Rex Ryan is talking so much because that’s what he does. He also wants to take attention away from his players and how they performed last time they played in Foxborough.
The Jets aren’t the only team that will have to work to forget the score last time. The Patriots have a thin defensive line and a young defense that doesn’t have a lot of playoff experience. Bill Belichick will want them to forget how easily the Patriots dispatched New York in Week 13.
For my early Divisional Round preview column on NBCSports.com, I looked at one big storyline for each team. For the Patriots, it’s Belichick’s challenge to make his young players realize the regular season mean very little now.
To that end, Belichick has basically told his team to zip it this week, according to Ian Rapoport of the Boston Herald.
“I thought we’d get a few days before the banter starts. But it is what it is. Like I said last time, they take after their coach, we take after our coach,” tight end Alge Crumpler said.