You have to hand it to Rex Ryan -- despite the fact that his team has now dropped six of its last seven games after winning its first three and talking, tweeting and generally boasting to any and all about how great they were -- the rookie head coach refuses to admit that his team may be having a crisis of confidence.

After the Jets' 31-14 loss to New England, Ryan was asked just that: whether the Jets' confidence is shaken.

"No, but we go outplayed today," he said. "There is no question. Our confidence is still there, but you go to understand, when you come out of that tunnel to play the game, you better be ticked off. That's what happened the last two games, you know, we've let teams dictate the tempo on us instead of us dictate it. And that's the thing I was most disappointed about.

"Clearly at halftime, our guys came back and competed. I think we believe we are a decent football team, but you know, clearly we weren't the best team today. Clearly it was New England."

The Jets believe they're "decent"? Well, if two games below .500 is decent, that's just what they are. Ryan's assessment of them as decent would seem to be a far cry from the world-beaters they saw themselves as six weeks ago.