At the postgame podium, with the New England Patriots' 45-3 conquest frozen in the Gillette Stadium lights, Rex Ryan looked and sounded like he had seen a ghost.
Ryan has been everything to everybody as coach of the New York Jets. He's been a standup comic for the press, a tough-talking advocate of a long, lost franchise and, more than anything, the first Jet with the nerve to promise a Super Bowl title since Joe Willie Namath answered a banquet heckler with the most glorious guarantee in sports.
But in the bitter cold and blustery winds Monday night, Ryan resembled none of the characters he's played to rave reviews. In fact, Ryan came across as clueless, overmatched, and entirely unprepared to deal with this beating Bill Belichick's Patriots had planned for him.
As his hour of reckoning approached, Ryan trotted to the visiting sideline under the kind of pregame reception LeBron James got in Cleveland. The Jets' coach answered the boos in villainous pro-wrestler style, lifting his cap toward the black sky.
New England Patriots On Top Of League
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