FOXBORO -- That was called walking the walk.

"Some teams say all the things in front of the camera and be humble, humble pie, all that stuff," said a mocking Bart Scott in the locker room after the Jets ended the Patriots (and no points for progress, this is now and forever a lost) season on Sunday. "But when you play the game they're shooting the guns at you, talking mad trash on the field. We do business one way, they do business another way."

He's right. For today, Bart Scott is right. Antonio Cromartie is right and Rex Ryan is right. Even Fireman Ed is right. It's a Jets world. 

Rex Ryan is now 3-2 over Bill Belichick, and 1-0 in playoff games. He's been to two AFC championship games in the last two years, with four road wins. In the same span Belichick hasn't won a playoff game. If there is a Belichick-Ryan rivalry, Rex is winning. 

Deal with it -- the Jets set the rules for now. If Rex Ryan says that Tom Brady needs to study more and spend less time on Broadway, he's got a valid point. If Cromartie thinks pointing at the sideline after a TD pass is an outrage, so be it. This is how it goes for now, or at least until the Patriots play their last game of the season after the Jets play theirs. 

For all the foot and fat jokes, and all his endless schtick, Rex Ryan can flat-out coach. You can forget that sometimes. He put together a game plan that turned one of the five best quarterbacks in NFL history -- in the middle of the greatest stretch of play of his career -- into, well, what we thought Mark Sanchez was going to be on Sunday.

“He was skittish,” Jets defensive lineman Trevor Pryce said of Brady. “I’ve never seen him like that. In the first half, he was terrified.”

Oh, as for Mark Sanchez, who I've blasted since the first episode of "Hard Knocks" all the way until Sunday for his lack of IQ, ability to play in cold weather, lack of arm strength, you name it. For now, that's over. He's 3-2 against Tom Brady, including a road playoff win in a game where he dramatically outplayed the two-time MVP. 

"He's only in year two and he's won a bunch of playoff games," said Ryan of Sanchez, who has four playoff wins, all on the road -- which is one more road win than Brady has in his playoff career. "He's not going to be looked as the weakness of the team anymore, but as the strength. And I think you're seeing that right now."

Now Mark Sanchez isn't Tom Brady. Not the point. But Brady -- as several Jets defensive players pointed out after the game -- has been just another guy in the postseason the last four years. His last seven starts? A 3-4 record with a 13-11 TD/INT ratio. 

Listen, we've spent the last two months trying to figure out just how great Brady is. Is he the best ever? Was he better in 2007 or 2010? I'm as guilty as anyone -- I've basically turned this little piece of internet real estate into a 90-day tribute to the greatness of No. 12. And it was deserved, his numbers were astounding. But all we've ever heard from Brady is that it's all about the postseason. Brady has always been measured by more than just stats, maybe more so than any athlete in my lifetime, and  36-4 and 335 passes without an INT and an 111.0 passer rating probably don't mean a whole lot to Brady today. 

(Aside: If I hear about that regular-season home winning streak just once next year I'll vomit all over the press box at Gillette. Consider yourself warned, folks. It means nothing. The 0-2 in the playoffs at Gillette is a more important streak. You know it, I know it, and Brady and Belichick sure know it.)

What the Jets did on Sunday was strip away whatever aura of invincibility the Patriots had worked so hard to rebuild this season. This was different than Baltimore last year. We all knew that was a deeply flawed Patriots team. But this was supposed to be return to the old days. Didn't beat themselves, no egos, played for 60 minutes, all that stuff.

And for the last eight games that was true. No more so than in the 45-3 win  over the Jets on Monday night. Which only made what we saw on Sunday all the more stunning.

Not to the Jets, though. They told us all week that they were better than that stifferoo they offered five weeks ago. Not only that, they were actually better than the Patriots, too.  

We laughed. We scoffed. OK, we knew it wasn't going to be 45-3 again. The Jets didn't have a chance, but we all knew six touchdowns was unreasonable. Somewhere in the 34-17 neighborhood seemed to be the consensus. After all, the Jets weren't that bad, right? But we wondered how Rex Ryan was going to have any credibility if it was another blowout loss, or what amendment Antonio Cromartie was going to use to defend giving up four TD passes to Tom Brady, or if LaDainain Tomlinson was going to go 2006 on us and get offended that Deion Branch was using the Dougie to celebrate a touchdown catch. 

Instead, for the second straight season at Gillette, we watched a 60-minute lesson in how to play postseason football. Only it wasn't the Patriots giving instruction.

The Jets didn't go 14-2. They didn't lead the league in scoring. They didn't have an eight-game winning streak. No MVP at quarterback. No Super Bowls for the head coach. 

But for the second year in a row they'll be playing in the AFC title game while the Patriots sit on the couch, watching, wondering and listening to the talk. Maybe they'll even be offended by what they see and hear (that means you, Mr. Branch). But there will be nothing they can do about it. 

Because for now, it's a Jets world.