Shonn Greene's three touchdowns get Jets back into win column

• Running back breaks out with 161-yard effort on ground
• Jets get back to .500 with efficient play from Sanchez
• Tebow sets up TD with pass on fake punt

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Must win?

It sure felt that way entering Sunday's New York Jets meeting against the Indianapolis Colts given the offensive funk quarterback Mark Sanchez had been mired in since a three-touchdown, season-opening laugher against the Buffalo Bills.

"Absolutely, we had to win this game,'' right tackle Austin Howard said after Sunday's 35-9 demolition of the banged-up Colts.

Maybe the best thing to happen in squaring their record at 3-3 as they travel to New England for next Sunday's showdown for first place in the AFC East against the 3-3 Patriots is that the Jets were desperate and finally played like it.

In running roughshod over the 2-3 Colts, the Jets pounded out 252 rushing yards, including a career-best 161 and three touchdowns by power back Shonn Greene.

"It felt like a 2009, 2010 game,'' said tight end Dustin Kellar, referencing his team's return to its "Ground and Pound'' running roots. "That's what we're capable of.''

Question is, why can't they do this every week?

"We take a lot of pride in who we are and what we can do,'' left tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson said. "It was just a matter of time before we clicked.

"When you have a quality run game, it just helps everything else. Now the challenge is to do this on a consistent basis.''

With all the negativity swirling around Sanchez's league-low 48.4 completion percentage, Tim Tebow's lack of playing time and the high-octane Patriots up next, the Jets got the stress-busting laugher they sorely needed and hadn't enjoyed since their 48-28, season-opening stomping of Buffalo.

"It's definitely a confidence builder, but you can't get overly excited,'' safety LaRon Landry said. "We just have to build on it.''

Greene had been nearly as criticized as Sanchez, who had completed below 50% of his passes in four consecutive games before hitting on 11 of 18 attempts for a pair of touchdowns against the Colts.

The Jets played better in a 23-17 Monday night loss to the Houston Texans but still not well enough. Ryan took a remedial approach this week, having his offensive linemen do more film study and pay closer attention on little things like hand placement and footwork in their run blocking.

"We knew it was a big game for us and our last one at home for a couple of weeks, that's how we approached it,'' Sanchez said. "We had a tough one Monday night, a short week. But guys really bounced back and played well, offensively, defensively on special teams.''

It seems Tim Tebow has found his niche -- as the league's most dangerous punt protector.

On fourth-and-11 from the Indianapolis 40-yard line late in the second quarter, Tebow took the direct snap as Robert Malone's punt protector and hit a 23-yard jump pass to linebacker Nick Bellore. Four plays later, Sanchez hit receiver Jason Hill for a 5-yard touchdown pass and the Jets led 21-6 at halftime.

"I obviously don't have much run-after-the-catch ability,'' said Bellore, an undrafted 2011 free agent out of Central Michigan. "It was a great throw by Tim, a high-risk, high-reward play.''

Before the game, Ryan was talking with owner Woody Johnson who asked if the Jets would use the Tebow pop pass play.

"Woody before the game said, 'Can Bellore catch?''' Ryan recalled. "I said, 'Oh yeah, absolutely.' And I'm thinking, 'Oh, please catch it.'

"He did a great job. We have to work on his moves, that little head fake, his body stayed in the same direction. We have to work on it.''

Fortunately, Greene worked on his moves after coming into Sunday's game with just one rushing touchdown in 76 previous carries. He scored three times on 32 carries against the Colts.

"When you're down and the running game is not going as well as you want, it's easy to just give up on it and just be like, 'whatever,''' Green said. "But we keep working every week at practice, just grinding and saying, 'It's going to come along.' It did today.

"It was nice to stay on the field, keep our defense fresh and put points on the board.''

They'll likely have to put as many if not more against Tom Brady and the explosive Patriots Sunday at Gillette Stadium given New England's up-tempo, no-huddle balanced attack.

"We have a big game at New England,'' said cornerback Antonio Cromartie, who had one of two interceptions of rookie Colts quarterback Andrew Luck. "We definitely wanted to go in there with some steam and try and slow that team down.''

With the return of their vaunted run game, Sanchez won't feel he has to match Brady throw for throw. "Mark has a hard enough job by himself,'' Greene said. "Whatever we can do as running backs, receivers to help him win games is going to be important.''

Especially Sunday at New England.