(Photo: Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images via BleacherReport.com)

The New York Jets introduced Tim Tebow as their backup quarterback today, which means that the circus has officially rolled into town for Rex Ryan & Co.

The anonymous player quotes and speculation as to whether Tebow will compete for starting time with the newly re-upped Mark Sanchez have already begun, and we’re months away from the start of training camp.  Just wait until Jets nation gets a real taste of Tebowmania …

For his part, let’s just say that Tebow is “excited” to be a Jet.  In fact, let’s let Timmy say it … a total of 44 times during his 30-minute session with the media:

VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP

[H/T Buzzfeed]

In the words of Bart Scott , I genuinely CAN’T WAIT to hear Rex Ryan explain their thinking on this one. Let the Big Apple circus commence!!!

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Before all you Jets fans out there go and purchase your new Tim Tebow jerseys, you might want to wait for the deal for the Broncos QB to actually be finalized.

(Photo: terezowens.com)

It seems that the trade between the Jets and Broncos that would send Tebow (and a 7th round pick) to New York in exchange for a 4th and 6th round pick has hit a snag.

And despite the fact that the Jets announced the deal on their Twitter page (which is still up at the time of this posting), they apparently didn’t really read Tebow’s contract before agreeing to the terms. And now they’re contesting a clause that would require NY to pay back $5 million in advance salaries from his rookie contract in Denver.

If this deal doesn’t end up going through, the Jets are going to end up looking really, really stupid.

I mean, did GM Mike Tannenbaum just get so geeked up about landing Tebow that he didn’t bother to read the fine print on the man’s contract? The Broncos – who even with Twitter-happy John Elway at the helm, have made no official announcement, by the way - feel as though the Jets need to hold up their commitment to the deal, since it’s their own fault they didn’t pay closer attention before signing off on it.

But apparently, the trade was never registered with the league, and was therefore never valid. So it’s all pretty much up in the air for now, with teams like Jacksonville re-entering the fray for Tebow’s services.

And even if the deal with the Jets does go through in the end, we have a feeling Tebowmania is not going to play very well in New York, what with the Ryan-Sanchez circus already in full effect … so this whole situation really feels like a lose-lose for the Jets.

(Image via instntrply.com)

Oh boy … get ready, folks. If you thought Tim Tebow-mania had already reached its pinnacle in this country, you ain’t seen nothing’ yet.

Last night, after turning in his usual sub-par performance for 3-1/2 quarters, Tebow once again stepped up as the hero, leading the Broncos on game-winning 95-yard drive to defeat the Jets 17-13.  Tebow capped the impressive drive himself with a 20-yard touchdown run (video below), and now, after leading his team to a 4-1 record as starter, even his biggest doubters are genuinely starting to believe that there’s something special about this kid.

Critics will continue to argue that Tebow doesn’t have an NFL caliber arm, and going 9-for-20 for 104 yards passing won’t exactly change anyone’s mind about that, but the bottom line in this game is winning, and you just can’t argue with his results. Tebow rushed for 58 yards on the final drive alone, but his greatest skill might be his ability to avoid the big mistake … something Mark Sanchez knows all about after throwing a crucial pick-six that may have cost the Jets the game. By not making costly turnovers, Tebow has been able to keep the Broncos in every game he’s played until the end, and that’s all you can really ask for from a quarterback in this league.

And as he proved once again against a talented Jets defense, Tebow’s ability to make the big play when its most needed is simply uncanny.

“I like winning,” Tebow said after his third comeback in a month, “but I wish it wasn’t this stressful.”

Well, if he keeps winning games like this – and evoking the comeback prowess of one John Elway for Denver fans – I think everyone will learn how to manage the stress level just fine.

PS – Lost in all this Tebow talk, it’s really the Broncos defense that won this game for Denver. Oh, and Von Miller is quietly running away with the defensive ROY award. Just sayin’ …

VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP

BOO! (Image via midwestsportsfans.com)

That’s two for flinching, Mark.

Sanchez and the Jets won the game, this certainly isn’t going to help his image as a pretty boy quarterback, is it?

VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP

Long simmering, the feud between the Jets and Patriots is set to explode Monday night. (Source: New York Daily News)

(Ed. note: This article was originally posted last week, but with the impending Monday night match-up on everyone’s mind today, we thought it deserved another look)

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The word “rivalry” is tossed around a lot in the NFL. You hear announcers, desperate for market share, describe a pedestrian Seahawks-Chiefs tilt as a rivalry. Who’s buying that? Most “rivalries” unfold without so much as a breadcrumb on the line.

The history between the New York Jets and New England Patriots is a messy, entangled war by contrast. With both franchises notched at 9-2 atop the AFC East, you have to go back to the 1990 Monday-night meeting between the 10-1 49ers vs. the 10-1 New York Giants to find a late-season prime-time bout with equal appeal.

The lifetime record between these two teams stands at 51-50-1 in New York’s favor. Records aside, the Patriots are the Goliath, having dominated the last decade with three Super Bowl wins under the leadership of a once-per-generation quarterback talent in Tom Brady.

The Jets, after years of struggle, are at the threshold — but the long-time Jets fanatic is still haunted by ghosts: “When will the other shoe drop? When will the S.O.J.s appear from behind the Wizard’s curtain?”

A season sweep over the Patriots would send a statement league-wide: These Jets are for real.

Two long-suffering teams emerge to control the East

“My favorite thing is the drunk Jets fans,” NFL.com’s Adam Rank told us on Tuesday. “And that they couldn’t schedule this Monday night game at the new Meadowlands Stadium because they wouldn’t be allowed to sell beer. Seriously, you can buy a mixed cocktail at a UNLV basketball game, but if you go to a late-night Jets game — no booze. Which, of course, does not stop them from drinking in the parking lot. Or sneaking it in. … My only wish is that the Patriots wear those glorious, glorious red throwback uniforms.”

There was chatter of the Patriots’ demise earlier this season, especially after the Jets took care of the Pats 28-14 in Week 2. That talk was premature. In the course of a few months — in the middle of an NFL season — Bill Belichick has transformed this team, parting ways with Randy Moss and going with youth — nurturing younger role players to emerge around Brady. The defense is young and beginning to gel into a play-making unit.

“The Patriots are for real. That young defense is growing before our eyes,” Rank said. “But I’m reminded of something that Michael Irvin told me: That the Patriots look like they can be exposed by running right at them. We’ll certainly see that this week. And it’s the one thing that I’m looking for. If the Jets can run the ball and get the ground game going, then we have the proverbial blueprint of how to attack the Patriots going forward. That said, I really like where this team is headed.”

Belichick liked the AFC East better before Big Rex. (Source: CBSBoston.com)

Along with the Patriots, the Jets have evolved since that Week 2 meeting. They have grown up before our eyes.

Mark Sanchez and his boys are not a dominating club — the league has no such thing this season — but the Jets know how to win, and they keep finding new ways to do it, new ways to overcome harsh obstacles, new ways to inch closer to the AFC Championship, which they lost last season to a Colts team they have fully outgrown in the 11 months since.

“I think it is pretty clear that if the Jets win this, they are going to win the division,” R&R’s C-O-U-R-T-N-E-Y told us, from his Boston law office. “So, in that sense, this game is bigger for the Patriots. More importantly: America needs the Patriots to win. If not, we are going to have to brace ourselves for 88 retrospectives on Rex Ryan and his ‘irreverent’ coaching style.”

The Patriots are being tested by the Jets in a way that few division opponents have been able to do on Belichick’s watch. Ryan went right at the Pats in 2009, leaving a recorded message for Jets fans to come out in droves for the Week 2 game against New England, making it clear that Ryan’s Jets weren’t satisfied playing doormat to Brady and the Pats. New York won that game 16-9. Sanchez threw for 163 yards and a touchdown in his second start, while Ryan’s defense befuddled the Patriots, holding them to three field goals. The Patriots won the second meeting 31-14, but it was the Jets who went on to play Cinderella in the postseason.

