"Ryan, Jets earn right to keep talking"

thedonger · Jan 17, 2011

gotta admit, i'm still not the biggest fan the talking, but it's growing on me. saw this article and just thought it was aweseome.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=dw-ryankeepstalking011611

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Rex Ryan was rumbling and stumbling down the sidelines, charging toward an end zone celebration in one corner of Bill Belichick’s house. He was barreling into the heart of the New England Patriots’ worst nightmare, into an upset for the ages.

A coach celebrating a touchdown on the field? Shonn Greene(notes) had all but sealed a 28-21 playoff victory for the New York Jets and Big Rex couldn’t contain himself.

“If he was standing up I was going to tackle him,” Ryan joked.
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Jets coach Rex Ryan reacts near the end of the Jets' 28-21 win over the Patriots.
(AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

A couple slaps on the helmet would have to suffice, the culmination of a game where the Jets stood and fought, blitzed and believed their way past the vaunted and previously 14-2 Patriots. The heavy underdogs had done the heavy lifting, punching the Pats in the face to leave Foxborough and the football world stunned in silence.

Ryan had made himself the target all week, all year really and this was the evening all the bluster was supposed to come due. J-E-T-S, talk, talk, talk. This was when Belichick’s methodical empire was supposed to shut the Jets’ mouth once and for all. You’re not supposed to call out opponents like Ryan does. You’re not supposed to snarl smack like Ryan’s players do.

And, yes, you’re also not supposed to roll into New England and whip up on the Pats when Tom Brady(notes) is going like he’d been going.

“We love when [Ryan] goes out there and says stuff; people call it trash talk or whatever,” New York tight end Dustin Keller(notes) said. “We look at it like he has more confidence in us than any coach has in his team. Otherwise maybe they would be going out making those remarks.”

“I don’t know,” Ryan said with a shrug, “maybe I’m not always wrong with what I say. … Mission Impossible: we go to round three.”

He’d declared a wild-card game with the Colts a personal battle between himself and Peyton Manning(notes). He said this one was Ryan vs. Belichick. He hadn’t thought up his shot at Pittsburgh for the AFC title game but it’ll come, you can bet on that.

The more lines Ryan spits out the more his players line up, shoulder to shoulder, ready to back him. He was coming into the belly of the beast this time, a playoff game in the same building against the same crew that had humiliated him 45-3 in early December.

Ryan and his guys don’t retreat though, they reload. Not once did they think that game would impact this game. Not for a second did they anticipate a repeat result. Ryan didn’t change the game plan, his players said. He just demanded the guys actually follow it.

“The biggest change [to the scheme] was that we executed it,” linebacker Bart Scott(notes) said.

This time the physical Jets defense manhandled the Patriots’ small skill players, making it difficult to run routes and get free and move up and down at will. Nothing was going to be easy this time, they promised; no more 5-foot-7 dudes skipping down the center of the field.

“If you want to come across the middle you have to pay the toll,” Scott said. “No free access.”
Patriots coach Bill Belichick, left, congratulates Jets coach Rex Ryan after the Jets beat the Patriots 28-21.
(AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Suddenly a Patriots team that had scored 30 or more for eight consecutive weeks was going three-and-out, their timing routes thrown off. On offense, the Jets kept running the ball until it worked, found the time for quarterback Mark Sanchez(notes) (three touchdowns) to settle in and then allowed all those big-name additions – Santonio Holmes(notes), LaDainian Tomlinson(notes), Braylon Edwards(notes) – to make big time plays.

“The plans are useless without great plays from your players,” Ryan said.

This is the heart of Rex Ryan’s style. This is the endless currency that he has inside his own locker room. It’s why there would be no backing down, even in the face of that December beatdown.

Instead the Jets unleashed a legendary wave of talk, trying to rattle the Patriots’ cage, trying to shift the focus off their young quarterback, trying to leave Ryan out there, the center of anger and attention. When everyone else thought they’d gone too far, they doubled down.

Ryan baited Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady. Antonio Cromartie(notes) called Brady unprintable names. Scott insinuated he wanted to shorten Wes Welker’s(notes) career after the Patriots receiver broke New England code and mocked Ryan’s foot fetish.

“Tom Brady can go watch Lombardi twice,” Scott said postgame, just in case you thought winning was going to make everyone be nice.

As for his tough talk on Welker, “I’m not a dirty player,” Scott said. “You can always get someone out of there by going man-on-man, bone-on-bone. I stand by my words and if I get another opportunity for him to come through the middle I’m going to try to put him through the ground,” he said.
Jets linebacker David Harris (52), defensive tackle Sione Pouha (91) and linebacker Bart Scott (57) tackle Patriots running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis.
(AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

What, you expect them to back down now? Pittsburgh looms on Sunday but it was just last month the Jets won at Heinz Field and Ryan, postgame, told his players to leave a mark in the visiting locker room for when they inevitably returned for the playoffs.

That’s Ryan at his boldest. The night before that game, he’d gathered the team and when speaking about the ups and downs and darts of the season, broke down in emotion, tears rolling down his cheeks. That’s Ryan at his most exposed.

Prior to this victory, he had Dennis Byrd, a former Jet who was paralyzed while playing, tell the team that he’d give everything in the world up to play just one more play.

“Most inspirational speech I’ve ever heard,” Edwards said.

It’s the push and pull of the coach – an emotional roller coaster that keeps paying dividends.

“Same old Jets, going to the AFC championship game two years in a row,” Ryan said. “Only difference is this time we plan on winning.”

This is the genius of Ryan; the more he says, the more his players follow.

“We talk because we believe in ourselves,” Ryan said. “I think that is where the talk comes from.

“We’re not afraid of anybody,” he continued. “Maybe people take it the wrong way or look at us. But we don’t try to bad mouth an opponent. We respect every opponent. But we’re not in fear of anybody. But we came here on a mission, and we’re trying to win a Super Bowl.”

All across the Jets’ locker room it went on and on. This was one of the great back-it-up games of all-time and everyone knew it. Yes, there was another week, but this was Jets football, leaving fans everywhere furious, Brady confused and Belichick mumbling about bad mistakes and worse decisions.

“The better team won [Sunday],” Scott said. “Not the better quarterback, not the better coach, the better team.”

As the seconds had wound down on this signature win, this glorious day for the green, the Jets’ fans who had braved the weather and the travel and the taunts had pushed down behind the New York bench.

Everyone was jumping and screaming together. Fans cheering toward the players; players cheering toward the fans. They were all in it together; this little band of believers who had ignored all the critics and catcalls and shared the dream that a night like this was coming.

Big Rex was working the sideline, one hug after the other, one big back slap after the next. The Jets had come back to this house of horrors and flipped the script. They’d come right back to New England, right back in the Patriots’ face, the only way they know how. Now they were headed off into late January. Off to Pittsburgh. One more stop until the Super Bowl; one more week of unsettling the establishment.

Same old Jets.
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"Ryan, Jets earn right to keep talking"

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