) so far this year.  Sanchez has been throwing the ball away instead of into coverage and he also has been throwing the ball away instead of running it.  Both of those are signs that Sanchez is growing as a QB and maybe in the near future the Jets will take the shackles off him and let him wing the ball around the field.

23-year old QB Mark Sanchez seems to have learned a lot in his rookie year.  He played in 15 games for the Jets last season and he completed 196 of 364 passes (53.8%) for 2,444 yards with 12 TD passes and 20 INTs (63.0 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 36 times for 106 yards (2.9 ypc) with 3 TD runs last season.  Sanchez really stepped his game up in the playoffs and the good vibes have carried over into the regular season in 2010.  Sanchez has played in 3 games for the Jets so far this year and he has completed 46 of 79 passes (58.2%) for 550 yards with 6 TD passes and 0 INTs (104.9 QB Rating).  He also has carried the ball 7 times for 6 yards (0.9 ypc) so far this year.  The Jets hope that Sanchez keeps rolling this year because if he keeps playing like this I certainly don’t see a better team than the Jets in the AFC.