Glauber: Jets starting to be about football -- winning football

With all the drama surrounding the Jets the past few months - and there has been a ton of it - the football part of the equation sometimes gets lost in the controversy.

Whether it was the cursing and carrying on with "Hard Knocks," the Darrelle Revis holdout saga, the Ines Sainz episode, the Braylon Edwards arrest for DWI, and now the alleged improprieties of Brett Favre in 2008, the on-field action isn't as prominent as it should be.

But maybe, just maybe, they've gotten to the point that football returns to its rightful place as the center of attention. That's certainly the way the Jets would like it to be, even with all their hey-look-at-us behavior of the past few months.

It thus was with a good deal of optimism that Rex Ryan looked forward to having just about a full contingent of his roster on hand for Monday night's game against the Vikings.

Revis back from a Week 2 hamstring injury.

Linebacker Calvin Pace back from a preseason foot injury.

Wide receiver Santonio Holmes in the lineup after a four-game suspension for violating the NFL's substance- abuse policy.

"Are we at our best right now? We'll find out," Ryan said.

Answer: Sure looks that way after a 29-20 win.

The Jets dominated the Vikings on defense until they started to wobble in the second half, sputtered on offense and had to settle for field goals instead of touchdowns. The Jets then had to hold on for dear life in the fourth quarter.

Playing mostly in heavy rain, the Jets greeted Favre with a dizzying array of blitzes and threw in some terrific run-stopping defense that bottled up Adrian Peterson most of the way. Randy Moss, traded to the Vikings in an attempt to rejuvenate the passing game, largely was a non-factor until his 37-yard touchdown catch late in the third quarter made things interesting at 12-7.

"That's a heck of a win," Ryan said. "That's a tough opponent right there, and this was a championship-type game. It was going to be a battle to the end. We felt confident we'd win the game, we just didn't know how."

They did it with a resilient and resourceful effort that was helped by the return of several key players to the lineup, the one Ryan envisioned coming into the season. With the one major exception of Kris Jenkins, who is out for the season with a torn knee ligament, this is the group that could be good enough to get the Jets where they want to be. Still a long, long way to go in the regular season and playoffs, but there's still a lot to like about this team.

Especially with the missing pieces back in the lineup.

"Do we make the whole team go? No," Pace said of the returning players. "But I think our presence helped. I think it made a difference."

It certainly wasn't easy. The offense wasn't humming as it had the previous three weeks. Mark Sanchez had his worst statistical game of the season, completing 21 of 44 passes for 191 yards and no touchdowns. But the running game was good enough behind LaDainian Tomlinson, and Nick Folk's fourth of five field goals gave the Jets a 12-0 lead in the third.

Minnesota came back with two touchdowns to make it 15-13 early in the fourth quarter, and the Jets withstood Favre's late-game heroics, getting a defensive stop and then finishing it off with Shonn Greene's 23-yard touchdown run with 4:30 left to make it 22-13. The six-play, 66-yard drive was one of the biggest of the season.

The Vikings came back with another epic drive from Favre, capping it with a touchdown pass to Percy Harvin.

But Favre's comeback ended when he threw a pass right into the arms of Jets cornerback Dwight Lowery, who ran it back 26 yards for the clinching touchdown with 1:30 remaining.

"We're happy to move on at 4-1, and we're right on schedule," Ryan said. "We want to have the best record in the National Football League at the end of the season, and we're right on pace."

Yes, there is still plenty to like about this Jets team. Even more, actually. With their full complement of players now in uniform, this season keeps getting better.

Now let's see if they can get where they're trying to go with just a little less fuss off the field.