What smack talk leading up to the first game? All he ever said(and he said it in the offseason) was that he respected NE but wasn't intimidated by them.
You are confusing some comments made by players leading up to that first game.
OK, you claim "all he ever said was that he respected NE but wasn't intimidated by them." Let's have a look to see if your facts check out.
"I never came here to kiss Bill Belichick's rings," Ryan said Wednesday in an interview on WFAN. "I came here to win, let's put it that way.... I'm certainly not intimidated by
New England or anybody else." Source:
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/f...coach_rex_ryan_wont_stand_pat_for_rivals.html
Little more than your statement here. No reason to talk about Bill Belichick here. You said he said he "respected NE". I can not find that statement there. In fact, given that he and Belichick had not faced each other as head coaches, he has no business bringing up Belichick in that disrespectful manner, but he did. I don't care personally, but that is trash talk. If he made a general statement about the NFL, or AFC East that he wasn't here to kiss anyone's ***, that wouldn't be trash talking, but he called out Belichick.
Next, in response to his comments he stated:
"How much motivation are they going to get by putting a quote from me on the wall saying that I believe in my football team. That I'm not going to be intimidated by a coach or anyone else. If that's where you're going to draw motivation from, hell, we'll probably kick your (butt). I mean if that's the case." Source:
http://www.nj.com/jets/index.ssf/2009/08/ny_jets_coach_rex_ryan_takes_v.html
Again, not responding to anything said by the Patriots or Belichick, but there he is, talking about our team, saying he'll "probably kick (our) (butt)." But I do like how he back tracks and says, "if that's the case".
Lastly, the disrespect came when Rex made Kevin O'Connell a team captain for the first (and second) game. Very respectful move by Coach Ryan there.
Now, dealing with the Dolphins, Coach Ryan has showed disrespect to Crowder. I understand they both said something back and forth, but this is the coach. The head guy, the face of the organization. I could care less about it, more power to Coach Ryan actually. If it works, then that's all that matters. My only point is that to say that Coach Ryan did nothing to bring this upon himself is being disingenuous.
Add to that (because we are playing the Jets, not just Coach Ryan) the smack by Kerry Rhodes:
“You go out from the first quarter on, from the first play on, and try to embarrass them,” Rhodes said. “Not just go out there and try to win, try to embarrass them. Try to make them feel bad when they leave here. We don’t want to just beat them. We want to send a message to them" Source:
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/jets/2009/09/17/2009-09-17_jets.html
It is indeed smack. To think the patriots would not feel slighted by all those comments and in turn want to give it back it silly. The Jets and Coach Ryan now saying they feel disrespected is laughable. If you talk the talk (which they did and it's fine as far as I'm am concerned), you have to be able to walk the walk. That includes being able to handle it when it is returned.