Brady: 'I hate the Jets,' won't watch 'Hard Knocks'

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. - Rarely do the Jets need a reason to talk trash. But this time, they took the high road.

When told that Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said on Boston radio yesterday morning that he refuses to watch the Jets on the HBO series "Hard Knocks" because he "hates" them, the Jets didn't bite.

Instead, coach Rex Ryan shrugged and said with a smile: "Hell, he knows we hate the Patriots, so what's the difference?

"My brother's got a couple of Super Bowl rings, so he loves Tom Brady. But I don't have them, so I don't like Tom Brady. I respect him, but I don't like him."

Ryan's twin, Rob, is the Browns' defensive coordinator and was the Patriots' linebackers coach from 2000 to 2003.

"Honestly, I haven't turned it on," Brady told WEEI casually. "I hate the Jets, so I refuse to support that show. I'm sure it's great TV. I'm glad people are liking it. But that's just something that I have no interest in watching. I'd love to say a lot of mean things, but I'd rather not do that, either."

When prodded by a reporter to retaliate, even the Jets' biggest trash talker, Bart Scott, didn't take the bait. "That's fine," he said. "I don't expect him to like me."

Jets center Nick Mangold said he wasn't surprised by Brady's disinterest in the show, either.

"It's just part of the excitement of games," Mangold said. "You dislike the other teams. 'Hard Knocks,' we never had it with anybody in our division, so even then I watched a couple episodes here and there, but [not] religiously. So I don't expect them to be sitting there with a bowl of popcorn enjoying the show."

Mangold wondered if Brady really meant "hate" or something a little kinder and gentler.

" 'Hate' gets thrown around, I think, a lot in this society as it is, so I think you'd have to really ask him what the true meaning of the hate is," he said. " . . . It's probably one of those things that might not be as heated as everyone makes it out to be."

With AP