11/18 — There were several hot topics at today's Rex Ryan news conference: the challenge presented by the first-place Patriots on the road on Sunday, the ripple effect through the secondary that Jim Leonhard's thumb surgery could create.

But first, Rex said, "I got a new sponsor ... for obvious reasons."

And with that the Jets head coach plunked a box of Kleenexes on his podium in the media room at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center.

The tissues were Rex's way of addressing the reports of his emotional, perhaps teary address to his players on Monday, the day after the Jets' last-second, two-point loss to Jacksonville. As he has since he arrived, Ryan handled a situation showing him to be a human being as, well, a human being. And once the reporters' laughter died down, the coach delivered his serious message about himself and his players.

"I understand everything gets out, and sometimes you say things to your team and you don't realize everyone will find out. That's fine and dandy," Ryan said. "One thing I'll say is I'm going to be true to myself, and I said that from day one. If I don't fit the stereotype of coachspeak or anything else, so be it. I'm always going to be myself."

Being himself in this context meant delivering a heartfelt message to his team that, one never knows, could be a turning point of this season. And today he delivered a quote from one of the great boxers, pound for pound, to help drive the message home in his public forum.

"I was reading about Sugar Ray Robinson. I don't even bring this up to the players because they don't even know who Sugar Ray Leonard is," Ryan said. "But he made a great statement once: To become a champion, you have to believe in yourself when nobody else will. I think that's the message I believe in. I'm always going to be that person. I think our team understands that. We're going to believe in each other, regardless of what the facts look like. You've got to believe in yourself to achieve great things.

"That's the way I am, the way this team is."

If the Jets achieve this next victory, it will be a great thing. As Ryan said: "Do I think we can accomplish our goal? I still think we can. but this one's going to be a huge task. New England is one of the best teams in the league, with the best coach in the league and the best quarterback in the league ... until we play Peyton Manning. Then I'll say it's him."

Ryan stated that the Patriots are No. 2 in the NFL in offensive yardage, No. 8 in yardage allowed and their special teams are solid.

"So this is a huge challenge," he repeated. "But this is the same team we beat in Week 2, so we know we can beat 'em. You hear 'Oh, they're going to be mad, they'll be ready to get after it, they're going to try to whip us.' Guess what. We're going to try to whip them again."

And while it's true that the Pats were without Wes Welker and Jerod Mayo in that home opener, the Jets were without Braylon Edwards and Calvin Pace.

"We were the better team in Week 2," Ryan summed up. "Over the course of the last several weeks, New England has been a better football team than us, as have other teams, obviously. But we'll find out if we're the better team on Sunday. We're coming up there and we're going to throw everything we have at them. Everything."

Health Watch

The big issue for the Jets on Sunday will be Leonhard's availability. The starting safety didn't practice today. "They say it's too early to tell if he's going to play or not," Ryan said, "but he's in a sling so it doesn't look real good." Still, Ryan wasn't ruling out Leonhard following his late Monday surgery to implant three screws in his broken right thumb. Eric Allen will have a news story on Leonhard, Eric Smith and who'll wears the defense's radio helmet in a news story that will be on our site shortly.

The others on the incredible shrinking injury report: LB Vernon Gholston (hamstring) also did not practice. DE Shaun Ellis (knee) and WR Brad Smith (quadriceps) were limited. LB Bryan Thomas (toe) was a full participant. The five-man report is the shortest injury list of the season for the Jets.

The Patriots are listing 19 players on their report, including nine that did not participate in today's practice. Here are today's full reports for both teams.

Reading from the Script

Rex also had some good-natured fun with his quarterback. Right after he put the Kleenexes on the podium, he said, "Now let me go ahead and get this out and read my statement," as he pulled a crinkled paper from his pants pocket. "It says here that New England's pretty good. Any questions?"

Ryan was making reference to Mark Sanchez's opening his Sunday postgame news conference with a statement that he read from notes before taking any questions. But the coach was only jesting, not critiquing his QB. Regarding on whether the pressure might be getting to his rookie signalcaller, Rex said:

"Nah, just the opposite. This kid, he's unbelievable. It hasn't affected him one bit. ... Mark's a huge competitor. He wants to win as much as anybody I've ever been around."

Sanchez's weekly news conference will be aired live on newyorkjets.com at about 4:30 p.m. today.