“I’ll be honest about Rex Ryan, I thought he was going to be the failure his dad was in Arizona,” Rank said. “I remember Buddy Ryan taking over in Phoenix and proclaiming that there was a new sheriff in town. I was in Anaheim Stadium that day when our Rams ushered in the Buddy Ryan era with a 14-12 win. And this was the 1994 we-know-we-are-moving Rams, for the record. However, I’m growing fond of Rex Ryan’s antics. We all know that super-serious guy who will never lighten up about anything — and it’s fun as hell trying to get under his skin. Belichick is like that guy in college who wants to study on Wednesday night, but Ryan’s trying to drag him out to $1 shooter night at Baxter’s. It’s hilarious. You almost want to see the Jets win because of it.”

Ryan’s Jets, emblazoned with his cocksure attitude and having cast away their second-fiddle, doomsday mentality, appear to infuriate Belichick and Brady. The normally affable Patriots quarterback, talking with Boston radio station WEEI in September, stated: “I hate the Jets.”

This is one of the Jets’ magical powers: Getting under the skin, annoying established rivals, upsetting the balance. On some level, setting their own pace week to week. In a league that respects its elders, the Jets aren’t afraid of anyone. They flat-out disregard everything in their way — and that makes them the most dangerous team in football, even if the Patriots are still its best.

VIDEO: Earlier days of the Jets-Pats rivalry

Asked if Ryan has thrown Belichick off balance, C-O-U-R-T-N-E-Y disagreed: “Your question assumes Belichick has skin. Do robots have skin? Belichick has been secretly taping Ryan for years: nothing Rex does or says irritates Bill at this point.”

Brady told WEEI this week: “Playing them (a) fourth time (under Ryan), I have a lot more confidence than the first time we played them. It’s going to be a hell of a game. I’m excited for it.”

Two wearied fighters, now revived

The two teams first met just over 50 years ago, in September 1960, when they were known about town as the Boston Patriots and New York Titans. Boston won that first game 28-24 at the old Polo Grounds.

The Titans were renamed the Jets in ’63, and generally handled the Patriots with ease, going 11-2-1 over the next decade against Boston — largely due to the presence of Joe Namath and a roster that won Super Bowl III.

In ’71, the Patriots topped the Jets 20-0 in their first encounter after the Patriots adopted the “New England” moniker. The two have been at each other twice a season ever since, going punch for punch like two wearied fighters.

It’s often the personalities involved that create genuine rivalry, and that’s true today with these two teams. While they went head-to-head twice a season because the schedule ordained it, it was an act of betrayal that created blood-feud between the fanbases.

“The rivalry has existed since Bill Parcells left New England for the Meadowlands after the Pats’ Super Bowl berth in ’96,” said NFL.com news editor Dan Hanzus, a lifelong Jets fan. “There have been several layers to it over the years (Curtis Martin, Belichick, and Eric Mangini switching sides; the ’06 playoffs; and SpyGate), but I don’t think the rivalry has really mattered until now. This is the first year the two teams are squaring off as true Super Bowl favorites at the same time. It’s taken 10 years into the Brady era for the Jets to put together a legitimate contender, and for the first time you don’t feel that big brother-little brother vibe. This is two heavyweights standing toe-to-toe.”

VIDEO: A female Pats fan gets the treatment from Jets fans

When Belichick stunned the Jets with his resignation in 2000, in order to replace Pete Carroll as the Patriots head coach, the Jets never could have imagined how it would change the AFC East, and pro football. Few predicted Belichick’s success, but it’s only added to the disdain between these two teams. Since Belichick’s arrival, the Patriots lead the series 14-8, including a 37-16 playoff win in January 2007 (Belichick’s first postseason head coaching victory since his Cleveland Browns beat Parcells’ Pats in ’94).

The Patriots bloomed under Belichick, with an embattled Drew Bledsoe handing the starting role over to Brady who, outside of missing the 2008 season, has been a constant for the Pats ever since.

