Rex Ryan wants you to hate the Jets

The Jets have become one of the most polarizing teams in the NFL over the past year, and they’ve done it without winning the Super Bowl — or even appearing in it.

Instead, the Jets have demanded attention, and thus they’ve invited scrutiny from the media and resentment from non-Jets fans.

Coach Rex Ryan wants more than resentment.  He wants hatred.

“I want to be that team that you hate,” Ryan tells Jon Saraceno of USA Today.  “[Y]ou can’t stand the Jets.”

“I’m not undersell, overproduce,” Ryan said.  “Going .500 is for somebody else.  I came here to win
championships.  So be it.  If you are worried about [what we're saying],
we’ve got you beaten anyway.”

Still, Ryan is taking a major risk here.  He has essentially promised a Super Bowl win, making anything less than that a failure.  As a result, Ryan has placed plenty of pressure on a second-year quarterback with the everything-comes-easy lineage of Matt Leinart.  Whether Mark Sanchez can step up and grow up and make it happen for the team’s offense could go a long way toward determining whether the Jets deliver on Ryan’s vow.

Though the fans love the attitude, they’ve got to be feeling more than a little nervous right now.  Ryan has stirred up the kind of hostility reserved only for dynasties — and yet the Jets have won nothing since the AFL-NFL merger.

Regardless of how it all turns out, it’ll be fun to watch.

AP

The Cleveland city council voted 16-2 Monday to approve $5.8 million for stadium repairs in Cleveland’s city-owned stadium Cleveland Browns Stadium, according to the Cleveland Plain-Dealer.

The city is only required to pay $850,000 and there is concern they won’t have enough funds to pay for such repairs when a countywide tax for maintaining the building runs out in 2015.  The city’s obligation to pay for repairs spikes in 2021.

So, yeah. Welcome to the offseason. Two days removed from the Super Bowl and we’re talking stadium repairs.

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Weslye Saunders came out of South Carolina last year with the reputation for off-field concerns to go along with his considerable talent.

That’s a large reason why he went undrafted, but his talent was great enough to make the Steelers. He played in 16 games as a rookie, but he won’t play in that many next year.

Aaron Wilson of Scout.com reports the NFL suspended Saunders four games for an undisclosed violation.

Saunders only caught four passes last year, mostly helping on special teams.

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When the Giants won the Super Bowl after the 2007 season, they followed it up with a 2008 season that started even better — they won 11 of their first 12 games and spent most of the year as the favorites to repeat. Then they lost three of their last four regular-season games and their first playoff game, and that season is remembered mostly as a disappointment.

The current Giants say they don’t see next year being a similar disappointment.

Mathias Kiwanuka says he doesn’t see any reason the Giants can’t win next year’s Super Bowl.

“If we won it this year, there’s no doubt in my mind that we can,” Kiwanuka told the New York Post. “We’ve just got to get in the playoffs. That’s it.”

Of the way the Giants collapsed down the stretch in 2008, Kiwanuka said, “We’ve got to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”

Giants receiver Hakeem Nicks said he thinks the Giants can be a dynasty.

“I feel like the sky’s the limit for this organization and our team,” Nicks said. “I feel like we can be at this level for a long time.”

Giants defensive tackle Linval Joseph said he thinks this season’s 9-7 regular season didn’t come close to demonstrating how good the Giants actually are — and he doesn’t even think the Super Bowl shows how good the Giants actually are.

“Actually we won the game, but I still don’t feel like we played our best game yet this whole season,” Joseph said. “I feel like next year is going to be a good year. Just everybody stays focused and everybody stays hungry, and I think we should have a good season next year, too.”

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On Tuesday, the Giants will celebrate their Super Bowl XLVI championship with a parade.  And you can watch it on NBC Sports Network, beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET.

And this is the part where I try to come up with more stuff to say in order to turn this commercial for NBC Sports Network into something more substantial.

But I can’t.  The parade happens today.  It’ll be televised by NBC Sports Network.  And now you know that.

We return you to your regular PFT programming.

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As an impending free agent, Mario Manningham could cash in on his Super Bowl heroics. He says he hopes to remain with the Giants.

“I want to come back,” Manningham said, via the New York Post. “I want to come back, but I don’t know what’s going to happen. I’m just going to try and enjoy this Super Bowl [win]. I’m not really thinking about it right now.”

Manningham has never proven that he can be a No. 1 receiver, but it’s possible that some team excited by his Super Bowl performance could decide to pay him like a No. 1 receiver. If Manningham receives that kind of offer elsewhere, the Giants would let him talk, because the Giants aren’t the type of team to overpay to keep a player for sentimental reasons.

But if the Giants and Manningham can work out a deal that gives him a healthy raise without breaking the bank for the third option in their passing game, that would make sense for the team. And Manningham wants to stay.

AP

Last week, conflicting reports and accounts emerged regarding the question of whether Colts quarterback Peyton Manning may continue medically playing quarterback for the Colts, or for another team.

Peyton’s brother, Eli, has chimed in during a Monday night appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman.

