Thank You, Rex Ryan

Rex Ryan was on WFAN yesterday and served up a bevy of quotes directed at Bill Belichick and the Pats, including a cryptic mention of a "message" that had already been sent to their AFC East foe.

While some Pats fans are amazed by the audacity of a first-year head coach making comments like this in June, we love it. Frankly there are not enough head coaches out there willing to put it out there like Rex Ryan does. Would I want the head coach of my own team doing this? Definitely not.

But without rivalries, sports are monumentally less interesting. There was always something special about when the Pats faced the Mangini Jets, and now there will be something special about when they face the Rex Jets. I'm bored with coaches like Tony Sparano and Dick Jauron, respectable coaches who do, or at least try to do, their talking on the field. Sure, I still enjoy the Pats' rivalry with their teams... well rivalry might be the wrong word for what the Pats have had with the Bills this decade, but the Dolphins have always given the Pats a good game (2007 not included).

Teams are so conscious of not giving opponents "bulletin board material" and while Ryan barely gave the Pats anything to get too huffy about, you can be sure that every Patriot player and coach are well aware this morning of what Ryan said.

Maybe the Jets defense will be as good as advertised. They certainly have a great deal of talent, and if Vernon Gholston comes around their pass rush could be fearsome. There's been a lot of talk about the Jets defense and "swagger" since Rex Ryan arrived.

For what Bill Belichick thinks about swagger I relay this summary from Michael Holley's Patriot Reign:

During the 2002 post-Championship season, the Patriots were right around .500 and playing poorly. At one point, one of the Patriot players told a reporter that the team's problem was that they had lost their swagger. When Belichick read about this, he went berserk. In an intense, profanity-filled speech (common with Belichick) given during a team meeting, he let them know that the reason they won so much last season was not because of any swagger, but because they played smart, disciplined football, and did not deviate from the assignments they had been given.

Of course the Jets defense is looking and feeling good, they've been going non-pads practice against the Jets offense which at this point is still very much a work in progress. Show me a pro defense that is getting lit up by a rookie quarterback a month after he's drafted and I'll show you a team that's in the bottom 5 of the NFL.

As for the cryptic message that was sent by the Jets to the Patriots, it's anyone's guess what was said or done behind the scenes.

So thank you Rex Ryan for bringing some more spice to the Patriots-Jets rivalry. There are too many boring head coaches like my own beloved Hoodie who always refrain from saying anything might give the other team any added motivation. Of course it's all talk in June at this point, lots of things can change by week 2 of the season. See the 2008 Patriots for proof of that.

Yet even without Tom Brady they were still able to pull a win out of the Meadowlands in week 2 of 2008. Have things changed in 2009? We've still got three months before we find out.