In contrast, since 2000, these have been the Jets starters: Vinny Testaverde, Chad Pennington, Quincy Carter, Brooks Bollinger, Kellen Clemens, Brett Favre and Sanchez. The list is equally disorienting from 1980-2000, with dead weight mixed in with serviceable arms, none able to make the Jets relevant for long: Richard Todd, Pat Ryan, Ken O’Brien (or, as Namath would say, “Kay-knee O’Bray-en”), David Norrie, Tony Eason, Kyle Mackey, Browning Nagle, Jack Trudeau, Bubby Brister, Frank Reich, Neil O’Donnell, Glenn Foley, Ray Lucas and Rick Mirer — a who’s who of journeymen, something the Patriots could relate to.

For decades, it was impossible to hate the Patriots. From 1980 on, outside of its 1985 Super Bowl run, New England endured a wretched string of seasons. Their quarterbacks were lambs to the slaughter — men now likely huddled away in a cube farm selling insurance premiums in Hadley, Mass. Names like: Matt Cavanaugh, Tom Owen, Tom Ramsey, the odd couple: Tony Eason and Steve Grogan, Bob Bleier, Marc Wilson, Tom Hodson, Hugh Millen, Scott Zolak, Jeff Carlson, Scott Secules and mighty mite Doug Flutie.

“I’m not really bothered by the Pats, because I respect Brady as a player so much,” Hanzus said. “Like the Jets, the Pats went through the 70s, 80s, and the better part of the 90s as a total afterthought, so there’s a silent kinship there. If anything, I think a Jets fan looks at what the Pats have managed to accomplish in the past decade and it gives us hope. That said, Belichick … total dick.”

VIDEO: Rex and the Jets after beating the Pats 28-14 in Week 2

“I feel a near kinship with Jets fans,” said Rank, who rooted for the bygone Los Angeles Rams. “You’re the No. 2 team in a major media market. Your only championship came before many of the fans were born. Yeah, that was a lot like the Los Angeles Rams. The only thing we could hang our hat on was a championship from the 1950s. Yet, you had the Raiders winning the Super Bowl. NWA was wearing Raiders gear. Us Rams fans had dudes wearing watermelons on their head, Georgia Frontiere and Eric Dickerson, who was traded away on Halloween ’87. Jets fans are also probably Mets fans, and the same goes here — just like Rams fans rooted for the Angels. So, I know the Jets fans’ angst all too well. But cheer up, Jets fans. It’s not like your owner mysteriously died, the widow moved the team to some Dust Bowl town and your best years are being played out 2,000 miles away. So, enjoy it.”

Jets fans recognize that their team hasn’t completed its masterwork 12 weeks into the regular season. They haven’t supplanted the Patriots — they’ve merely matched them, a feat in itself, but ultimately dust if it doesn’t amount to a championship.

The Patriots have been doing this for a decade — this week’s game is not the mountain top for a team that’s repeatedly won Super Bowls. “I’ve been around a little while,” Brady told WEEI on Monday. “Look, we’re 9-2, we haven’t accomplished anything. These games that we’re playing, yeah, they’re important, but a lot of guys on this team have played in much bigger games … I’m trying to express to teammates: ‘We haven’t done anything. Nine wins is nothing.’”

Jets fans know there’s a ways to go, but deserve to relish the teams success after lifetimes of despair.

“I think the Jets still have a lot to prove to show me that they’re going to become the perennial powerhouse the Pats have been for years now,” Hanzus said. “And even if New York wins on Monday night, I don’t count out Brady and Belichick even a little bit. In fact, I just soiled myself a little bit at the prospect of having to beat them for a third time if they met in the postseason.”

Adam Rank is a writer and editor with NFL.com and can be seen weekly on NFL Network’s Fantasy Live at 11:30 a.m. EST.  His NFL.com fantasy football blog can be found here. Follow Adam on his website and on Twitter @adamrank.

Dan Hanzus is a news editor with NFL.com, and a frequent contributor to Bleacher Report. Follow Dan on his Yankees’ blog, River & Sunset, and on Twitter @danhanzus.

Santonio Holmes does "The Jet" after scoring the game-winning TD against the Texans (Image via nflgridirongab.com)

For the third straight week, the Jets snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, scoring a dramatic 30-27 victory over Houston at the New Meadowlands today. New York blew a 16-point fourth quarter lead and trailed 27-23 with less than a minute to go, setting the stage for Mark Sanchez to summon his late-game heroics once again.

