Rex Ryan has this recurring dream, because the Patriots are his obsession. And in this dream, he wins the AFC East, and beats the Patriots in the playoffs.
To topple Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, he knows he will need a Dream Team.
He passionately told his team he believes he has one — together, hungry, driven, professional, accountable, conditioned, and more talented than the 2013 team.
“I’ve always dreamed of coaching a team like this,” one player told The Post Ryan told his Jets in an emotionally charged Great Expectations speech Wednesday night.
Asked about his speech, Ryan told The Post: “When you look at New England, New England’s won this division 10 out of the last 11 years, and quite honestly, [Tom] Brady wasn’t the quarterback the year they never won it [Matt Cassel, 2008]. So we know who the team to beat is, and no offense to Miami or Buffalo, but the team to beat is New England. We always try to line up to beat the best, and we know certainly in our division, historically over the last 10 years, that’s been New England.”
Asked if he expressed his belief that this team can do it, Ryan said: “Hey — my thing is this: We don’t back down to anybody, we don’t concede anything, and we expect to win.”
Ryan revealed after the first practice Thursday this team is ahead of where the 2013 team was at this time.
“We’re a zillion miles ahead of where we were at this time last year,” Ryan said.
“We’re further along with this team than I have been with any other team.”
Including the 2010 team that shocked the Patriots 28-21 in Foxborough to get to the AFC Championship Game
“I’m not saying it was better than that team,” Ryan said. “I’m not saying that yet. The proof will be in the pudding. What I’m saying is further along, will we be better than that team? Man, I’d love for that to happen.”
The players, needless to say, loved Ryan’s speech.
“It was like a gameday speech,” David Nelson said. “You can just tell he’s really excited for the season. You could just see that he was passionate about this team that he has, and real excited about what we can do and what we can accomplish.”
Jeremy Kerley was asked to grade the speech on a scale of 1-10.
“10.5,” Kerley said.
“You don’t get a lot of guys that are as passionate as Rex is, and to have a guy like that, he doesn’t have to say much to motivate guys, it’s natural.”
Kerley was asked the main thing he took out of Ryan’s speech.
“We gotta have an attack mentality,” he said, “and that’s how I carry myself anyway, so it’s only natural for me.”
Zach Sudfeld doesn’t remember much about Bill Belichick’s speech at the start of last year’s Patriots training camp. “I was just trying to keep my head above water,” he said. Ryan helped keep his head above water with his speech.
“It was his passion for this team, and for what we can achieve this year,” Sudfeld said. “I think it’s a very exciting time to be a New York Jet. I think we have a lot of potential, and it’s all about putting in the work right now during training camp to reach that goal.”
Asked what Ryan thinks this team can achieve this year, Sudfeld said: “We got a long way to go, we have to just continue to improve every day, but you know that he believes in this team, that we can take it all the way.”
“He’s always gonna shoot it to you straight. He’s not gonna beat around the bush and sugarcoat it for you, and try to make you feel all warm and bubbly inside about what we’re trying to accomplish,” Matt Simms said. “He’s gonna tell us what we’re trying to do, and we’re gonna go after it and get better and see if we can get it done for him. Right now, we’re just trying to get better every day.”
“He was fired up. … You really can see the passion by the way he spoke,” Eric Decker said, “and how excited he is to have this year and this opportunity with this team.”
Rex Ryan’s Dream Team, eyeing the playoffs after three long years away.
“Well I think we want it for every reason known to man,” Ryan said. “Yeah we want it for us, but we also want it for our fans. We know it’s been a long run. Guys who have been here with me the whole time are like, ‘Man, we got to get back in,’ and you feel that, when you’re not in the playoffs it gets at you. … We want it more than anything for the people that have been there for us throughout this whole time. Whether it’s our fan base, whether it’s other people as well. That drives us. I know it drives me.”