In Rex World, there is no fear of saying anything that might wind up on the enemy’s bulletin board — even Bill Belichick’s bulletin board. Joe Namath could have guaranteed a Jets victory over the Patriots on Monday night and Ryan would have high-fived him at the next team meeting.
In Rex World, you are allowed to talk the talk as long as you walk the walk to Super Sunday. For the past decade, many a walk to Super Sunday has ended at the Great Wall of Foxborough, constructed at the intersection of Brady Way and Belichick Boulevard.
But now here comes the irrepressible Ryan, driving this mighty, state of the art, green-and-white bulldozer, his Jets huddled excitedly alongside him and behind him, ready to tear down that wall, Mr. Belichick.
In their animated locker room inside the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center, there lives a universal belief that this is the Jets’ time, finally — that the Jets are better than the Patriots.
“Yeah … we believe so,” Darrelle Revis told The Post. “I mean, all the talent that we have in this room, and I think just the confidence that we have in the way that we’re rolling. This is how teams do it when you’re trying to be great, when you’re trying to be a great team, this is what you do, you have confidence that you’re always gonna win, and it don’t matter what the team is and who they are.”
They could be the Lombardi Packers. Or the 1985 Bears. Or the Montana 49ers.
Or the 2010 Patriots.
“We respect [the Patriots], they are a great team,” guard Matt Slauson said. “But I think we are the better team.”
There hasn’t been a team around here with this kind of swagger since the 1986 Mets.
From now until Sunday night at the team hotel, an emotional crescendo will build that will reach a boiling point when Ryan gives one of his impassioned speeches from the heart.
“He gets loud, I think he even starts sweating up there, he just gets so amped up,” tight end Dustin Keller said. “Only bad thing about it is you get so amped up that you need to go to bed for the game the next day, and we can’t.”
Close your eyes and picture Ryan on Monday night.
“He’s gonna tell us how physical this game is, and that we’re the more physical team, and it’s gonna be an opportunity to prove it, and everybody’s gonna be watching it,” Keller said. “And it’s our chance to prove that we’re the better team in this conference.”
Is the belief that you guys have the better team widespread?
“Oh, no question,” Keller said. “I don’t think there’s a single guy on this team that would tell you that we’re not the better team. . . . I don’t think we’ve been playing quite to our potential yet. We’ve had some really good games, so that’s scary to think, but there’s a lot more we could do.”
The Jets whipped Brady and company 28-14 in Week 2. Without Santonio Holmes. With a diminished Revis.
“We truly believe that we have the best 53-man roster in the NFL,” Keller said.
“The coaching staff and the organization went out and brought in more players to help us take that next step, and we feel very comfortable with the guys that they’ve brought in to help us make that next step,” wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery said. “We feel like if we play our game, we should win games every week.”
The Jets have yet to play a complete game. They are planning on playing their best game.
“Yeah, we’re ready,” Cotchery said. “We’re ready for this home stretch. Everyone knows what we have at stake. We have a lot of guys in here that have been in this position. All of the guys are locked in, and they understand what’s at stake right now, and that’s the best thing about it.”
“I think this is the game where offense and defense both are gonna play their best games and special teams are gonna be solid like they always are,” Keller said.
They’ll never shut up. But they’re really looking forward to put up.
“We’ve talked enough for two seasons,” linebacker Bart Scott said. “Now it’s time to show people. And that’s what we intend to do, show people what we are. . . . Other teams already hate us. . . . Certain fans hate us. . . . We’re probably one of the most hated teams in the world. I would like to think so.”
The Jets recognize that they don’t hand out trophies for 9-2.
“Anything short of a Super Bowl appearance is a failure,” Scott said. “We won’t be satisfied until this thing is over and we’re raising the trophy.”
It’s time to bulldoze past the intersection of Brady Way and Belichick Boulevard.
“I think we’re gonna win,” Ryan said. “I think we’re always gonna win.”
He has company.