Ryan gets personal as Jets seek revenge

NEW YORK has been buzzing this week ahead of Rex Ryan’s Jets’ AFC play-off showdown at their arch-rivals, the New England Patriots, tomorrow evening (9.30pm, Irish time).

The Patriots are strong favourites to advance to the AFC Championship game against the winners of tonight’s clash between the Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers (9.30pm, Irish time) but that hasn’t prevented Ryan from attempting to engage his opponents in a war of words.

In early December, New England hammered New York 45-3 in Foxborough, Mass, to go top of the AFC East, leading Ryan to admit that he had been out-coached. He aims to change that tomorrow.

“This is about (Patriots coach) Bill Belichick vs. Rex Ryan,” Ryan said on Monday. “There’s no question. It’s personal. It’s about him against myself, and that’s what it’s going to come down to.”

Belichick was measured in his response having ordered his players not to respond to any jibes.

“Rex does a great job with his team. I’m just trying to coach mine,” the three-time Super Bowl winning coach said. “I’m not really worried about what anybody else is doing.”

The Jets are coming off an impressive 17-16 victory over last year’s AFC champions, the Indianapolis Colts, while the Pats’ regular season run-in installed them as firm favourites for the Super Bowl on the first Sunday in February.

The Steelers, meanwhile, topped the AFC North after the Ravens fell short in December, and have also won the last six installments of one of the NFL’s fiercest rivalries.

In the NFC, the Atlanta Falcons have the upper hand against the visiting Green Bay Packers having already beaten the Wisconsin outfit in the Georgia Dome in late November. However, Green Bay’s shock win at the Philadelphia Eagles last Sunday night means tonight’s game could go down to the wire (1am, Saturday night, Sunday morning).

The NFC play-off game takes place in Chicago tomorrow where the second-seeded Bears host the post-season’s biggest surprise package, the Seattle Seahawks (6pm, Irish time).

Despite a regular season that saw Pete Carroll’s Seahawks lose more games than they won (7-9), they proceeded to derail the New Orleans Saints’ defence of the Super Bowl with an astonishing 41-36 win last Saturday. And with nothing to lose in Chicago for Seattle, Bears’ star quarterback Jay Cutler will have to be on his toes.