Rex Ryan is doing a pretty good job for a guy who was doomed in the preseason.

The Jets are doing a pretty good job for a team that let its best player go to Tampa.

Geno Smith is doing a pretty good for a guy who had leadership issues in college.

As shocking as the Kansas City Chiefs' 7-0 start has been to the NFL literati, no team has reddened as many faces as the team in green. Ryan's Jets beat the New England Patriots at home Sunday and did it in the vintage Ryan style: with stifling defense. The 2013 Jets are the first team to keep Tom Brady to less than a 50 percent completion rate in two games in one season.

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Ryan's job was supposedly in jeopardy before the season, when he inexplicably played Mark Sanchez late in an exhibition game and the quarterback hurt his shoulder. The Jets, meanwhile, were dismissed even before that, after last season's circus and the team's willingness to trade Darrelle Revis to the Buccaneers. And Smith? He probably got the worst treatment of all.

His former head coach, Dana Holgorsen at West Virginia, said leadership was a problem for the Mountaineers last season. "We have to develop leaders," Holgorsen told reporters earlier this season. "It was a big issue on last year's team, in a bad way."

Smith's current team is 4-3 and his former team is 3-4.

Smith's leadership, like Ryan's, is just fine. Nobody thinks the Jets are Super Bowl contenders, yet it finally looks as though the future is worth as much discussion as the past. Smith seems comfortable in his starter's role under new offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg, and he certainly was worth the second-round pick the team used on him. Meanwhile, the other side of the ball is familiar: the Jets are fourth in total defense and third in yards allowed per play.

[Photos: Best action from Week 7]

This is how Ryan wins, and yes "wins" is the right word. He's had only one losing season as head coach with the Jets, and that's saying something considering the franchise's history of not only losing, but subpar coaching (hello, Rich Kotite). The Jets finished 6-10 last season and had an outside shot at the playoffs in December despite a porous offensive line (that still hasn't been fixed). That was the only time in Ryan's Jets career that he finished worse than second in the AFC East. He still has more AFC championship appearances than losing seasons.

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