NFL

Jets want payback for loss to Patriots

Euphoria illuminated Rex Ryan’s face with the kind of wattage a Times Square billboard requires.

Ryan’s Jets had just defeated the Colts in Saturday night’s AFC wild-card playoff game at Lucas Oil Stadium. Ryan had exorcised the Peyton Manning demons that had haunted him.

This was a moment that required an “I’m going to Disney World” kind of statement about the Jets’ next stop: Gillette Stadium, where the rival Patriots await next Sunday for the AFC divisional-round playoff.

This was a moment for Ryan to thump his considerable chest and start chirping about how he knew all along the Jets would see the Patriots again before long.

Yet Ryan, stepping completely out of his cartoon-character bravado, begged for a demilitarization period before he would comment on the Patriots.

Yes, this was the same Rex Ryan who shortly after his arrival to New York, told anyone who would listen that he didn’t sign on as the Jets head coach to “kiss [Bill] Belichick’s rings,” the same Ryan who just last week tweaked Tom Brady while praising Manning.

But minutes after the game, Ryan was pleading for “12 hours” to enjoy the win over the Colts before he turned his attention to New England.

Many of Ryan’s players, however, hadn’t even dried off from their postgame showers before their attention was already focused squarely on the Patriots, who waxed the Jets 45-3 on Dec. 6, an embarrassing result that still burns in the minds of the Jets.

A number of players believe the Patriots ran up the score on them in that game and they haven’t forgotten.

“Technically we buried it, so we’re not supposed to even remember that [game],” right tackle Damien Woody said, referring to Ryan’s ceremonial burial of the New England game ball in front of the players two days after the loss. “What do you call it when they dig up bodies? Exhume? We’re not exhuming anything around here.”

Asked why it’ll be different this time around in Foxborough, Woody said, “Because the postseason is different from regular season. What happened in the regular season has no bearing on postseason at all. Anyone that’s played in the postseason knows that.

“It’s a whole new season, a whole new opportunity. Look at Seattle. Who expected them to beat New Orleans? It doesn’t matter what happened in the regular season. You’ve just got to be better than that team that day.”

The Jets, bolstered by their road win over the Colts, believe they’ll be better than the Patriots this time. This confidence comes despite the fact that they haven’t beaten the Tom Brady-led Patriots in Foxborough since 2006.

“I’m not going to lie, I remember what happened, but at the end of the day I know we’re better than them,” receiver Braylon Edwards said.

“We’ve been wanting the Patriots for a while now . . . ever since that [loss],” tight end Dustin Keller said. “It’s our chance to get back [at them]. They gave us a bad beating the last time we played them, but we’re not that same team anymore.

“We’re playing pretty good football. We’re very confident going into this game. Obviously, last time we didn’t give close to our best effort. You have to go through New England to get to the Super Bowl. And that’s our ultimate goal.”

Defensive end Shaun Ellis agreed with Keller, saying the Jets were not themselves in that last meeting against New England.

“I don’t know if it’s revenge, but we want to go up there and play our game,” Ellis said. “We definitely didn’t play our game last time we played them. I’m not going to say it’s revenge. We’ve just got to go there and be us. They completely took us out of our character.”

Receiver Jerricho Cotchery insisted the blowout loss to the Patriots “didn’t hurt our confidence,” but he said, “It forced us to look at some areas that needed to be addressed. The New England loss lingered a little bit, but we got back on track against Pittsburgh, and started getting things moving offensively. We fixed a lot of areas and it’s paid off for us.”

Woody called Saturday night’s win “just a step.”

“By no means are we satisfied by just beating Peyton Manning,” Woody said. “This is a step in the right direction, but we’ve got bigger goals in mind.”

mcannizzaro@nypost.com