Rex Ryan Talks More Shit About The Pats, Has A Point?

From Ian Rapoport's Patriots Blog

Ryan was at it again yesterday on the first day of Jets training camp. The topic was, I guess, the Patriots and Ryan didn’t exactly explode the notebook like his brother did. But he did take a new approach to tweaking the Patriots and the rest of the NFL.

Yup, never say he isn’t clever. Ryan’s team has beaten the Patriots in two of their last three tries, including the playoffs.

Ryan knows that. Shoot, everyone does. And in a funny way, he pointed it out. “I think we have to find somebody out there to beat New England besides us, I think that would help,” Ryan told reporters yesterday. “Anybody out there that wants to sign up for it? Are you good enough as a team to beat the New England Patriots? Forget about us, are you good enough to go out and beat the New England Patriots? I’m challenging the league.”

Interestingly, the Patriots had three losses last year, and Rex or his brother Rob Ryan were involved in all of them. Go figure. Later on in his interview, Ryan took a swipe at the aging WR Chad Ochocinco, insinuating that he’s been easier to handle as he’s gone on in years. “I’ve always said this, when it was Chad Johnson, we could never stop him, but when it was Chad Ochocinco, I’ve been more successful,” Ryan said.

If this was a year ago, I would've called Rex and the Jets losers, making fun of them for winning the annual Week 2 Super Bowl and generally focusing more on the headlines than winning football games when it counts

However as of August 2, 2011, I have to admit I kind of like the guy. Sure he can still be brash at times but hasn't he earned it at this point? Like maybe if he didn't coach Belichick's tits off last year in the divisional round, I'd be singing a different tune. Sure they fell short of their goal of winning the Super Bowl but there is no doubt in my mind that this Jets team is legit.

Other teams should pay attention to Rex here because there are not many teams that can beat the Patriots period, never mind doing so with regularity. I don't care about 45-3. The Jets won two of three games last year, including the disgusting playoff game, bringing Ryan's record to 3-2 vs. Belichick's Patriots.

Is he a loudmouth? Yes. Does he fuck feet? Yes. Does he coach one of the more insufferable teams in the history of the NFL? Yes. But let's be honest. The man can flat out coach and he gets his team to bring it week in and week out. There is no more false bravado, now is the time to take these guys seriously. I don't take offense to these comments at all, in a way, it is more of a compliment than anything else, even if he is pumping his own teams tires.

The Ochocinco thing has some truth to it as well. Ever since he changed his name, he has made more headlines off the field than on. I don't see there being a problem with Chad and these comments may only serve to motivate Chad and bring back Chad Johnson instead of Ochocinco.

That leg tattoo is gay though.

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When did the New England Patriots turn into the Indianapolis Colts?

If the NFL playoffs have taught us anything, especially this season, being a top seed or favorite doesn't mean anything these days. Last week, the New Orleans Saints lost to the Seattle Seahawks, the Indianapolis Colts lost to the New York Jets and on Saturday, the Atlanta Falcons got creamed by the Green Bay Packers.

Those were all trumped by the epic no-show, choke job pulled off yesterday by the New England Patriots who lost 28-21 to the Jets in the AFC Divisional Round at Gillette Stadium.

New York took the rubber game of the season series with New England and advances to its second straight AFC Championship game, on Sunday in Pittsburgh.

Everything was falling the Patriots' way before the loss; all they had to do was win two games at home (against teams they had already beaten this season) and then top an NFC team that they would be favored over and they'd have their fourth Super Bowl title of the decade.

However, unbeknownest to myself and most of the fan base, we have become the Colts or San Diego Chargers, team built to rack up mostly meaningless regular season games and then turtle in the playoffs.

It's time to face facts: the Patriots haven't won a playoff game since the 2007 AFC Championship. Bill Belichick and Tom Brady have lost their last three playoff games and each has been in horrific fashion: losing the perfect season to the New York Giants in Super Bowl 42, getting crushed by the Baltimore Ravens last season at Gillette and then yesterday, losing to your most bitter rival.

While we're dealing with some real talk, can we also admit that Rex Ryan despite all his ridiculousness (foot fetish videos, diahrea of the mouth, etc.) can coach a football team and his method works. All week leading up to the game, it was endless trash talk from the Jets and you had to hope that the Pats would let their play on the field do the talking. Who knows if it had any effect but clearly, there's more than one way (Belichick's no fun model) to win in this NFL.

Patriots honks are the most delusional fan base around here so it'll be interesting to see if this makes them admit the truth, that Belichick and Brady aren't perfect. What is the excuse for yesterday? There is none not that it will necessarily stop them from whining.

I hate the Jets but I have to admire the way they play loose and back up their big talk. They still have to win two games to capture a Super Bowl but this was the biggest win for them in a long, long time.

I want to be really bitter about this defeat but what can you say if you're a Patriots fan? They didn't get screwed by the refs (a loser's excuse) or a random play (tuck rule), they simply didn't execute as well as New York and they seemed rattled from the beginning of the miserable game until the end.

Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez (16 for 25, 194 yards, 3 touchdowns, 0 interceptions) played better than Patriots icon Tom Brady (29 for 45, 299 yards, 2 touchdowns, 1 interception) and that was supposed to be the one area where New England had the biggest advantage.

All day, the Patriots receivers were covered by the Jets' outstanding secondary or simply thrown off their routes. Whatever the case, Brady had to wait too long and getting sacked five times didn't help his confidence either.

Shayne Graham had the only points of the first quarter, a 34-yard field goal. Brady threw a terrible pick, on a screen pass but New England's defense held the Jets to a field goal attempt which Nick Folk promptly missed.

New York got on the board in the second quarter when LaDainian Tomlinson scored on a 7-yard pass from Sanchez.

Braylon Edwards gave the Jets a 14-3 lead with 33 seconds left in the half when he fought through tackle attempts by Patriots cornerback Devin McCourty and safety Brandon Meriweather to reach the end zone.

That late score was the biggest one of the game and it came as a result of a bizarre call which will go down in Patriots' lore as one of the worst in history. Apparently, Patrick Chung called for a direct snap on a punt. The problem was he fumbled it then couldn't get a first down and that gave New York prime field position deep in New England territory. Why would you ever make that choice in that spot? Mystifying.

Alge Crumpler got the Patriots back into the game with a 2-yard touchdown catch from Brady late in the third quarter, the frame's only points. Sammy Morris took a direct snap on the two-point conversion and ran it in to cut it to 14-11 Jets.

In the biggest quarter of the season, New York made the plays. Santonio Holmes, one of the most clutch players in the NFL, made an absurd 7-yard touchdown catch and Shonn Greene had a 16-yard touchdown run when the Jets were running out the clock.

Shayne Graham's field goal in between those New York touchdowns had made it 21-14 but there was only 1:57 left. Deion Branch (5 catches, 59 yards) caught one last touchdown with 24 seconds left but New England couldn't recover an onside kick (it couldn't get the one after Graham's kick either) and the upset was official.

This one will take a while to get over. The Patriots overachieved all season with a collection of young players and no-names that combined to go 14-2 in the regular season. Still, when it mattered not enough of them showed up to beat a team they knew very well. And I hate to be a realist but the window on Belichick and particularly Brady closes a little more since they'll both be a year older when the team gets back together for training camp in August.