Rex Ryan on Tom Brady: “We’re One of the Teams that can Beat Him.”

Oct 14, 2012; Seattle, WA, USA; New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (12) looks down at a penalty flag during the second half against the Seattle Seahawks at CenturyLink Field. Seattle defeated New England 24-23. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-US PRESSWIRE

Look at the picture to the right. Isn’t that the face of a man only a New Englander can love? We certainly have no love for this guy, that’s for sure. Maybe that is because Tom Brady is just so good. He has certainly been a thorn in our sides for many years now. Jets fans have had their share of nightmares that Tom Brady has starred in.

The Jets will have their chance to get at him on Sunday afternoon in Foxboro, and it will be a tall order as always. But that doesn’t stop Rex Ryan for feeling confident about his team’s chances, as they have faired pretty well against New England during his tenure as coach:

I think when you look at it, obviously, you build your team a certain way. You have to be an excellent team to start with if you plan on knocking them off. You also have to beat them. I think our overall record is 3-4 against him. We’re one of the teams that can beat him. We’ve proved that. We’ll see if we’re the better team on Sunday. We’re going to find that out. To be the man, you have to beat the man, that old saying, and I think that’s the case.

You can say a lot about New England, but their organization has been the model of consistency. Here is Rex on whether it’s difficult to set up an organization with that type of consistency:

I think it’s tough because sometimes people will grab guys off your roster because you’re dealing with a salary cap and everybody is under it. I think it’s great, but I think they’ve been consistent. They’ve kept the same coaching staff for a long time. (laughter) I think we need to do that (joking). I think that’s obviously part of it, you have (Coach Bill) Belichick there and you hit on a quarterback. When you hit on one like (Tom) Brady, it is a quarterback-driven league. When you’re successful hitting on a guy like that, you have a tendency to really be productive. You can look at the Colts when they had (Peyton) Manning, they went to the playoffs 11 out of 13 years. There’s some consistency there as well. You have to be healthy. Obviously, they’re an outstanding organization and we have a great organization here. Obviously, we never made the playoffs last year. We all know that. It has been well documented. We’re just trying to get in and be consistent. I think once you get into the playoffs anything can happen and that’s kind of how the league is now.

It’s really impressive how Rex Ryan can keep showing the respect to New England, all the while reminding us that he thinks the Jets will win. It’s an interesting balance, we will see how it translates on Sunday.