Rex Ryan Is Very Confident, Wants NFL to Know 'Jets Are Coming'

Rex Ryan held his first press conference as the Jets' new head coach Wednesday afternoon, and he's just like Eric Mangini ... but exactly the opposite. The Newark Star-Ledger's Dave Hutchinson described Ryan as "charismatic and straight-talking," two qualities seldom mentioned when discussing Mangini.

Interestingly, for all the straight talk, Ryan was noncommittal about the biggest issue facing the team this offseason: Brett Favre's retirement plans, offering only a "I would think anybody would want him as their quarterback. ... Brett will be a huge decision, but he may make that decision for us,'' '

Hardly a ringing endorsement, but maybe Ryan really doesn't want Favre to return. The same can't be said for linebacker Vernon Gholston, who had a forgettable rookie season:

Ryan ... compared rookie linebacker Vernon Gholston to Ravens Pro Bowl linebacker Terrell Suggs. He said Suggs had been considered a bust as well before Ryan was given the task of turning him into a player.

I agree: people, fairly or not, have been calling Gholston a bust since September. But I don't remember anybody every referring to Suggs as such. In fact, he had 12 sacks as a rookie. Gholston managed just 13 tackles and no sacks in 15 games. Slight difference, I think.

But all that's going to change. At least to hear Ryan tell it:

"The message to the rest of the league is, `Hey, the Jets are coming and we're going to give you everything we got,''' he said. ``And I think that's going to be more than you can handle.

``We're going to be known as the most physical team in the NFL. If you take a swipe at one of our guys, we're going to take a swipe at two of yours.''

Translation: here comes Ray-Ray!