Rex Ryan provided more evidence Thursday that the bold, brash and rotund Rex and been replaced by a humbler, thinner version of his former self.
Ryan essentially said he doesn’t expect the Bills (5-4) to catch the Patriots (9-0) in the AFC East, according to Pro Football Talk.
Bill Belichick will have an awfully hard time making bulletin-board material out of that level-headed assessment in time for Monday night’s Bills-Patriots game at Gillette Stadium.
Even though Ryan says publicly that he’s focused only on the wild card, behind closed doors he’s not going to let his team give up on the winning the division.
If the Bills stun the Patriots Monday night, they’ll be three games out of first place and the only team with a winning record remaining on their schedule will be the Jets at home in Week 17. That’s a game Ryan likely circled on his calendar as soon as the schedule came out in April.
The Patriots, meanwhile, will have four of their final six games on the road. They looked vulnerable Sunday against the Giants. Their offensive line is a mess and the offense will be compromised at least a little bit with the loss of Julian Edelman.
New England probably will win the division, but despite what he says, Ryan won’t let the Patriots have it without a fight.