NFL

Ryan & Jets won’t mute their swagger

Rex Ryan made it clear yesterday the cocky attitude he and his Jets displayed during his rookie season as head coach isn’t going to be any less arrogant next season.

“We’re the biggest show in town,” Ryan declared yesterday in his final postgame press conference as a rookie head coach, “and that’s the way it’s going to be.”

So much for thinking the Jets were humbled by a 30-17 loss to Peyton Manning and the Colts in Sunday’s AFC Championship Game in Indianapolis. As their head coach was basically relegating the Giants to second-class status, the Jets left their training facility at Florham Park applauding their coach’s bravado and vowing to keep the swagger that has become part of their DNA.

If teams like the Colts are tired of the Jets talking trash, they’d better get used to it.

“That’s who we are as a team,” right tackle Damien Woody said. “We’re not going to change. We’re going to go out there and back it up on the field.”

The stakes are higher now, though. Ryan will always be good for a sound bite, and his team will be tolerated as long as it keeps winning. Otherwise they become foolish background noise.

Making the playoffs at 9-7 and advancing to the AFC Championship Game was a remarkable journey for the first-year coach and rookie QB Mark Sanchez. Now nothing but a trip to the Super Bowl will be viewed as progress.

That goal seems realistic, with a Sanchise quarterback and Ryan’s Ground and Pound brand of football firmly in place. The big talk only makes them a bigger bull’s-eye for teams looking to shut them up.

Where once they were screaming for attention and desperate for a boost to their self-esteem, the Jets are now easy to hate because of they are brash and good.

“Now we’re going to get teams that are going to come at us harder’ and we’re going to have to play harder,” said DT Kris Jenkins, who’ll be healthy next year. “That’s all part of the game. That’s what we’re trying to do to establish being a successful team.”

The Colts took delight in shutting up the Jets, who weren’t shy about saying they would have still won their Dec. 27 game had Manning not been pulled in the third quarter. Manning passed for 377 yards and three touchdowns Sunday and praised his Colts for “how we kept our mouths shut.”

It’s clear Ryan doesn’t plan to stop yapping in 2010, and the players say they’ll have his back.

“He makes it fun playing for him,” Woody said. “All the guys will run through a brick wall for him. Rex is going to be Rex. He’s not going to change for anybody or do what’s politically correct. He’s going to be himself. That’s the thing you appreciate.”

WR Jerricho Cotchery added: “I hope Rex doesn’t change, because that’s what got this group behind him and to buy into things he wanted to get accomplished.

“We bought into everything and established the identity that we needed to be able to win games. He speaks his mind. Sometimes a lot of guys get that confused with talking just to talk. But he speaks his mind. You can’t ask for anything more.”

The Jets were still numb yesterday after losing to the Colts. That’s how much they believed they were going to win. That’s how much they believe in Ryan and each other.

“This is our identity,” CB Darrelle Revis said, “that energy, that passion and desire for the game. We’re going to play ball and we’re going to punch you in the mouth and see what happens. It brings a lot of attitude to the team, and guys want to be accountable.”

The key to 2010 is making sure their bite is as hard as their bark.

george.willis@nypost.com