FOXBORO — There is something about playing the New England Patriots that seems to bring out the best in the New York Jets wide receivers Jerricho Cotchery and Laveranues Coles, who combined for more than 2,000 receiving yards last season.

In three games against the Patriots last season, Cotchery amassed 291 yards on 17 catches, and he had a touchdown in each of those games. Coles, meanwhile, averaged 5.3 catches per game and 58 yards in those three games.

They will provide an excellent test for the Patriots secondary on Sunday.

“I really like the way that these guys approach each week,” Jets coach Eric Mangini said of Cotchery and Coles on Wednesday. “They push each other, they push the group, they’re really good people. They’re making the younger players better, they’re making each other better. Laveranues was just elected captain of the team, which I think is a testament to who he is as a person.”

“They have the top three, four, five sets of receivers in the league as far as making big plays, catching the ball and putting it in the end zone,” Patriots linebacker Rosevelt Colvin said. “It’s going to be up to us to make sure [Jets quarterback] Chad [Pennington] and the rest of his friends don’t have a good day so we got to communicate well…and make sure we have guys in the right positions.”

Colvin said that he has a lot of respect for Pennington, who bounced back from shoulder surgery to throw for 3,352 yards last season, which ranked 10th in the league.

Pennington ranks second behind Kurt Warner among the NFL’s all-time most accurate passers (more than 1,500 attempts) with a 65.1 completion percentage (1,080-for-1,659, 11,973 yards, 72 TD, 46 INT).

“Chad is definitely a tough player,” Colvin said. “…I think he exemplifies what everybody wants in this league — a hard-working guy who comes to work each and every day and does his best to make his team successful. He’s had success in the past and now, so it’s going to be up to us to make it as difficult as possible for him and the rest of the guys on offense.”

And with the addition of power running back Thomas Jones who rushed for a combined 2,445 yards over the past two seasons — ninth-best in the NFL — the Jets’ offense might be tough to stop.

“He’s a hard runner,” Colvin said of Jones. “The guy can be in one place and be in another in a split second. It’s going to take more than one guy to bring him down and I think that was probably one of the main reasons why they traded for him.”

Jets’ defense gets tough

The Patriots aren’t worried about only the Jets’ offense. New York had one of the NFL’s best defenses last season.

The Jets limited their opponents to 18.4 points per game, sixth-best in the league.

“The second half of the season last year they were the best defensive team in the league,” New England coach Bill Belichick said. “They didn’t allow a lot of points. They were good on third downs. They were good in the red area. They didn’t allow big plays. They had a dramatic improvement from the first half of the season to the second half of the season with their play defensively. They did everything better really.”

Overall the Jets ranked 14th in the NFL last year against the pass, limiting opponents to 201.4 passing yards per game, but 24th against the rush, allowing 130.2 rushing yards per game.

“They have a great defense,” Pats’ running back Kevin Faulk said. “Their defense, in the second half of the season last year was probably ranked number one or up there in the top five. …We just have to execute and do our jobs when the ball is snapped.”

New England set a franchise record for the fewest points allowed last season, 14.8 points per game, which was the second-best mark in the NFL behind Baltimore’s 12.6 points per outing.

Injury report grows

The Patriots had 100-percent attendance at practice for the second straight day but there were a few additions to their injury report from Wednesday. Randy Moss, Tom Brady and tight end Kyle Brady were added to the “limited participation in practice” category.

For Moss and Kyle Brady, the Patriots listed “team decision” as the reason. Moss said earlier this week that he wants to play on Sunday.

For Tom Brady, the Patriots listed “right shoulder” as the reason. Brady was in the full participation category on Wednesday.

The rest of the injury report remained the same from Wednesday, with defensive end Mike Wright (knee), tight end David Thomas (foot) and safety Rashad Baker (right hand) in the “limited participation in practice” category.

roblee@projo.com