The Jets absolutely silenced the NY media that had been lambasting them for the past six months.

Hate is such a strong word.

I used to hate Rex, but since he learned that he can have faith in his team while avoiding the Super Bowl guarantee, and I respect a guy who admits a mistake and changes course. They gave the green light to Sanchez and he stepped up big time. Sanchez loves to play the Bills. Remember the "white out" game? My clearest memory was seeing Mark Sanchez looking up into the pom-pom laden crowd after he knew the Jet's had, once again, made the Bills crumple. It's much harder to dislike Rex Ryan when he's respectful to your team. Even as he completely dominates your team.

I don't hate Sanchez at all. He handled Tebow media like a champ all pre-season. He was happy to have Tebow on the field in that first quarter, as evidenced by the bump-jumps and low fives as they asserted their will on a reeling Buffalo team. He doesn't talk trash and he's lived through some nasty New Jersey fan and media bashing.

I don't hate Tebow, Revis, Green, Keller, Kerley, etc. I dislike Holmes and Scott a bit, but not enough to hate. It's such a waste of energy, and the few NFL guys who had that place in my heart are out of the game (Shockey, Romanowski, Bryan Cox) and Rex Ryan. Belichick and Brady get absolutely no love, but hate might be the wrong word.

But Leron Landry (AKA "Dirty 30") is now the one NFL player worthy of this emotion. Congratulations! I will leave it at that to keep this post family friendly.

[actual game thoughts:]

The D line did fine. The Jets O-line played very well, and the game plan had Sanchez throwing before the line had a chance to get to him. It's not an excuse. There were 2 or three plays all game where Sanchez held the ball long enough to even have a possible sack. Yes, Wannsted might have forced the issue with a few more blitzes from the MLB or CB, but that's not where the big problem was. The clear problem was the secondary. And the blame for that can be placed on Wanny and Gailey.

Now, as one of the vocal "Fits apologists," I'm sure there are plenty of Rumblers who want me to post some excuses in which to shred. Well....I don't have any. He lost the game for the Bills as much as the secondary did, and more so considering he's one guy and they are four or five.

But I will say this. The Fitzpatrick naysayers have evolved over the past three years. Here's the progression:

"Fitz is worse than Brian Bhrom," then

"At least we know what we got in Fitz," and "he will never win a big game" to

"he won't take us to the playoffs" to

"we can't win the Super Bowl wit Fitz."

My personal favorites are "he won't be in the hall of fame" and "compared to Brady, Rodgers, and Manning..."

Oh well. At least he's exciting while sparking all this controversy. TD's and interceptions are more fun than 3-and-outs over and over.