As a childhood Patriots fan, our Sunday Night victory against the New York Jets was satisfying on several levels. It snapped a two-game losing streak, silenced Rex Ryan’s trash-talk by sweeping the season series, and most importantly, it broke the three-way tie at the top of the AFC East, giving us the outright lead in the division with less than half the season remaining.

Yes, there was a lot to be happy about in the wake of Sunday’s performance; Tom Brady looked like Tom Brady out there, passing for 329 yards, three touchdowns, and most importantly, 0 interceptions, Rob Gronkowski was a monster with 8 catches for 113 yards and 2 scores, and even Chad Ochocinco got into the action with two catches for 65 yards, by far his best performance in a New England uniform.

But while the offensive outburst is something we can definitely count on for the future, it would be simply misleading to use this match-up as a sign of things to come on the defensive side of the ball.

It has surprised me at how fans and commentators have been quick to describe a turn around for a Pats defense that is “getting better in a hurry” in the wake of the Jets game (the quote courtesy of Yahoo Sports’s Jason Cole: http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=AsI5eoIKnx6Bm95r3_NjALhDubYF?slug=jc-cole_direct_snap_mike_smith_fourth_down_111511).

Let’s get real for a minute.  This is the league’s worst defense in terms of yards allowed per game (a whopping 412 ypg), and the news only got worse with cornerback Devin McCourty leaving the game with an injury and never returning. His status is unclear for next week’s match-up against the Chiefs, as is the status of safety Pat Chung and linebacker Brandon Spikes, among others.

Sure, you can try to see the similarities between the 2011 defense of linebacker Jeff Tarpinian, Antwaun Molden, Sterling Moore (a cornerback who started at safety for the first time in his career to spell Chung on Sunday), and Julian Edelman (wide receiver who played 5 snaps at cornerback towards the end of the game) and the 2004 championship defense that featured Earthwind Moreland, Hank Poteat, and the legendary Troy Brown, but you’d be missing the point.

In 2004, the Pats, while thin at certain positions, especially in the secondary, were still stocked with experienced, top quality play makers, such as Richard Seymour, Tedy Bruschi, and Rodney Harrison. In 2011, New England has Vince Wilfork, Jerod Mayo, and a fragile, patchwork system behind them.

Despite all the injuries they dealt with during the 2004 season, the Patriots played stingy defense all season. The team limited opponents to single-digit point totals five times that season, giving up only 310.8 yards per game. The 16 points the 2011 Pats gave up this Sunday represent the lowest point total they’ve held an opponent to all year.

I’m not saying that Bill Belichick isn’t capable of building up this defense into a serviceable unit, but there’s no way you could use a match-up against the New York Jets as a litmus test.

Remember that this was the second of two games the Patriots played against Rex Ryan’s team, and the Jets only scored five fewer points in the rematch against what is supposedly an improved defense. Three weeks before giving up 365 passing yards to Ben Roethlisberger, New England’s defense only gave up 263 total yards to New York (to compare, the Pats gave up 416 total yards to the Jets on Sunday night).

What does it mean to get two interceptions (including a pick-six) against a quarterback who is averaging an interception a game and has the same number of touchdowns as overall turnovers (14)? What does it mean to sack Mark Sanchez 5 times (with 4.5 sacks coming from Andre Carter, a Patriots’ single game record), especially when the starting left guard is a sixth round draft pick? What does it mean to hold Shonn Greene to 61 yards rushing when he was averaging nearly 5 yards per rush and has only had one 100 yard game all season?

It goes without saying that the Jets offense never really posed a threat to New England’s defense, not with Mark Sanchez playing at his typical mediocre level and the running back tandem of Greene and Tomlinson under performing. Rex Ryan can talk a good game, and this rivalry can remain one of the most intense in the AFC, but that’s largely due to the success of the Jets defense in slowing down Brady (like they did in the first game between both teams, and of course, in the playoffs) to make things close.

For those of you who are still searching for a litmus test for the Pats defense before the playoffs start, there are three intriguing match-ups left on the schedule: a showdown on Thanksgiving weekend with the supposed “Dream Team” in Philadelphia, a battle against the Tebows (Denver) on December 13th (while New England can stop the run effectively, Tebow’s option-style of play could expose gaping holes in coverage if it plays the way it has been playing all year), and the last game of the season, a rematch against the Ryan Fitzpatrick-led Bills who had a field day in Buffalo earlier this season. How the Pats perform in these three games could indicate how successful the team will be in the postseason.