Jets won't roll over in this dog fight

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It's the biggest game of the year ... for the Jets.

At 3-11, they don't have much to play for at this point in the season. But this week is different. Its Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and everything that Gang Green loathes and yet wishes they could become.

Photo by Jared Wickerham/Getty Images

There is no shot of Ryan saving his job this weekend even if the Jets do find a way to win. He can, however, play spoiler and snatch home field advantage away from the team whose rings he refused to kiss.

With that in mind Belichick, the ring bearer, knows that he needs to keep his team focused on the task at hand because despite their record, the Jets can still steal one and put the Patriots in a pickle. “We have a lot of respect for the Jets. They're a good football team. We had a real competitive game with them earlier in the year,” Belichick said earlier this week, adding that, “They've been in a lot of close games – won some, lost some. We were in one with them and expect a tough, 60-minute battle.”

At today's press conference, Belichick expounded on his thoughts from earlier in the week adding, "The Jets are playing well. They're a very competitive football team. They're in every game. They've been in a lot of tight games; it seems like every game comes down to the last possession, kind of like it did with us, like a lot of our games with them have in the last, four of the last five times we've played them."

The Jets come in ready to play their Super Bowl. With nothing but pride and redemption on the table, the Jets have no choice but to be fired up. Jets wide receiver Eric Decker chimed in on the rivalry this week telling reporters via conference call that, ". “Rivalry games, division games are always - you know - another notch up on the level of intensity and it doesn’t matter what your records are or what your situation is you know the game is going to be a physical one and one that we look forward to every year.”

Photo by Jared Wickerham/Getty Images

This will most likely be Ryan’s last home game and his last game against the Patriots as Head Coach of the New York Jets. The Jets don’t need another reason to get amped up to play their hated division rivals, but to send the defiant Ryan out a winner and spoil the #1 seeded Patriots playoff plans of hosting games throughout the post season would be the coup de grace in this chapter of this historic rivalry.

Ryan hasn't been his normal brazen, outlandish self this week. Expecting him to go out with a bang especially in this game, against this team, he reflected on the rivalry with a hint of nostalgia for what might soon be in his rear view mirror. "He prepares his team as well as anybody in the league, if not better than any coach in the league," Ryan said complimenting Belichick, continuing on to say that, "I do like competing against him, there's no question about it. And he knows one thing: He's going to get my very best, that's for sure. I'm looking forward to this one."

While the Jets get jacked up for this game and try to win one for Sexy Rexy one more time, we all look forward to doing what Ryan never could, give a simple kiss. A kiss goodbye to one of the most polarizing figures in the Patriots/Jets rivalry.

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