Because such a dramatic and demonstrative tone had been set by Rex Ryan to start off each of the past two weeks leading into Jets playoff games, there was a palpable anticipation of what motivational mastery he might present yesterday.
The Jets were only hours removed from their 28-21 upset playoff victory over the Patriots, their most hated rivals, and now they are 60 minutes of football against the Steelers away from getting to their first Super Bowl since the 1969 Joe Namath glory.
So surely Ryan had some memorable words prepared to deliver, right?
Surely he was going to call out someone on the Steelers to help pump his team up.
After all, as the Jets prepared to play the Colts in the wild-card playoff round two weeks ago, Ryan started the week off by depicting the game as “personal” for him in his quest to finally beat Peyton Manning.
Then last week, as the Jets prepared to play the Patriots, Ryan’s unsolicited message was that game was going to boil down to “me against Bill Belichick,” who Ryan said badly outcoached him in the teams’ previous meeting, a 45-3 New England win.
Ryan said if he didn’t raise his level against Belichick and be “the better coach,” the Jets’ season likely would end.
Even more emotionally charged banter followed to fill out the week before the Jets whipped the Patriots in Sunday’s AFC divisional playoff round at Gillette Stadium.
That set the scene for yesterday, with Sunday’s AFC Championship Game in Pittsburgh now in the Jets’ sights.
So what did Ryan come up with yesterday?
Not much.
The week of lively trash talk with the Patriots morphed into a lovefest yesterday as Ryan fawned over Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and the entire Pittsburgh franchise.
Ryan described this week as having “a different feel” from the past two.
When pressed on why he wasn’t trying to draw any blood through verbal jabs, he joked: “Give me someone you want me to call out. I guess [Steelers receiver] Hines Ward and [defensive lineman] Casey Hampton. Those would be two easy targets.”
Ryan said he felt the need last week to single himself out because he had been so schooled by Belichick in the 45-3 loss.
“I felt last week that Bill Belichick had dominated me the time before, and I was like, ‘Man, no way is that going to happen to me again,’ “ Ryan said. “I’m not in his class, not even close.”
Ryan disagreed with the notion that he outcoached Belichick in Sunday’s victory.
“I never outcoached Belichick,” he said. “Our players outplayed their players. There’s nothing schematically I did to win that game. To say I outcoached Belichick? I would not agree with that. I think it’s almost a joke. I don’t think anybody outcoaches Belichick.”
If you thought Ryan sounded humble when speaking so reverentially about Belichick, listening to him speak about Tomlin could make you wonder if Ryan is setting the stage for a pillow fight Sunday at Heinz Field.
“I have a huge amount of respect for Mike Tomlin,” Ryan said.
“He’s one of my favorite coaches.”
Ryan then waxed on about how Tomlin conducted himself in a 38-7 Steelers rout of the Ravens in 2007 when Ryan was Baltimore’s defensive coordinator.
“We were getting crushed [35-7 at halftime], and they ran the ball on every snap in the second half,” Ryan said. “He wasn’t trying to rub our nose in it. He had respect for us.”
Ryan also recalled what he said was his “favorite story” about Tomlin.
“[The Steelers] had a fullback who was telling Bart [Scott] to look at the scoreboard and he was talking on the sideline. And there was a timeout and Bart came over and said, ‘Come on back in because we don’t play to the scoreboard. We are going to play as hard as we can anyway,’ ” Ryan said. “Tomlin looks over and goes, ‘Bart, you want a piece of him?’ Bart goes, ‘Yeah.’ [Tomlin] sends the kid back in there. They run isolation and Bart separated the kid’s shoulder.
“That’s one of my favorite stories and it told me a lot about Mike Tomlin. He’s that kind of guy. He’s a man’s man and his team plays like that.”
mcannizzaro@nypost.com