FOXBORO - Nobody talks more than the Jets.

You heard it all over the last week and a half. Rex Ryan was ready to come to Foxboro to "kick ass." Santonio Holmes told us that no rookie could stop him, LaDainian Tomlinson said that the Jets "hate the Patriots" and Braylon Edwards didn't understand why "it's all about Brady, Belichick and New England." 

There was no question that the Jets thought they were coming into Gillette Stadium on Monday night to cement the changing of the guard in the AFC East. A win would put them a game ahead (and with a season sweep it would really be two games with four left) — with the NFL's best record — and give Rex Ryan a 3-1 head-to-head edge on Bill Belichick.

The Jets needed no prodding. It was their time, and they let us know it. 

And it started with the head coach.

Of course, there was a little problem on the way to getting the keys to the AFC East wheel.

The Jets just made one mistake in Monday night's 45-3 humiliation at the hands of the Patriots, a loss that probably means the fifth seed in the AFC playoffs and brings a reminder that this team has beaten exactly zero teams with a winning record since Week 2.

Oh, and that one mistake?

They didn't show up.

Again: In a game that was billed as the most important regular season contest in the history of mankind (had to be — ESPN told us so), on Monday night, against the most bitter of rivals with the one seed (vs. the fifth seed) at stake the Jets came out flat.

Not possible, right?

"We came out flat," said Darrelle Revis, who nevertheless told the media after the game that he did his job. "Just weren't ready."

"Not sure what happened," said Holmes. "We couldn't get going."

And that starts with the head coach.

Here's the reality: If you are going to play the Chunky Cowboy angle that Rex Ryan has been selling since his horse pulled into East Rutherford a year and a half ago, you are going to have to take a hit when your team throws up an all-time clunker in a game that means as much as a regular season game can.  

"Clearly we got our butts kicked," said a subdued (which means he didn't dress like his brother or make jokes about how he looks like Tom Brady) Ryan after the game. "We got outreached and we got outplayed."

Nothing went right for the Jets on Monday night. Zero. Mark Sanchez was brutal, putting up a passer rating of 27.8 (which, ironically, was his blank stare per episode average on "Hard Knocks") and looking a lot closer to just another guy than "The Sanchize." 

OK, tough to blame Ryan for Sanchez's ineptitude. He's made his name stopping quarterbacks, not grooming them. He wasn't just 2-1 against Belichick, but also Tom Brady. So the Jets were having trouble scoring on Monday. This is why Rex is Rex, right? Time to whip up another "Stopping Tom Brady" mix tape.

But Rex had no answer for Brady, who capped what has been a brilliant four-game stretch with his best effort of the season (yup, this was better than the perfect rating game vs. Detroit) on Monday, completing 21-of-29 passes for 326 yards, four touchdowns and zero interceptions. No way around it: He flat-out carved Rex's defense, just toyed with a group that many felt had found its way into Brady's head over the last two years. 

"Brady was hot," said Ryan of the no-doubt leader in the MVP clubhouse. "He can burn you and they have a lot of weapons … They gave Brady enough time to make some plays and their guys came up with some big plays for them."

There you go. A night that Rex and the Jets thought would end with questions about sweeping the Patriots and if the win means the end of the dynasty instead ended with Ryan being asked if he thought Belichick was rubbing it in by throwing the ball with a 40-point lead (and a curious at best, dopey at worst decision to have a struggling Nick Folk try to kick a 53-yard field goal in the first quarter). A total disaster, an epic wipeout on national TV, the kind of loss that that in many ways defines a team until they win (or at least get to) a Super Bowl. 

It's OK for the Detroit Lions to give up 35 points to the Patriots in a half. That's following script — no one expects anything from the Lions.

But the Jets were supposed to be tough. They were supposed to be ready. They were supposed to be at the table. They were supposed to be next in line. 

Instead — for now, at least — they are just a lot of talk. And a fifth seed.

"We'll fight another day," said Ryan. "I'll play them right now if they'll go out and do it again. You know, that's the only way I know how to respond. I'll sit back out there and stick my chin out again."

Still talking tough. But it was the play of his Jets that really spoke volumes about Rex Ryan.