EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The Miami Dolphins are a team with character. The New York Jets are a bunch of jerks.

That, as much as Sunday’s 30-25 final at the Meadowlands, is the difference between the bitter AFC East rivals.
The Dolphins overcame an internal earthquake that shook the lineup and an external avalanche of criticism that threatened to shake their confidence. The Jets talked smack and got smacked.
The Dolphins went to a bully’s house and didn’t back down. The Jets tried to bully the Dolphins and got a black eye for their trouble.
The Dolphins and Jets. Night and day.
Through adversity and despite their own flaws, the Dolphins responded in this game the way teams with resilience are supposed to respond — by winning and claiming their second victory in as many games against the Jets.
The Jets?
They are a beaten, battered bunch that has lost four of five games but still, inexplicably, don’t know when to shut up.
After losing to Miami for the second time in three weeks, their blowhard coach actually talked about how his team outplayed the Dolphins.
“We outplayed them but got beat,” Rex Ryan bloviated. “You have to give their kickoff return guy credit. It’s almost 4-to-1 in yardage, but I’d rather be in their locker room with a win than here, even though I’d rather be in this one moving forward. We have a better record right now, so I’ll take this locker room.”
Go for it, Rex. Have your locker room filled with big talk and so little in the form of results. Have your locker room that drips sarcasm when a little humility is more appropriate.
In that loser’s locker room, Bart Scott, who last week talked openly of trying to hurt Dolphins quarterback Chad Henne, sized up the team that had just handed him yet another defeat:
“They’re a great team,” Scott said mockingly and filled with disdain. “They’ll probably contend for the Super Bowl. They have a tremendous offense — great running backs, a great quarterback, a great tight end. They are stacked across the board.
“They have a tremendous offense, and they showed it today. They are Super Bowl contenders, and they will probably take it all the way.”
Such boorish talk flows directly from the top. It comes from Ryan, who spent the past week talking about how this game was personal and imploring his players to prove themselves tougher than the Dolphins.
Given those marching orders, it wasn’t surprising one of Ryan’s minions tried to intimidate Miami players even before kickoff.
That’s what happened when safety Kerry Rhodes headed to the Dolphins end of the field as they were warming up to make some sort of macho statement. A shoving match with Joey Porter and Jason Taylor ensued.
“He ran down on our end, he had no business being down there,” Taylor said. “I don’t know if he lost his keys or whatever the deal was going down there, but he had no business being down there and we let him know he had no business being down there.”
The stupidity continued. Scott spent part of the afternoon woofing at running back Ronnie Brown. It got to the point the typically affable Brown shoved Scott away to end one of the linebacker’s affronts.
“You know, I really don’t know their goal,” Brown said. “Some guys talk, some guys don’t. Me? I’m thankful we got a victory, and I’ll take it.”
The Dolphins take this victory because they found a way to win when there seemingly was no way. On a day the offense was ineffective — the Dolphins were outgained by the Jets 378 to 104 — Miami still scored 30 points.
The Dolphins got 14 of those points on Ted Ginn Jr. kick return touchdowns. And those touchdowns were a statement about Ginn’s character.
Ginn, you see, was benched by coach Tony Sparano last week. He was publicly criticized for playing poorly against New Orleans. He could have retreated.
But Ginn responded with that 100-yard return and then that 101-yard return. Note to the coaching staff: Let him return punts, too!
Ginn wasn’t the only embattled Miami player last week. Free safety Gibril Wilson was similarly relieved of his starting job, and rookie Chris Clemons shared snaps with the veteran most of the game.
Wilson responded with two sacks of New York quarterback Mark Sanchez.
Resilience. Character.
“There’s no question we shook things up this week and purposely so,” Sparano said. “There’s no reason for anybody to feel comfortable when you’re 2-4.”
And then, as Sparano continued talking about how his players responded, he unwittingly stumbled upon another difference between his Dolphins and the Jets.
“Some people rise up,” Sparano said, “some people don’t.”