ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- Rex Ryan will make his return to MetLife Stadium when the Buffalo Bills travel to play the New York Jets this Thursday night, but he hasn't indicated giving his first meeting with his old team any added importance.

"I promise you, it's just another opponent right now," Ryan said Sunday after Buffalo's 33-17 victory over the Miami Dolphins. "Now will that change when I'm in there? That's a possibility. But I can tell you this -- it's all about, you're playing another team. And I know that team really well.

"But that's really what it is. And it's no more than that -- I can promise you. It'll be the same way I'm answering it right now until at the end. Now after the game, that might change."

Ryan said he hasn't thought about his return to MetLife Stadium "for one second" despite spending the past six seasons with the Jets before being fired last December.

"Yeah, I'm gonna get some good food, dude," Ryan said when asked last week about his upcoming return to New Jersey. "I mean, I know where to go. That's all ... that's how much I've thought about that."

The Jets have improved under first-year coach Todd Bowles, although the Bills (4-4) and the Jets (5-3) will be playing for second place in the AFC East when they meet Thursday for the first time this season.