NFL: New York Jets vs New England Patriots - Rex Ryan makes it personal again
Here we go again. Leave it to New York Jets' head coach Rex Ryan to stir up trouble. Truth be told, we love the guy. Without Ryan football would be just a slight bit less exciting but then Ryan comes along and puts soul into a game that was already going
to be electrifying.
The Jets are going to face the New England Patriots for the third time in this season. The Jets won first and then were crushed by the Patriots a few weeks ago. Now it’s the playoff. Winner takes all the showdown between the division rivals. One team would
advance and the other would be knocked out in the high stakes game while in the mix of it all is Rex Ryan with his own unique outlook.
“This is about Bill Belichick vs. Rex Ryan,” the Jets' coach said on Monday. “There's no question. It's personal. It's about him against myself, and that's what it's going to come down to.” Ryan believes that Patriots' coach Belichick is one of the best
coaches in the league. “But, I'm just trying to be the best on Sunday, and I plan on being the best coach on Sunday.” Ryan added that Belichick would face his best shots on Sunday and the slightest mistake on Belichick’s part could cost him the game.
On the other hand, the usually mild mannered Belichick feels like playing along this time. “I might have a little quickness on him,” Belichick said. “He's probably got a little more strength and power on me. So, I don't think you'll see either one of us
out there making any blocks or tackles or runs or throws or catches. At least you won't see me doing it. It's probably a good thing for our team.”
No doubt, Belichick really has the edge over Rex Ryan. His team dominated the division, has a better record this season and crushed Ryan’s team the last time they met. Belichick also has the Super Bowl ring that Ryan so desperately wants. But, Ryan doesn’t
see it that way. He believes that the two teams are evenly matched right down to every last little detail. Perhaps that could be considered a slightly optimistic view of the two teams. However, even if the Patriots have an edge over the Jets, the disparity
is not significant enough.
Ryan admits that it would take a ‘ridiculous amount’ of preparations to beat Belichick but that was the plan. “We have to play fast and physical,” Ryan said. “That doesn't mean we're going to dummy it up. If you dummy it up against them, you'll get crushed.”
The way they got crushed in week 13. After that game, Ryan told Belichick that he would see him in round three and that is this Sunday.
The Patriots VS Jets rivalry goes decades back to the days of the AFL. The two teams were rivals even when Jets were called the Titans of New York and Patriots were called the Boston Patriots. Belichick and Ryan are just the latest iteration of that age
old rivalry.
Patriots mostly have had the edge over New York up until now. The first time the two teams met in the NFL Playoffs was in 1985. Patriots won that game. This Sunday’s game is round three of a match that started when there was no National Football League.
The game isn’t just historically significant. In recent years, the rivalry has been fuelled by various incidents including the aptly named ‘spy gate’ episode in which the New England Patriots were fined $250,000 dollars and a draft pick for illegally videotaping
the Jets on the sidelines. Belichick himself received a $500,000 fine, the maximum allowed under NFL rules.
Now, it’s Ryan and Sanchez VS Belichick and Brady in the backdrop of a rivalry that outlived the cold war.
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