By Tom E. Curran
CSNNE.com
One would think that a seven-touchdown defeat in their last meeting would make Rex Ryan want to tread a little lightly around the Patriots as they prepare for Sunday's Divisional Playoff game. But Rex doesn't tread that way, literally or figuratively. During a Monday morning press conference, Ryan cautioned Bill Belichick about having even one slip-up against the Jets, and said Peyton Manning would have watched football this past Saturday night instead of going to Broadway as Tom Brady did. Manning, of course, will now have all the time in the world to watch plays andor football since the season of the smartest quarterback the world's ever known is over. Ryan's press conference was dutifully tweeted by my buddy Bob Glauber at Newsday.Some of the captured comments were: "If (Belichick) slips at all, we're going to beat him."Ryan looks at tape (snuff film?) of the Patriots 45-3 win over the Jets "every day." (Hey, the man likes sucking feet, too . . . he's gotan odd set of hobbies). Ryan told Belichick during the postgame handshake he'd "see him in Round 3" and that Belichick didn't say anything but just looked at him. And there was the Brady drive-by as well. Bill Belichick has his conference call with us during the noon hour.Brady foreshadowed what we can expect. Speaking on WEEI this morning, Brady said, "If theres a bunch ofBS going around, Belichick doesnt buy into that. He doesnt buy into the reporters to make their job easy to give them a bunch of stories."No, he doesn't. And some days - most days - that sucks because he doesn't even meet us halfway. But while Ryan sees getting the media to chortle and making sure the hype machine is running hot as part of his job, that approach hasn't yet proven to be effective long-term. Ryan might be a lot more entertaining to cover. But a Jets' season doesn't figure to last as long as a Patriots one.
Tom E. Curran can be reached at tcurran@comcastsportsnet.com. Follow Tom on Twitter at http:twitter.comtomecurran