Sanchez let the Jets offense 66 yards in :45 seconds on 3 plays – including a 42-yard pass to Braylon Edwards, giving them first and goal from the six with :10 to play … that’s when Sanchez looked to his new favorite target, Santonio Holmes:

WATCH THE VIDEO HIGHLIGHT AFTER THE JUMP

Holmes finished with 126 yards and 2 TDs receiving, and made the game-winning catch in his second consecutive game, after doing the same last week against the Browns.

And now,  at 8-2, get ready for the Jets bandwagon to get extra-crowded … as if it wasn’t getting full enough already.

(Photo: Kevin Hoffman/US Presswire)

LaDanian Tomlinson proved that he still has some gas left in the tank this afternoon, as he rushed for over 133 yards and 2 touchdowns in leading the Jets to a 38-14 rout of the Buffalo Bills. Tomlinson had his first 100-yard game in over two years, and passed Tony Dorsett to move into 7th place on the NFL’s all-time rushing list with 12, 381 yards.

From the very start, Tomlinson looked like the LdT of old, and the Jets offense had their way with the Buffalo defense.  Shonn Green added 177 yards rushing and Mark Sanchez threw 2 touchdowns to TE Dustin Keller, as the Jets improved to 3-1 at the quarter-season mark.

But today belonged to the 31-year-old Tomlinson, who was cut by the San Diego Chargers this off-season and widely considered washed up before finding a new home with the Jets.  After the game, he credited head coach Rex Ryan for believing in him, and inspiring him to perform:

“I know what age I am. It doesn’t mean I can’t play,” Tomlinson said. “I never lost confidence. I always knew I could do it. It was just about having an opportunity.”

Watch as Tomlinson leaving a defender flying in his wake, en route to a 26-yard score in the third quarter, putting the game away for New York :

SEE TOMLINSON’S TOUCHDOWN RUN AFTER THE JUMP

(Photo: Baltimore Sun/Kenneth K. Lam)

We’re starting a new tradition every Tuesday here at ReadAndReact by bringing you the Hit of the Week! We’ll find the most brutal tackle (or block) from each weekend of NFL games, and present it for your viewing pleasure.  That’s good times right there, and we’re kicking the series off with unquestionably the one of the baddest men in the NFL, Ray Lewis.

With under a minute to go in last night’s Ravens/Jets game, with New York trying for a game-winning score, Mark Sanchez drops back and fires the ball toward TE Dustin Keller over the middle. Unfortunately for Keller, Sanchez leads him right into the awaiting arms of Lewis, who viciously de-cleats him with a crushing blow.  It’s a beautiful, textbook hit; delivered cleanly, but with bad intentions … enjoy:

WATCH THE VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP

(Photo: Photo: Al Pereira/Getty Images via NYMag.com

Last night, HBO premiered the first episode of this season’s edition of Hard Knocks featuring Rex Ryan and the New York Jets.  I took the time to jot down my thoughts during the episode, which I’ve distilled below.

Essentially, this episode was about two things: Rex and Revis.   Rex Ryan took center stage as expected and did not disappoint (especially in the cursing department), and Darrelle Revis was the central focus of the episode, despite (or more correctly, because of) his absence from camp.

The fine folks at JetTwit did a much better job breaking down last night’s episode than I ever could, but here are my running thoughts, in case anyone cares:

• If this show were about my favorite team, this intro would get me seriously physically aroused.  I think I’m ready for football to start
• Cortland, NY is an awful town … as an alumnus of their rival Ithaca Bombers, I had the displeasure of visiting this beacon of crapitude several times during my college career, and this is not a place you want to spend your summers.  But HBO managed to make it look better in 2 minutes of b-roll footage than it ever did during my time there.  But I may be biased.
• It’s obvious that the Revis holdout will be big storyline. It must be maddening to have everyone asking about one player when you’re trying to lead a group of 60+ other guys who are all there to do their job
• Rex Ryan doesn’t look to have started shedding much weight yet from the lap band surgery.
• Here’s video of Rex’s opening speech to his players. His goals for the team – all 3 units – is to lead the league in wins. Radical strategy, there.  But he’s definitely someone you’d want to play for. Rex is so oddly charismatic, but boy, he sure does say “fuck” a lot (and I mean a LOT – video NSFW for language):

• Rex wears black Chuck Taylors on the first day of camp … apparently this is his thing.  And it elicits the “sexy Rexy” chant from a few male Jets fans, and he likes it.
  

