11/03 — There's a lot to like about Braylon Edwards' addition to the Jets' offensive mix. For one thing, he arrived in the nick of time from Cleveland with Jerricho Cotchery hobbled by his hamstring to light it up on Monday night at Miami.

Edwards' receiving skills and physical stature are obviously immense, and his locker room presence is pretty impressive as well. He talks with a quiet force, sometimes with an orator's skills for unexpected emphasis of certain words and effective repetition of key phrases.

I asked Edwards, as he was getting ready to leave the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center on Monday for a six-day bye week, if he's given his new teammates the full force of the Braylon boldness yet or if there's a lot more left for everyone to feed off of once the team reconvenes next Monday.

"I think the team has seen it. Guys have made comments," he said with a smile. "I think the guys have seen that I want to win, I want to do everything in my power to win. I'm here to help. I'm not here to cause problems and be a distraction. So I've just been going out there and giving it my all, practicing hard, playing hard, and I think the guys appreciate it."

They do appreciate his attitude, and they welcome the great things that may be ahead now that he and Cotchery finally were teamed at full strength for Sunday's home rematch against the Dolphins, during which they combined for relatively tame yet still beguiling numbers of seven catches for 144 yards and Edwards' not-to-be-denied 19-yard touchdown late in the third quarter.

QB Mark Sanchez, said Cotchery, "has been working on his chemistry a lot with Braylon and Dustin [Keller]. He also gained some chemistry with David Clowney as well. Obviously Mark and I had great chemistry before I went down with the injury," J-Co said. "That's what I was hoping, that they'd be able to get into a groove while I was down, so when I came back in, we could be ready to roll as an offense."

It's too soon to say the Jets offense is ready to fly, that the passing game is set to match or exceed the production of the NFL's No. 1 rushing offense for the second straight week, primed to chase those eighth men out of the box. And there still is a shortage of evidence.

But consider that Cotchery is averaging 15.9 yards per catch (5.7 after the catch), Edwards is at 14.8 as a Jet and Clowney is at 15.1. When is the last time the Jets had three wideouts all in the close vicinity of 15 yards a catch? In 1998, Wayne Chrebet (14.4), Keyshawn Johnson (13.6) and Dedric Ward (19.1) were close, but you'd probably have to go back 1984 with Wesley Walker (15.2), Lam Jones (14.7) and Derrick Gaffney (19.0) to get a closer match.

That's why Cotchery feels confident about the foundation that's been built offensively for the second half — "We have a lot to look forward to," he said, "but we have to wait two weeks until we play another game." And why Edwards reminds anyone who asks that as a fifth-year pro, he is eager to make a push to play in his first playoff game.

"I'm not a rookie. I'm a guy who maybe some people can learn from me. And maybe I can learn from some of the veterans here," Braylon said. "But I'm definitely going to put out the best product that I can so guys will know that I'm serious about what their goal is. Their goal is to get to the Super Bowl and I'm here to help."

No Bye for the Weary

I wanted to bring you this little vignette of Edwards in the locker room before we broke out a few features for you during this bye week. On Wednesday, Eric Allen will profile the entire offense, with an emphasis on the success of the "Ground & Pound" running game. On Friday it's Kyle Richardson's turn with a review/preview of the Jets' No. 2-ranked defense. On Sunday I'll break out our Special Teams wrapup. Each feature will be accompanied by a "voting widget" so you can cast your vote on which individual player performance of the first half was your favorite.

EA will also have another blog on his chat with the Bart Scott on why the Madbacker just can't tone down the talk. We'll also have information on Pro Bowl balloting, which is now open on nfl.com, and on Friday we'll provide you with an excerpt from "No Substitute for Sundays," my good friend Steve Serby's just published book on Brett Favre's 2008 season in green and white.

By the time the smoke clears, it'll be Monday again and the players will have returned to take on the second half of the season.