If you’re tired of hearing Rex Ryan talk, the Jets head coach has some bad news for you.
“I’ll say this, get used to it,” Ryan said yesterday. “In my opinion, the best is yet to come.
“I know what it takes to win a Super Bowl, and I’m confident we’re going to win one, and not just win one, we’re going to win it this year.”
You’re going to hear a lot from Ryan this week as he pushes his new book, “Play Like You Mean It.” He began his media blitz yesterday, including an appearance on “The Late Show with David Letterman.” He also sat down with writers who cover the team, and discussed a variety of issues raised in the book.
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In the book, Ryan calls the Jets the Giants’ “big brother” and said the Jets will be the better team for the next decade. Ryan said he respects the Giants’ history, but the Jets are simply better.
“The facts are we’ve played better than the Giants the last two years,” Ryan said. “Those are the only two years I’ve been here. Those are facts. We’ve gone to the playoffs. We’ve won four road playoff games. I don’t think you can dispute that. What happens these next eight years that I talked about? We’re getting ready to find out.”
As for Giants VP of communications Pat Hanlon, who has tweaked Ryan on Twitter, Ryan said: “I think I can whip Pat. I’m worried about him throwing a Blackberry at me.”
Before going on Letterman, Ryan sat in a cramped dressing room with untouched trays of cookies and fruit. He sipped a Coke Zero as he watched the guest before him, Brian Williams, on stage and worried about how he was going to sit on the set.
“This is going to be different,” said Ryan, who yesterday was honored by the Pro Football Writers of America as the non-player who most helped the media do their job in 2010. “I’m just going to be myself anyway. I’d be nervous if I had to go sing or dance or something.”
Letterman threw questions at Ryan about Brett Favre and former strength coach Sal Alosi, which made Ryan squirm a bit.
During the meeting with the media, Ryan addressed a few topics from his book. He was asked why he did not write at length about the controversy last year involving his wife and foot fetish videos.
“I never talked about it then and I’m not going to talk about it now because it is a personal matter,” Ryan said.
Ryan criticized several of his former players in the book. He called Vernon Gholston a “phony.”
“I think what I meant was his numbers, when he came out, they were phony,” Ryan said. “He never played to those numbers. Quite honestly, nobody has played to those numbers. When you look at the combine that he put in that isn’t what you saw on tape. That’s why I mentioned to [former Jets coach Eric] Mangini, ‘You don’t want to take him.’ ”
Ryan said he thought former safety Kerry Rhodes could have been great in his system, but Rhodes was “Hollywood.”
“I don’t discourage any of that, but it’s the work ethic,” he said. “I don’t think Kerry gave it to us.”
Ryan also said he appreciated the apology he received from Patriots receiver Wes Welker, and appreciated when Patriots coach Bill Belichick benched Welker for making fun of Ryan.
“When he put him on the bench for a little bit, I thought that was a sign of respect,” Ryan said.