  (Photo: William Perlman/The Star-Ledger)

• The players love Rex. “He talks like us”.  He does bed checks himself on the first night. He checks in on Revis’ room just in case, and gives Tomlinson a packet of every negative article written about him to use as motivation
• As we know, the Jets have added Tomlinson, Jason Taylor, Antonio Cromartie, Santonio Holmes this off-season. But seeing them on the field together is a different thing altogether. If they all gel with this club, it could be scary
• Lest we forget, this show is a big commercial for the NFL and the Jets.  This is a sanitized, made-for-tv version of the Jets.  This isn’t a real documentary we’re watching here. Just keep that in mind.
• Rookies vying to make the team are profiled … we’ll get to know a lot of players early on who don’t last very long, but there are a few guys here you want to root for.   And on cue, there’s the first personnel meeting and injury casualty.
• Ryan calls out his LB coach Weeks for having “tanning spray”, which is really just SPF 4 sunblock … they even fine the guy $5, and again for running shirtless.
• Rex himself gets fined every time he has a snack, and he seems quite content to pay his fines to get his fix of cookies and candies.
• GM Mike Tannenbaum is going to be a central figure of this series as he deals with personnel decisions. He seems like a pretty regular guy, actually … but owner Woody Johnson seems like death walking.
• Kris Jenkins was an early loss for the Jets last season. I almost forgot about him … Bart Scott is the chatty Cathy on the defense, but Jenkins is an absolute beast.  He would terrify me if on was on the field
• 

  Joe Namath is looking a little matronly these days

  Joe Namath drops by camp to give some inspiration … he looks a bit like an old lesbian woman these days, but that doesn’t stop him imparting some of his football wisdom while he’s there.  Namath tries to fix a glitch in the way Sanchez takes the snap, and takes over a coaches meeting with his ramblings. Everyone humors Broadway Joe

• Ryan participates in a bit of a pass, punt kick competition with Tannenbaum. Neither of these guys are particularly fit, but there doesn’t seem to be any shortage of playtime at Jets camp
• Rookie FB John Connor is a guy you want to root for. A good throwback FB is hard to find, and this guy looks like the real deal.  With 16-year vet Tony Richardson also in camp, the competition should be fierce.
• Again, talk turns to Revis, and Tannenbaum goes to meet with his agent at the Roscoe Diner in Sullivan county.  I used to pass that place on route 17, every trip to/from Ithaca … what a bizarre place to have a high-level NFL contract meeting.  Maybe that’s why the meeting was a disaster.
• Tannenbaum says of Revis, “We’re so freaking far apart that I feel like a failure.” He seems ready to move on and try again next year
• 

  Braylon Edwards is going for the Kimbo Slice look

  Braylon Edwards has  HUGE beard. Apparently he’s not allowed to shave until he successfully goes a whole game without an easy drop

• Sanchez on Santonio Holmes “Holy Shit he’s good”
• I’m already annoyed with the focus on Revis
• And the cuts begin. Tannenbaum delivers the news himself to one of the players, but Director of Pro Personnel Brendan Prophett looks to play the role of  “hatchet man” for the club. This part sucks. You can’t help but feel for these guys

And that’s it … I’m not likely to do this for each episode moving forward, but it was fun to watch, and now I’m fully fired up for the season to start.

But that doesn’t mean that Edwards has shaken his long-standing problems with dropping perfectly thrown footballs.  Check out this play from last night’s game, where Braylon gets wide open downfield, but can’t seem to reel in Mark Sanchez’ gorgeous deep ball.  Probably ’cause it hits him in a bad spot … the face: