With Tom Brady returning to the Patriots they are everybody’s favorite to win the AFC East this season. Well, almost everybody.
“I never came here to kiss Bill Belichick’s rings. I came to win, let’s just put it that way,” new Jets head coach Rex Ryan said on WFAN today. “I am certainly not intimidated by New England or anybody else.”
Ryan was adamant his team wasn’t playing second fiddle to the hated Patriots.
“We already have sent a message to them, so you know they can read between the lines,” Ryan said.
When asked by host Mike Francesa what message had been sent Ryan said, “They can figure it out. When they come here the second week of the season, we’ll see.”
Brady missed all but 11 minutes of the Patriots season last year before injuring his ACL and MCL and missing the rest of the year. The Patriots still finished 11-5 and second in the division to the Dolphins, but missed the playoffs. The Jets, after an 8-3 start, finished 9-7, which led to the firing of Eric Mangini. Brady, Randy Moss and company come to the Meadowlands in Week 2 for an early-season showdown.
“Believe me, we are going to attack them, there’s no question about that,” Ryan said. “You know you gotta take it from them. I got confidence that we will give them everything that they want and maybe a little bit more,”.
Ryan, who was the defensive coordinator in Baltimore before getting the Jets head-coaching job, sounded confident throughout the interview and said his team is capable of having the best defense in the league.
“I am not a guy that’s going to say this guy is that,” Ryan said. “Look Tom Brady is a hell of a quarterback, no question, I have a great deal respect for him, but I also have a great deal of confidence in the people we have in this building. If New England can beat us then they have one hell of a football team.”