For Rex Ryan and his swaggerlicious Jets, it isn’t if they beat the Bengals Saturday in Cincinnati, it’s when they beat the Bengals. It isn’t even if they win a Super Bowl, it’s when they win the Super Bowl.
Ryan,and some of his players yesterday detailed for The Post why they will beat the Bengals and begin their shock-the-world march on the Road to Miami.
“We’re gonna play like Jets,” Ryan said.
You believe you can take it all the way?
“Absolutely,” Ryan said.
Why?
“Because I’ve been there. I’ve been down this road before, and I know what it takes to win. You look at the history that my family has — we’ve won a few Super Bowls. You’ve gotta be playing well at the end of the season . . . you gotta be playing great defense, you gotta run the ball, and I think we do all those things.”
If Ryan were a betting man, he’d bet the house on the Jets’ 40-1 odds — longest odds in the field — to win the Super Bowl.
But can he win it all with a rookie quarterback?
“Sure,” Ryan said, ” ’cause he’s our quarterback, and he’s gonna play efficiently.”
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Jets tight end Dustin Keller isn’t worried about the frigid Cincinnati weather.
“We’re gonna be very physical and we’re built more for this type of weather,” Keller said.
Safety Kerry Rhodes isn’t worried about the hostile Cincinnati crowd.
“We’re gonna win ’cause we got to,” he said. “That’s the only reason — ’cause we got to.”
More than anything, more than Thomas Jones and Shonn Greene running to daylight, it is Ryan’s voracious defense that gives the Jets their raging machismo, and it is a perceived lack of respect that fuels the fire within their ranks.
The music blaring over the practice field yesterday? “We will, we will rock you . . .”
“I guess the message coming out of Cincinnati is that we didn’t get their best effort,” defensive end Marques Douglas said. “And looking at the film, they didn’t get ours.
“They’re just acting like they’re the all-time great Chicago Bears or something with Walter Payton in the backfield, that [Cedric] Benson is gonna make that much of a difference. I just don’t understand the disrespect.”
Ryan’s defenses pride themselves on turning it up a notch in the playoffs.
“If we had 100 calls in the game plan [last week], we didn’t use but 30 of ’em,” Douglas said.
Thumper David Harris (ankle) will be a game-time decision. The 11 angry men who line up will play fearlessly and … violently.
“We’re gonna have violent intentions,” Bart Scott said. “We’re not satisfied with last week’s (37-0) performance. We want to take it up a level.”
They sure took it up a level yesterday in practice.
“I think Damien Woody called us ‘the Junction Boys’ out there today,” Douglas said.
Bengals in body bags?
“You’re gonna hear a lot of plastic,” Ryan said. “You’re playing for all the marbles now. You’re thisclose … after every game, our guys are gonna be completely exhausted … every ounce of energy is gonna be spent on the field. It ought to be entertaining. It oughta be great, ’cause this is football now.”
“You’re gonna hear some pads clacking out there and some noise talking,” Rhodes said.
“You’re gonna see a fast, aggressive, hard-hitting defense,” Douglas said. “You’re not gonna see one person tackle the ballhandler. You’re gonna see about four or five. I mean, that’s the way we’re taught, and if you’re not doing it, you’re not on the field.”
“You’re gonna see a lot of trash-talking … a lot of extra little pushing and shoving … maybe cutting guys a little more, or finishing guys,” Brandon Moore said. “This is it — what are you holding back for?”
Play like a Jet.
“We see it every day,” Moore said. “His motto is up on the screen when he does his presentation at the end. He breaks his meeting with it.”
Play like a Jet.
“It’s physical … it’s tough … believing … never wavering in the belief … and whipping the hell out of somebody,” Moore said.
Play like a Jet.
“Fast … relentless … violent … it has all the words of a warrior built into it,” Shaun Ellis said.
Play like a Jet.
“Be tough … be relentless … know your job … and don’t take ‘no’ for an answer,” Douglas said.
Earlier this week, Ryan gave his Jets this message: “You’re not in this to put your toe in the water. You’re in it to win it.”
Said Scott: “I wouldn’t take the field if I didn’t think I can win a Super Bowl. I didn’t come here to get to the playoffs. That’s just teasing yourself.”