NFL

Rex Ryan explains why his boasts are back at full throttle

CORTLAND — Jets coach Rex Ryan said there’s a reason he sounds more confident in his team this season — because he is.

“Does it look like I’m a little more confident this year? Yeah, your team’s a little different,” Ryan said Tuesday. “Last year we had seven new starters on offense, seven new starters on defense, a new punter and 11 new coaches. Maybe I wasn’t as confident initially. I was confident but it was like ‘wooo, I don’t even know some of these guys.’ ”

Ryan and his team have been talking a big game lately. The coach laughed when asked about his players’ big talk.

“I have no idea where they get that from,” he said.

Ryan said he knows people are rolling their eyes at the Jets.

“You get a few bullets shot at you when you take this approach so maybe that’s not recommended,” he said. “It’s who we are. It’s how we feel. They can laugh. You’ve got to play us, too. The beauty of it is we get to find out. We’re not running from it. We’re running into it.”