INDIANAPOLIS — The Jets have taken a page right out of
Joe Namath's Super Bowl playbook.
Coach Rex Ryan has already scheduled the Jets' Super Bowl
parade, the team's pro shop is already selling AFC champions gear and players
are convinced Sunday's conference title game is a chance at their own redemption
– proving last month's victory over the then-unbeaten Colts was neither fluke
nor gift.
All that's missing is the famous guarantee.
Suddenly, brash is back in fashion in New York.
"Some people look at it like it is arrogance, but that is
the goal you want to focus on," Pro Bowl cornerback Darrelle Revis said. "I
don't think an organization or a team comes into training camp thinking they are
not going to the Super Bowl. That is the goal we play this game for, to try to
be world champions."
Indianapolis (15-2) won't quibble with the sentiment –
especially heading into Sunday's AFC title game with the Jets.
After all, it was Colts Pro Bowl receiver Reggie Wayne
who came to training camp in a yellow dump truck with a custom-made hard hat
bearing the words "Super Bowl under construction." And it was team president
Bill Polian and coach Jim Caldwell who repeatedly acknowledged in December that
the Colts' ultimate goal was winning the Super Bowl, not going 16-0.
But Indy has never been a team that enjoyed
trash-talking, and it isn't about to start now – one win from a second Super
Bowl appearance in four years.
Instead, the Colts are bringing back their favorite New
York phrase: Forget about it.
"We pay attention to it," Indy linebacker Clint Session
said. "Everybody on this team is paying attention to it. We're not letting it
distract us at all, but you've got to pay attention to it."
The difference in attitude is a reflection of the team's
coaches.
Ryan, like his father, Buddy, is refreshingly
flamboyant. He says what he means, exudes confidence and leaves no doubt about
his lofty expectations for the Jets (11-7). That's why Ryan wasted no time
declaring New York the Super Bowl favorite when the playoffs began three weeks
ago.
"I was shocked, I really was shocked, when they (the
oddsmakers) came out and said that we were the longest long shot out there at
50-to-1 or something," Ryan told Indy reporters this week. "I was like, 'That's
amazing,' because most Super Bowls are won with defense and the ability to run
the football. … I'm sorry and I don't care who it offends, but our defense is
the best defense in the NFL, and we can run the ball better than anybody in the
NFL."
Ryan has the numbers to back up his claims.
The Jets had the league's No. 1-ranked overall defense,
the No. 1 pass defense, the No. 1 scoring defense and the No. 1 rushing offense.
Conventional wisdom suggests that is a winning Super Bowl formula, even if New
York does have a fun-loving quarterback back on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
And having Ryan speak his mind, has certainly kept the
Jets at ease.
"You get that extra oomph when you have enthusiasm and
passion and you're enjoying yourself," said linebacker Bart Scott, who followed
Ryan from Baltimore to New York. "When you worry about it and you're tight,
you're out there and you're robotic. You're not out there playing. There's going
to come a point in the game when you have to be a football player and it's
outside of X's and O's."
Caldwell, meanwhile, takes the traditional approach.
The man who served as Tony Dungy's understudy since
2001, who worked with Bill McCartney and Joe Paterno and Howard Schnellenberger
as a college assistant and who became the first rookie coach in league history
to win 14 straight games, is thoughtful and deliberative.
Publicly, Caldwell chooses his words carefully and
doesn't get involved in controversy. Behind the scenes, words are at a premium
though he continually gets the attention of his players.
"We listened to him (in the team meeting) and he was
fired up," Session said of Caldwell. "He definitely wants to win this game."
But with four-time MVP Peyton Manning leading the way,
Colts players refuse to take the Jets' bait. They were quite and loose this
week, with no sense of distractions.
"They're saying it, that's how they feel," Pro Bowl
defensive end Robert Mathis said. "It won't affect us, not at all."
Even if the Jets keep talking like Namath did before
beating the heavily favored Colts in the third Super Bowl.
"People say we don't deserve to be here and things like
that," Revis said. "We hear what is going on, but we aren't focused on that. Our
focus was getting into the playoffs and now that we are here, trying to make
noise."