Greene on Jets' backfield: Tebow who?

• Greene jokes about possibility of Tebow at running back
• Offensive coordinator Tony Sparano says Greene gets stronger as game progress
• Greene has improved at finding the holes in the defense

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. – This is how it works when Tim Tebow is on a roster: He's the story. The rest is just filler.

When Rex Ryan was asked Thursday about the possibility of the New York Jets' backup quarterback/Wildcat operator serving as a running back in a banged-up backfield, that story quickly took off, even to the point where starter Shonn Greene was about Tebow possibly stealing some carries from him against the New England Patriots.

"Who's that?" Greene deadpanned, adding: "Never heard of him."

Tebow has certainly added headlines around here, but what could he add to the Jets' backfield?

"I don't know," Greene said. "I guess I'll see just like you guys."

In a standard, Tebow-less Jets locker room, the main storyline this week would've been how the running game will capitalize on Greene's career-high 161 yards in the victory over the Indianapolis Colts and carry any momentum into Sunday's meeting with the New England Patriots.

This was supposed to be a "ground-and-pound" offense and Sunday marked the first sign of legitimate grounding and/or pounding for a unit that still ranks only 30th in the NFL and must continue to help lighten the load on Mark Sanchez.

Greene isn't one to publicly campaign for more carries or openly resist more Tebow, but it's clear he liked the commitment to him and the conventional running game against Indy and hopes it continues.

"We went with the run early and we just stayed with it," Greene told USA TODAY Sports. "I got a feel for stuff and the offensive linemen, every time they handed me the ball, they got a feel for how the defense is playing.

"When you get a feel for stuff, you get some momentum and you just start to dominate. That's how it was."

Greene said it could "absolutely" be the springboard for this running game.

And why not? On Sunday, Greene made quick, smart decisions, an area of his game that in the past hasn't been as sharp as it could be.

Late in the first quarter, he saw a linebacker creeping into a hole, so he bounced it outside for a 7-yard gain. It was his seventh carry, the most he's had in the first quarter of a game this season.

Greene later made a quick cut on a 10-yard touchdown and a spin move out of the grasp of Antoine Bethea on a 4-yard score.

"It's getting in a zone," he said. "You're feeling good and it just keeps coming."

Offensive coordinator Tony Sparano agrees.

"With Shonn, as he gets the ball more and more and more, he starts to see it clearer and he gets stronger and stronger," Sparano said. "In the fourth quarter, he was running the ball just as hard as he was in the first quarter."

In part because Greene saw what his running was doing to the Colts' tacklers.

"You get to see the defense getting worn down in the second half," Greene said. "When you see that as an offensive player and a lineman, you just want to go and go and go, keep running and going right at them."

Greene will see if that happens Sunday. And if it's all him, or some Tebow, doing that running.