He's bold, he's brash and he's not afraid of speaking his mind.

What else would you expect from a son of Buddy Ryan?

New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan is proof that the apple does not fall far from the tree.

"You've got to be yourself," he said during a conference call this week. "I think that's

the key for anybody. If I came in there and tried to be somebody that I'm really not, the

players will see right through that. I got hired because when I interviewed with [Jets owner]

Woody Johnson and [General Manager] Mike Tannenbaum, they liked who I was. I never painted a

false picture."

Buddy Ryan, the former outspoken NFL coach, defensive guru and assistant on the Jets' 1969

Super Bowl championship team, didn't want Rex or his twin brother, Cleveland defensive

coordinator Rob, to go into coaching. He hoped they would pursue business careers. But Rex

said football is the family business, so it was only natural for him to follow in his father's

footsteps.

In more ways than one.

Like Buddy, Rex Ryan does not have a filter between his brain and mouth. He has become a

New York media darling for his self-depreciating sense of humor and a willingness to say

anything.

During his introduction as the new coach, he suggested the Jets would be invited to visit

President Barack Obama at the White House after winning the Super Bowl. Ryan also talked about

sending a message to the rest of the NFL that "the Jets are coming and we're going to give you

everything we've got, and that's going to be, I think, more than you can handle."

He didn't stop there. In a radio interview, Ryan said he had no intention of kissing Bill

Belichick's rings.

"I was just being truthful," said Ryan, 46, whose NFL coaching career includes two years on

his dad's staff in Arizona and 10 years in Baltimore, the past four as coordinator of the

Ravens' renowned defense.

"My thing is that I respect everybody in the NFL," he said. "Everybody's got great players,

everybody's got great coaches. But, I'm not bowing down to anybody, whether it's New England,

Buffalo, Miami, nobody.

"We're here to win. We don't have excuses, we don't make excuses. It's all about winning.

We have a culture here that we expect to win, not the other way around. No matter who we're

playing."

Ryan's refreshing candor has breathed new life and excitement in the Jets' organization,

which was worn down by the autocratic rule of Eric Mangini.

Unlike Mangini's dry, tell-them-nothing approach, Ryan is open about everything. He's a big

man with a personality to match his considerable girth.

He's also a pretty good coach. The Jets won their first three games, including a victory

over Belichick's New England Patriots. Ryan even sent out three former Patriots on his roster

for the pregame coin toss, as if to prove his point about his Belichick comments.

The Jets take a two-game losing streak into Sunday's home game against the Buffalo Bills,

but Ryan is not backing away from his belief that his team is capable of winning a

championship in the very near future.

"My thing is that it's a level playing field," he said. "Every single team in the league

operates under the same budget. So for me to come in and not say that I want to win a Super

Bowl, I think it's ridiculous for me to come in and undersell and overproduce. That's for some

B.S. guy.

"To me, that's unacceptable. We're trying to win everything. We're trying to win it all. If

people have a tough time with that, if that's being arrogant or whatever, then so be it. I

know one thing, if I'm a fan of a football team I want my coach and my organization committed

to winning."

The Jets have shown that commitment in a number of ways.

They added to a playoff-ready roster by signing two Ryan favorites, linebacker Bart Scott

and safety Jim Leonhard, away from Baltimore. Needing a franchise quarterback, they pulled off

a blockbuster draft-day trade to move up to get Mark Sanchez. Lacking a big receiver and a

deep threat, the Jets made a major trade with the Cleveland Browns for Braylon Edwards last

week.

"People sometimes make the assumption that once a new coach comes in that it's going to be

a building phase," Pro Bowl nose tackle Kris Jenkins told reporters recently. "I think they're

showing that it's about the here and now. When looking toward the future, you still have to

plan for the present. We're looking at doing everything now. We're not waiting for 2-3 years

down the road."

Perhaps more than anything, Ryan has done wonders for the Jets' psyche. He has brought a

bravado Scott calls "swaggerlicious."

Ryan is not shy about sharing his opinions, and he encourages his players to express

themselves.

"He makes things so fun," Sanchez said. "He makes you want to play for him. He's a

motivator, but he tells you how it is. His whole thing is just blunt force trauma and when you

make a mistake he lets you know. When you do well he lets you know. But he's always got a

smile on, always excited, loves a good joke. He's really just a great head coach and he's done

a great job in his first year. I'm happy to be with him."

Ryan realizes his way of doing things some call it Rex Appeal — might rub people

the wrong way. But the players love it.

They don't mind when he riles up the opposition. It doesn't bother them when he engages in

a playful war of words with other players like he did with Miami Dolphins linebacker Channing

Crowder during the preseason when Ryan said he had "stepped over tougher guys" on his way to a

fight.

"He can talk the talk because he knows he's got the players to back it up," Scott said.

The Jets haven't had much to talk about after two straight losses. After their 31-27 defeat

at Miami last Monday night, Ryan read his players the riot act. He said their performance was

unacceptable and it better not happen again.

His message to the players — and to the rest of the league, for that matter —

is this: These aren't the same, old Jets.

"This is a new beginning," Scott said. "I don't pay attention to the past. The past is the

past. It's a new day. It's a new team."