Jets chalk talk: Quietly taking care of business

They should resist the urge no matter what, go ahead and toss the live bait right back out of the water and into the fisherman's boat, swimming away as fast as they can.

See, for the better part of the first 12 weeks of the season, the Jets haven't been beating their chests much and have been devoid of their usual headline-grabbing bravado. Rex Ryan has been comedic more than anything, and hasn't set things off with any inflammatory remarks, sticking to simply pointing out the things he believes most, such as how his defense will be the top-ranked unit in the NFL when everything is tabulated in another five weeks.

That constant Super Bowl chatter has died down, the volume lowered just a bit. Oh, that same strong belief is there, just not hammered home with the force of a piledriver the way it was during training camp, when they were mugging for the HBO "Hard Knocks" cameras.

So at 9-2 and tied with the Patriots and Falcons for the NFL's best record, it has to be only a matter of time before the Jets crack and go back to their trash-talking selves, right?

Well, with the Patriots up next in a game that's still five days away - yet approaching Super Bowl hype status after the number of times ESPN promoted the game during Monday night's Cardinals-49ers snoozer - now isn't the time to start yakking away again.

There's no need for the Jets to reciprocate Tom Brady's "I hate the Jets" comment earlier this season or for Ryan to defend his "I never came here to kiss Bill Belichick's rings" statement.

Just ask Bart Scott.

"For me, all the talking was over with and done with in preseason," the linebacker, one of the Jets' most notorious trash-talkers, said when asked if he expected any back-and-forth between these two heated rivals, especially with first place in the AFC East on the line. "Right now, I'm done talking.

"It's time to show people what we are all about. The talking is what gets the spotlight on you, it's what gets the attention on you, and now it's time to show people why we were saying what we were saying. The time for talking is over with. It's time to put up, so I don't anticipate you seeing a lot of talking from us. We are all about business.

"Now, it's all about the substance, and the substance is what we do on the football field and that's what you are going to see. You are going to see us go out on the football field and take care of business."

Actually, it's more of finishing off their business because when you really sit down and ponder it, exactly what really gives the Jets reason to beat their chests right now? There's no regular-season award handed out for the team with the best record heading into December, and we have nearly two months to go before commissioner Roger Goodell hands the ultimate prize to some grateful owner.

"Anything short of a Super Bowl appearance is a failure and we understand that," Scott said. "We aren't getting excited about 9-2. Nine-and-two doesn't mean anything, 9-2 doesn't guarantee a spot in the Super Bowl, it doesn't guarantee a spot in the playoffs. We won't be satisfied until this thing is over and we're raising a trophy."

And they shouldn't say anything remotely inflammatory until then.

"We're not getting excited," Scott said. "We're extremely humble and we're hungry."