NFL

Cocky Jets coach has message for Giants: ‘We’re better’

Rex Ryan likes to talk about winning Super Bowl championships, but this week he is focused on winning the city championship.

The Jets and Giants meet Saturday afternoon at MetLife Stadium, and the Jets coach wasted no time launching the trash talk.

“I recognize that they’re an excellent football team, but I think we’re better,” Ryan said on a conference call.

Giants linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka fired back during his conference call with the media.

“I know we’re the better team,” Kiwanuka said. “We just have to go out and prove it.”

Neither team looks too terrific at the moment. Both are coming off embarrassing losses on Sunday. The Jets got stomped by the Eagles 45-19 to fall to 8-6 and make Saturday’s game even bigger because of the playoff implications.

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The Giants, too, are in must-win mode, after getting hammered, 23-10 by the lowly Redskins.

Ryan tried to move past the Eagles loss yesterday, calling it a “horrible performance.” But that loss did nothing to humble Ryan, who came out firing when asked about his crosstown rivals. Ryan wrote in his book “Play Like You Mean It” that the Jets were the “big brothers” to the Giants in New York. He did not back down from that.

“Quite honestly, I never came here to be little brother to anybody,” Ryan said. “So, it’s on.”

There is more riding on this game than just bragging rights. The Jets are tied with the Bengals for the final AFC playoff berth. If they win the last two games, they should make the playoffs. They hold a strength-of-victory tiebreaker edge over the Bengals, although that could change depending on results in the next two weeks.

The Giants can win the NFC East title with victories in their final two games.

Ryan has guided the Jets to the playoffs in each of his first two seasons here, taking them to the AFC Championship Game in both years. That was something Ryan was sure to point out yesterday as he compared the Jets and the Giants.

“Certainly, we were the better team the first two years,” Ryan said. “We made the playoffs and went to the (AFC) championship game. To say a team’s better than you that never made the playoffs is ridiculous. Clearly, we were the better team my first two years. We get to prove it Saturday who the best team is this year.”

The Giants are the team with the tradition — founded in 1925, 35 years before the birth of the Jets. They have won three Super Bowl titles since the Jets won their one and only in 1968. When Ryan arrived in 2009, he tried to change the culture of the Jets franchise and part of that, in his mind, is clearly overcoming the Giants.

“There’s a lot of talk going back and forth, most of it driven by me,” Ryan said. “But I’ll stand by anything I’ve ever said. I didn’t come here to be anybody’s little brother. I came here to win, to be looked at that way and to take over not just this city, even though it’s the city to take over, but also this league. I haven’t accomplished that yet. Saturday, I think, will go a long way to doing that.

“We have to win this game, we have to get in the playoffs, and the Giants have to do the same. So it’s going to be huge.”

Ryan did speak highly of Giants coach Tom Coughlin, calling him “one of the great coaches in the history of the sport.” He also lauded defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul and quarterback Eli Manning.

Even though he respects the Giants, Ryan made it clear he feels the Jets are superior to them.

“There’s no way I’m going to be second fiddle,” he said. “If we were playing the New York Yankees, I don’t want to be second fiddle to them.”