" Thomas Jones insisted his troublesome knee felt fine yesterday and said it won't be prohibitive for him tomorrow.

Jones missed practice on Wednesday, though coach Rex Ryan assured reporters that day that his 1,400-yard back could have practiced if need be. Jones was back on the field Thursday, and he downplayed the knee yesterday, saying it had just been bruised.

"I was ready to play last week. I had to wear a brace last week just because for comfort," he said. "But other than that, I'm good to go."

Jones only carried the ball 15 times in the Jets' wild-card win over the Bengals. He hardly tore it up, rushing for just 34 yards.

In fact, in the Jets' past two games combined (both against Cincinnati), he ran 42 times for just 112 yards, a 2.7 average.

Jones also had fewer carries last week than rookie Shonn Greene for the first time this season -- Greene ran 21 times for 135 yards.

Jones said yesterday that sharing the carries is fine with him.

"Man, everybody has a role to play. My role is to be productive when I'm in the game," he said. "Shonn's role is to be productive when he's in the game. Danny Woodhead's role is to be productive when he's in the game. We're all here to help us win. There's no issue with splitting carries."

Ryan is about more than the bluster of his bold predictions and his self-effacing humor.

Safety Jim Leonhard, who played for Ryan in Baltimore, said Ryan doesn't get enough credit for his defensive mind.

"As far as schematics and coaching it and teaching it, he's as good as I've ever seen," Leonhard said. "He doesn't get nearly enough credit for that.

"All you hear is about his comments and his confidence and what he says to the media. That's what allows him to be confident, though, because he knows he's a good coach and he's surrounded himself with a lot of good coaches.""