Rich Cimini, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Rex Ryan on Bill Belichick: 'I came here to kick his butt'

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- Rex Ryan doesn't regret the "rings" quote.

"Oh, hell, no, because I never came here to do that," he said Wednesday, referring to his classic sound bite from 2009 in which he claimed he didn't take the New York Jets' head-coaching job to kiss Bill Belichick's Super Bowl rings.

"I came here to kick his butt," Ryan continued. "Obviously, I haven't been very successful at it, but that list is long. I'm not just the only name on that list. I might be the only one that had the guts to say something about it, but that's how I am. That's how I feel about this week, too. No different than any other time I've been here."

Several players said Ryan was more fired up than usual during the team meeting. The Jets face Belichick and the New England Patriots this week, and that always brings out the bravado in Ryan. He told the players they will approach the game as if they're 11-3, not 3-11.

"We don't like them, they don't like us," wide receiver Jeremy Kerley said. "There's a lot of history there."

When he arrived in 2009, Ryan was hoping to make a different kind of history. His goal was to dethrone the Patriots, and he wasn't shy about telling it to the world. When they stunned the Patriots in the 2010 divisional playoffs, it looked as if the Jets had closed the gap. It hasn't turned out that way.

Under Ryan, the Jets' regular-season record is 3-8 against the Patriots. In the same span, the Miami Dolphins are 3-9 and the Buffalo Bills are 1-10. But the Jets have that playoff win, so Ryan can make the case he's had more success than the others in the division.

But not as much as he wanted.

"I don't think you can just saddle that on me alone," Ryan said. "Hell, I think a lot of teams couldn't knock them off. ... To date, I haven't. I know exactly how I came in. It's how I am every day and every year. Yeah, you want to beat them, without question."

 

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