FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- Rex Ryan made a guarantee for Sunday against the New England Patriots.
Issuing a challenge to New York Jets fans, Ryan said Monday they will win the game if the fans can re-create the raucous stadium atmosphere from Sept. 20, 2009. That day, the Jets hit Tom Brady so hard and so often that they beat the stuffing out of his UGG boots -- that is, if he wore them in those days.
"If you make it like that," Ryan said during his weekly spot on ESPN New York 98.7 FM, "we're gonna beat this team."
Ryan said it was so loud that day that he could feel the ground shaking beneath his feet. But here's the problem: That was in the old Giants Stadium, a little cozier and a lot louder than MetLife Stadium. The Jets' new home simply doesn't have the same atmosphere. The cavernous stadium doesn't hold the noise as well as the old place, and there's less noise being generated because a lot of the hardcore fans have been replaced by the fat cats who'd rather sip Chardonnay in a club suite than scream their lungs out in an outdoor seat.
Such is life in modern sports society, sadly.