What happens when the Jets beat Indianapolis 35-9 and New England falls 24-23 to Seattle on the same Sunday?
Not to mention, one week before New York plays the Patriots?
Rex Ryan moves a chess piece.
"I want them to know, and they know that I think we're going to beat them," the Jets coach said Monday. "I don't buy into all that other stuff. I recognize they're a great football team. And Bill Belichick's a great coach. I never once said that he wasn't.
"But we're not going to back down or concede anything. They're going to get our best shot. We know we're going to get theirs. It really doesn't matter who says what. We're coming up there to take our swing. And we'll see if we land that punch to win a game."
Ryan -- by his own standard -- has been more subdued in boasting this season. Both his team and Belichick's are 3-3 in the AFC East's logjam of a division.
But it sounds like New York's win on Sunday, with its revitalized ground game (252 rushing yards), did something to bolster the coach's confidence.
New England Patriots
And he seems to have noticed the Patriots impotence in close-out situations this season.
"Are they more vulnerable? I don't know. They've lost three games, that's probably more than they normally lose in a season," Ryan said. "We need to worry about ourselves."
A slight motion, perhaps, to tap the breaks.
The Jets are 3-4 against the Patriots during Ryan's New York tenure and there has been plenty of jawing in that span. You can believe he knows well enough now that the rivalry can only decided on the field.
He just likes to start the games a little early.
"We always get their best, and they always get ours," he said. "We'll see if our best is better than their best on that particular day. They've been the dominant team in our division. We've been second every year since I've been here. For us to get to where we want to get toor anybody in our conferencethey have to beat New England."