“Everything’s good to go,” Eli said, via the New York Daily News.  “He got a good report from his doctor, said, ‘Hey, you know, if you were my own son, I’d give you the okay to play,’ and so he’ll be ready.  He’s healthy, now it’s just about getting to 100 percent where he can physically make all the throws.

“He’s doing well.  He’s rehabbing.  He was in good spirits all weekend, got to be with him a little bit, and, you know, he’s just trying to get 100 percent.  He wants to play football – and I think he will.”

And so Eli’s comments confirm the educated view of the situation:  Yes, Peyton is healthy enough to play; and, no, he has not yet recovered his full arm strength via the regeneration of nerves that were damaged due to his neck injury.

Eli also cracked a few jokes, explaining that he was in bed by 10:30 p.m. ET in order to get ready for Monday’s trip to Disney World followed by a return to New York.  “I had a big morning,” Eli said. “I had to get ready for this, so I had to get my full sleep.  I’ve been preparing and practicing for this.  Peyton was playing you.”

Letterman also asked Eli if he remembers being told he’s the host’s favorite Manning.   “Yep, many times, many times,” Eli said.  “I get a Christmas gift from you every year.  It’s a jacket.  I don’t think Peyton gets that. . . .  That’s how I knew I was the favorite.”

With his performance in the 2011 season, the postseason, and Super Bowl XLVI, Eli is surely the favorite right now in the eyes of a growing number of football fans.

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Though he wisely declined an invitation to parlay his propensity for the salsa into an appearance on Dancing With The Stars, Giants receiver Victor Cruz isn’t inclined to defer indefinitely the generation of income from off-field endeavors.

Cruz reportedly has hired IMG Worldwide to negotiate marketing and endorsement agreements.

“They have a great reputation around the world,” Cruz said of IMG, via Forbes.com.  “They have represented some of the most iconic athletes across a myriad of sports, and I am honored to be among them.”

It’s a smart move.  Cruz can find a way to cash in on his fame without creating any distractions to his development as a receiver.  And his story is compelling.  And he seems to be a genuinely nice kid.  And it makes me feel really old to refer to him as a kid.

Anyway, one of the biggest breakout stars of the 2011 season could soon be showing up in plenty of places other than a football field.  Given that he received a base salary of only $450,000 in 2011 and that he’ll receive a modest raise of $40,000 in 2012, he deserves everything he can get.

Including an even bigger raise from the team that employs him.

We usually open up our Monday night in-season editions of NBC SportsTalk with a rundown of the 10 things to know about the NFL.

Since there’s nothing to really know now that the NFL season is finally over, Peter King, Russ Thaler, and I reviewed 10 takeaways from Sunday night’s game.

Here they are, if you’re interested.  And, technically, even if you aren’t.

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With a month’s worth of NFL intrigue packed into three hours of real time and with a marathon of TV and travel finally over, I can settle in and say whatever I want to say about whatever happened in Super Bowl XLVI that requires something to be said.

Here’s the first thing to say:  The intentional grounding call on the Patriots’ opening drive, and the safety that was called against New England, was accurate and correct.

After New York’s first drive fizzled and punter Steve Weatherford pinned the Pats on their own six, quarterback Tom Brady brazenly dropped into the end zone, like he did way back in Week One with the ball inside his own one and Wes Welker eventually sprung for 99-plus yards.  This time around, no one was open and Justin Tuck was closing in and Brady fired the ball more than 40 yards down the field with no receiver even remotely close to the point where the ball landed.

Here’s the definition of intentional grounding, from the NFL’s official rule book:  “It is a foul for intentional grounding if a passer, facing an imminent loss of yardage because of pressure from the defense, throws a forward pass without a realistic chance of completion.  A realistic chance of completion is defined as a pass that lands in the direction and the vicinity of an originally eligible receiver.”

The intent from the term “intentional grounding” is inferred by the circumstances.  One, the quarterback faces an imminent loss of yardage.  Two, the pass fails to land in the direction and vicinity of an eligible receiver.

That’s precisely what occurred last night.  The outcome seemed odd because most quarterbacks facing an imminent loss of yardage can’t uncork one that travels more than 40 yards in the air.  But the fact that Brady was able to launch a missile doesn’t change the fact that the situation fit within the boundaries of the definition of intentional grounding.

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If it’s good enough for the NFL to play the Super Bowl under the threat of a blizzard and/or the reality of an ice storm, it should be good enough to stage it in a place where it almost always rains.

Q13 FOX in Seattle reports that the Seahawks have expressed interest in hosting the event, via the submission of initial paperwork to the league office.

The viability of the possibility isn’t known.  But the fact that the league will in two years play the game in the open air of northern New Jersey puts in play any city that has the infrastructure to accommodate the influx of humans for a full week.

The 70,000-seat CenturyLink Field would be large enough, and with a Meadowlands-style waiver of the average February temperature requirement of 50 degrees the climate will suffice, at an average of 44.

The next step in the process will be for the Super Bowl Advisory Committee to invite the Seahawks to submit an official bid.

