Staple: Keep giving the ball to Tomlinson

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y.

The temptation will be there for Rex Ryan and Brian Schottenheimer a week from tonight.

With Santonio Holmes back from a four-game suspension to make his Jets debut against the Vikings, with Mark Sanchez riding an eight-touchdown, no-pick start to his 2010, with Braylon Edwards and Dustin Keller being as reliable a pass-catching combination as any in the league - with all of that, the temptation will be there, big-time, for Ryan and Schottenheimer to fling the ball all over the field.

But after watching LaDainian Tomlinson defy football logic Sunday, the simple advice is this: Do not yield to that temptation.

Tomlinson burst through giant holes time and time again, showing the speed and strength that so many people around the league thought had gone, never to return.

His 133 yards and two touchdowns were not the only reasons the Jets stomped on a lifeless Bills team. The 38-14 rout over a team with more give-up than giddy-up was more of a test for the Jets to not beat themselves, and they passed.

But it was Tomlinson who set the tone. He had 42 yards on five carries on the opening drive of the game, eating up 8- and 9-yard chunks as if this were 2006 and the rain and wind at Ralph Wilson Stadium were the sunshine and warmth of Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego.

"He's playing some inspired ball," Sanchez said. "He's playing so hard, having such a good time, he looks like a little kid out there."

Sanchez was very good again, but when the Jets made some curious play calls - there were four play-action fakes and rollouts in the first half that the Bills sniffed out quickly and snuffed out, including a third-and-goal from the 1 that should have gone right into Tomlinson's hands - they were all plays that went away from Tomlinson, who is 31 but telling the world, loudly, that not all 30-year-old running backs hit the down slope fast.

"Regardless of where he's going to be, he's going to bring that," Jason Taylor said. "Well, not everywhere - I guess in San Diego, they didn't think he could do it. But he's an All-Pro."

Tomlinson's 1-yard power run through the line opened the scoring barely four minutes in; his 26-yarder, with a move that left Bills safety Donte Whitner grabbing air, made it 38-7 and sent fans for the exits.

Tomlinson's inspiration has come from the Chargers kicking him out the door, and from his relationship with Ryan, whose occasional lapses into goofy sideshow cannot overshadow the simple fact that a lot of very good players want to play for him.

"You want to run through a brick wall for him, that's how I feel about him," Tomlinson said. "Rex can see things nobody else can see. I think he looks at the heart of a man sometimes."

It was Ryan who keyed his defense around stopping Tomlinson in January, the playoff win in San Diego that signaled the end of Tomlinson's Chargers career and the emergence of the Jets as a force in the AFC.

That respect has extended into Tomlinson's time as a Jet. It's only four games, and the biggest knock on Tomlinson - that he wore down after too much use in 2007 and 2008 - has yet to become an issue, but Ryan seems to know what he has and how to use his top running back.

"I thought he'd be outstanding," Ryan said again Sunday, "and he's been better than that."

There will be temptation next week, with Keller inside, with Edwards and Holmes outside. The best move Ryan and Schottenheimer can make is to keep calling No. 21's number, because that's what makes this offense go.