Jets' Ryan: We want Patriots in playoffs

Jets coach Rex Ryan has taken some heat for his underachieving team this season, but Ryan remains as confident as ever. Talking to the New York Daily News' Mike Lupica, Ryan was asked about the Patriots, who lead the 7-5 Jets by two games in the AFC East.

Said Ryan: "I feel we're gonna play them again, and I’m excited about that. Even when we got our doors blown off, 45-3, last season, I wanted to play ’em again. I meant it then, I mean it now. We WANT to play them. No question we want to play them.”

The Patriots, Steelers and Ravens are considered the class of the AFC, but Ryan stated: "We can beat all those teams. ... If we get in [the playoffs], look out."

Ryan also talked about his overall approach to the job since he arrived from Baltimore, and how he needed to change the attitude about where the Jets rank as compared to the Giants and Patriots.

“I knew the perception was that the Jets were almost the little brother to the Giants,” he said. “Well, no way in hell was I going to let that remain the same. We weren’t gonna be little brothers to anybody. Not only did we have that going on in our own stadium, we had the team that’s been the best in football, the Patriots, in our own division. So my feeling was that you can’t win your own market, you can’t beat the best team in the NFL, unless you’re a little different.

“It wasn’t just around here. I wasn’t gonna let us be little brothers to anybody in this league. I wanted us to be a throwback, leave-it-all-out-there football team. But one thing I wasn’t gonna do, and we weren’t gonna do, was just float along under the radar. I was gonna get one shot at this after Woody [Johnson] had the courage to hire me when others didn’t. So I was gonna give him everything I had and I wanted a team that would do the same.”