11/07 — Everyone on the Jets defense is aware that the Green & White is applying good pressure on opposing quarterbacks the first half of this season.

None was aware that the pressure is almost as good as it's ever been in franchise history.

And that's just the way they want it.

"No, it doesn't feel like that at all," said Shaun Ellis, who has reemerged as a stalking force with a team-leading seven sacks despite still being a 3-4 end (at least part of the time). "It feels like every week we're just trying to go ahead and put pressure on the quarterback .We know that can help our defense out a lot."

"We never talk about records and look at it like that," said LB David Bowens, who's "all systems go" to start for the second week at ILB for the injured David Harris. "Every game there's a pass rush specific to that game. Coach [Dan] Quinn does a good job of getting everybody on the same page, understanding where we want to attack, and we just execute."

Quinn, the Jets' D-line coach, coordinator Bob Sutton and head coach Eric Mangini have in fact been doing a historic job of implementing the rush so far this year. The Jets' 29 sacks at the halfway point of this season is not only second in the NFL to the Giants' 30 but it's also the most by any Jets team after eight games in franchise history.

What's more, 29 sacks is among the greatest total for any eight-game in-season span in franchise history (since 1966). In fact, all of the eight-game spans with more sacks occurred during the New York Sack Exchange's glory season of 1981 en route to a team-record 66 sacks. Here are the top 13 eight-game sack streaks in team annals:

The players may not have sensed the historic nature of their first-half sack attack, but that's not to say they didn't know they had it in them.

"I knew that since the off-season," said LB Bryan Thomas, second on the team behind Ellis with 4.5 sacks. "The caliber of the guys we brought in in free agency and the draft, I could see it then. It was just a matter of us putting it together and doing it, just knowing it was a special group."

Ellis, lining up as we alluded to earlier in a variety of spots, thinks the versatility of all the players on defense has played a big part.

"Me being inside, BT outside, Jenks inside on my side — it makes them really think how to block us," he said. "I think we've been doing a good job understanding how teams are pass-blocking us and the types of protections they use."

The Rams are up next and QB Marc Bulger has been vulnerable to the sack this season, but the Jets are quite aware of how quickly a good streak can evaporate. They know they have to continue stopping the run to help the rush and keep rushing the QB to help the run. They know no NFL awards will be handed out for their half-season of work.

But they have just a little pride of authorship these days as they prepare their schemes for their next opponent.

"It's just fun to sometimes see how we can take something from the field on Wednesday and Thursday," Bowens said, "and watch it unfold on Sunday."