10/16 — The theme that Eric Mangini opened today's news conference with was diversity. Not of the cultural kind but of the pass-catching and quarterback-sacking variety.

"One thing I've been happy with and I talked to the team about is the distribution we've been able to have offensively," the Jets head coach said, "the volume of receivers that have been able to catch balls, the volume of catches that different receivers have had.

"And I think one of the really positive things about that is that it forces the defense to have to defend the whole field, and that's what we're looking for."

On the other side of the buffet, Mangini has been seeing a similar spread.

"Defensively, we've had good production in terms of sacks," he said, "and what I like about that is that nine different players have been involved in those sacks. That now forces the offense to defend the whole perimeter of the defense because you now can bring different players and bring different combinations of guys.

"It's also a good indication that we're getting things done that we need to get done in terms of the blitz concepts. Guys are hitting the right spots, which is opening up some areas for other players. That's something I want to continue to do throughout the course of the season."

A closer look at those trends shows what the coach is talking about. The number of pass-catchers he referred to is now at 10 different players. That in itself is not a high amount in the NFL.

But what is significant is that five different Jets — Jerricho Cotchery, Laveranues Coles, Chansi Stuckey, Dustin Keller and now Thomas Jones — have split up Brett Favre's 13 touchdown passes. That's tied for seventh in the league.

This esoteric statistic is usually dominated by the Patriots, who have averaged 10 different touchdown receivers a season since 2001. But this year so far the Pats are down with only three TD receivers.

The really interesting number Mangini raised is the Jets' nine different sackers — they had six players in on sacks against Cincinnati alone. And that number ties them for second in the NFL, behind sack leader Philadelphia's 11 different players, with Buffalo, San Diego and Washington.

Put another way, the Jets haven't had more than 11 different sackers in a season since 2000, when they had 12. And with defenders such as Kenyon Coleman, C.J. Mosley and Kerry Rhodes, not to mention first-round rookie Vernon Gholston, seeking their first sacks of the season, it's easy to see the Jets' versatility rising in the final 11 regular-season games.

Here are the top-sacking teams after six weeks in the more traditional categories (PP-Pass Plays):

One other quote jumped out from the news conference to me. Reporters still want to push the concept that Oakland, Kansas City, et al., are hugely important games for this team to win and to validate its progress and its candidacy as one of the AFC's top teams. Mangini isn't buying any of it.

"I've felt good about this group for long time," he said. "One thing I've already said about this group of people, players and potential is that's what it is — good people, good players, good potential. But you've got to marry that with work, consistency and execution. Otherwise, it's just good people, good players and good potential."

In the coming news cycle we'll have features on David "Hitman" Harris and Kerry "Throwback" Rhodes, plus our usual blogs and transcripts. Plus check out Jets Radio this week. Eric Allen and Tony Richardson will have "Paving the Way with T-Rich" up this afternoon, and EA and I will finish cutting this week's "Jets Two-Minute Drive" for airing Friday afternoon with this week's special guest, Wayne Chrebet.