Rex Ryan is looking for a few good men … and women … and children. He’s looking for about 77,000 of them to turn out Sunday at the Meadowlands for the Jets’ home game against the Texans and get wild and crazy.
He’s looking for you, and he wants you there early and ready to rip your lungs out.
As successful as this season has been for the Jets, winning seven of their first nine games, the lack of a home-field advantage at their new stadium has been bothersome and is something they are bent on changing.
“A lot has been made about the fact that we’re 5-0 on the road and 2-2 at home,” Ryan said yesterday. “That’s not sitting well with our fans. It’s not sitting well with our team, any of us. We’re going to make this a home-field advantage.
“That’s what you work for. That’s why you try to get all the wins you can in the regular season [so] you hope you host some playoff games. I think this [the Meadowlands] is going to be a huge home-field advantage.”
If that’s going to happen, it’s going to require a lot better play at home — particularly on offense.
In the Jets’ two losses this season (at home, of course), they failed to score a single touchdown. They lost the opener 10-9 to the Ravens and three weeks ago were shut out 9-0 by the Packers.
“We haven’t really given them much to be excited about,” receiver Braylon Edwards said.
“We haven’t been scoring enough points,” right tackle Damien Woody said. “At the end of the day, offense sells tickets. Defensive wins championships, but offense sells tickets. People want to see offense; they want to see touchdowns.
“Offensively, we’ve got to come out and score points, score touchdowns, and do it early to get our fans energized right from the get-go.”
The Jets have scored only four touchdowns on offense in their four home games this season — and three of them came in the 28-14 win over the Patriots in Week 2.
“When you’re home, you want to give your fans a reason to go wild,” center Nick Mangold said. “You’ve got to give them something to cheer about, so we’ve got to make sure we come out of the gate flying around.”
Ryan implored Jets fans to get to their seats early Sunday.
“I’m just asking that we start tailgating earlier so by the time the introductions come out, we’ve got a butt in every seat,” Ryan said.
Ryan acknowledged that the sluggish starts haven’t helped matters, saying, “I’m challenging our offense. I’m challenging our fans. I’m challenging everybody, myself included, to start fast. Let [the Texans] know we’re here. Our team is going to let Houston know that we’re here and our fans will also.
“The last time we played Houston [last season’s opener in Texas], they had a ‘white out.’ Everybody was wearing white. I’m not calling for anything like that. I’m just calling for a ‘loud out.’ Let’s be loud and proud and get after these guys.”
Ryan and many of the players recall the rabid performance by the fans when the Jets played New England at home last season. The old Giants Stadium was playoff-loud. It hasn’t been the same since.
“It was loud that day and it stayed loud,” tackle Wayne Hunter recalled.
There are many reasons why the new stadium hasn’t produced the kind of passion the old one did — beginning with the fact that a lot of the real Jets fans have been priced out of the new building and there’s a larger corporate presence with all the luxury boxes.
“Our fans have been on and off this year, so it would be nice to see them pick it up,” Hunter said. “It gets the adrenaline pumping a lot quicker when the fans are out there for the introductions instead of showing up in the first quarter. I don’t think the fans realize how much of an impact they have on us as players.”
mcannizzaro@nypost.com