Rex says Jets are better than Giants

Rex Ryan wasted little time Monday, quickly tossing gasoline on the smoldering brushfire he sparked in the offseason when he took a few jabs at the Giants.

The Jets' coach, who had toned himself down recently, was back to his trash-talking ways, cranking up the hype machine for Saturday's big game against the Giants.

"I recognize that they are an excellent football team, but I think we're better," Ryan said. "You get to prove it on Saturday. You don't get to prove it to them for another four years. So it's a huge game, there's no question about it."

Ryan had taken a shot at the Giants in his book, "Play Like You Mean It," explaining he certainly didn't venture here to be in their shadows. In the book, which was released in May, Ryan said the Jets currently are the big brother in town, a statement he didn't back down from a day after their brutal 45-19 loss to the Eagles.

"There's no way I'm going to be second fiddle," Ryan said. "If we were playing the New York Yankees, I don't want to be second fiddle to them. So it's the same type of deal. That's kind of my approach here. I want to be the best team in football, not just be the best team in this city, but we'll start by being the best team in the city.

"I'm sure there's a lot of talk going back and forth, most of it driven by me. I'll stand by anything I have ever said. I didn't come here to be anybody's little brother. I came here to win, to be looked at that way, and to take over not just this city and everything else -- even though it is the city to take over -- but also this league.

"I haven't accomplished that yet. Saturday will go a long way toward doing that. We have to win this game to get in the playoffs, and the Giants have to do the same. So it is going to be huge."

Without getting into all of the scenarios, either team actually could lose and still reach the postseason, although it would be considerably more difficult.

Giants linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka isn't impressed with Ryan's bravado.

"The beautiful thing about it is we're going to find out real soon," Kiwanuka said. "I'm not worried about anything anybody says, especially somebody who's not going to have pads on. I know we're the better team. We just have to go out there and prove it."

Giants safety Deon Grant took it a step further.

"I think we're the best team in the league, regardless of what our record shows," Grant said. "That's just my mentality. I'd be dumb and stupid to say that any team is better than [us], even the teams that beat us. I still think we had a chance to beat those teams. I definitely disagree with him on that."

Maybe so, but Ryan has little doubt the Jets have ruled the metropolitan area since his arrival in 2009 because they played for the AFC title in back-to-back seasons while the Giants watched the playoffs from their couches.

"Certainly we were the better team the first two years," Ryan said. "We made the playoffs, went to the championship game. To say a team is better than you that never made the playoffs is ridiculous. Clearly, we were the better team my first two years here, and we get to prove it on Saturday -- who is the best team this year."

Just don't expect to hear all that many barbs from the Giants in the meantime.

"Talking trash isn't going to help you out on the field," Kiwanuka said. "Some people need to do it to get themselves amped up. We're not that kind of team. When we're clicking, we're clicking because we've decided as a group that we're going to do this.

"When you're out there on the field, it's football, and people are going to talk to each other. But there's no sense in talking before the game or in the media or in the locker room because you have to go out there and prove it. That's what we're all about. We're about going out there and beating people up and making sure they understand why we came to play."

With Tom Rock