The next three Super Bowls will be played in New Orleans, New York/New Jersey, and Arizona.  The location of the 50th Super Bowl likely will be determined later this year.

Tonight’s 90-minute, sleep-deprivation edition of NBC SportsTalk, which got rolling only nine hours after Peter King and I wrapped up a two-hour show live from the floor of Lucas Oil Stadium, included several spirited debates.

And here’s one of them.

The key misfire late in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XLVI, which came with the Patriots leading by two and driving for the dagger, could be blamed on receiver Wes Welker, quarterback Tom Brady, or perhaps most accurately both.

But who gets the bulk of the blame?  Peter takes one side and I take the other in an organic discussion that almost included me falling out of my chair.

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Broncos running back Knowshon Moreno was arrested last week for driving under the influence.

FOX 31 in Denver reports that Moreno was pulled over by Denver Police on February 1 for driving 70 miles an hour in a construction zone where the limit was 45 miles an hour. The officer smelled alcohol and Moreno failed a roadside sobriety test, according to the report. Moreno was driving a Bentley convertible with license plates reading “SAUCED.”

The Broncos issued a statement acknowledging the arrest and saying they were looking into it.

“We take the incident involving Knowshon Moreno very seriously and are thoroughly reviewing this matter,” the statement said. “Our organization will continue to gather information and closely monitor this issue while the legal process runs its course.”

Moreno, the 12th overall pick in the 2009 NFL draft, is coming off a disappointing season in which he gained just 179 yards in seven games before being lost for the year to a torn ACL in November.

Reuters

Today is the first day of the NFL offseason, and it just wouldn’t be the NFL offseason without stories about Brett Favre. So we’ll pass along some comments Favre made in a radio interview today, about how he came to realize he really is done playing football. (We think.)

Favre told 1340 The Fan in Lubbock that the retirement process went smoothly for him this time — unlike the first few times he said he was retiring — because this time he really was mentally finished with football.

“It went a lot smoother than the previous three or four years,” Favre said, via SportsRadioInterviews.com. “I’d said in years past that I knew. I really knew this time. I got beat up a little bit physically, but I still felt like I could still do it, but I just felt like it was time.”

Favre said that throughout the regular season, he never really missed football. He did allow, however, that at playoff time, and especially during the Super Bowl, there was a part of him that wished he were still playing. Still, Favre insists that he’s comfortable with his retirement.

“Mentally, I was just burned out,” Favre said. “This season, being removed and having a bird’s eye view but not being involved was eye-opening because I didn’t miss it a bit.”

Reuters

We noted before last night’s game that Patriots linebacker Brandon Spikes was rather fired up to play in his first Super Bowl.

It’s no surprise, then, that he wasn’t as thrilled about allowing the game’s go-ahead touchdown go right by him late in the fourth quarter.

“It killed me,” said Spikes of the decision to let Ahmad Bradshaw score to give the ball back to the Patriots offense. “When the call came in to let them score, I was kind of like, ‘What? I’m here to do my job and it’s my job to play defense and let them score?’ It was tough. It definitely was tough.”

It was a gutsy choice by Bill Belichick, but the right one. The obvious one. We doubt that many head coaches would have had the stones to do the same thing, although Mike Holmgren also famously did it in the Super Bowl.

There were no easy choices for Belichick at that point. Either watch Lawrence Tynes attempt a chip shot field goal for the win or give one of the game’s greatest all-time quarterbacks a shot with the ball in his hand with under a minute left.

“I respect Tom Brady and the New England Patriots,” Brandon Jacobs told the Associated Press. “He does a great job with the guys he has. But if that was Drew Brees or Aaron Rodgers on the other side, with those big play outfits, 57 seconds would have been plenty enough time for those guys.”

Jacobs pointed out the Patriots struggle to push the ball down the field.

“They needed a helluva lot more than 57 seconds to be able to win the football game,” Jacobs said. “So I wasn’t worried at all.”

Belichick’s job is to give his team the best chance to win. Letting the Giants score did that.

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Every big game apparently needs someone to blame, and Wes Welker has turned into that someone for Super Bowl XLVI.

That’s not particularly fair considering there are many reasons the Patriots lost, but sports isn’t often fair.

“You can never point fingers at anyone,” said safety James Ihedigbo Monday via the Boston Globe. “You look at the plays that [Welker's] made all year long, how hard he played that game, and how hard he prepared for that game. We wanted it just as bad as [the Giants] did. They just made some key plays at the end and came out on top, so hats off to them.”

“If you look across the board, Wes made amazing plays all year long and even yesterday he did,” Ihedigbo continued. “As a team, guys made numerous plays for us to even be in the position we were in last night. So you wear it as a team.”

The Super Bowl came down to a handful of plays. The Patriots offense didn’t make them. The Giants offense did.

If we are concerned with assigning blame overall, we think it can go to the entire Patriots offense. This is not a team built to win low scoring games. The Patriots defense did enough for the team to win, but they couldn’t handle New England’s O going scoreless the last 26 minutes of the game.

Welker was a part of that, but he was only one part of an offense that ultimately was too inconsistent to become champions on Sunday night.