The Jets have got to get better on both sides of the ball in 2012, and with it, their defense needs to be better. The team already has someone that is declaring a part of their defense the best – that being the coach.

Rex Ryan told the NY Daily News that he feels that the Jets have the best defensive coach in the NFL – him.

Rex Ryan may have dialed down the public Super Bowl rhetoric, but he still has supreme confidence in himself. “You know what? I look at myself as the best defensive coach in football,” Ryan said after the Jets’ first training camp practice on Friday. “That’s saying something because Dick LeBeau is pretty darn good. Bill Belichick is pretty good. But that’s the way I’ve always believed. And you know what? I believe it because (of) the guys I coach with, there’s no doubt about that. And the guys I’ve coached. But that’s the truth. That’s kind of how I feel.” “If it was a spelling bee, I’d bet against me,” he later added. “If it’s anything else – a fight, coaching football – I’m betting on me.” Ryan has admitted that he will play a larger role with the defense than a year ago.

“I’m going to be more involved over there… whether it’s calling games or whatever,” Ryan said. “Obviously, (defensive coordinator) Mike Pettine is my right-hand guy. He’s always been my right-hand guy. That’s the way it’s always going to be.” Ryan also revealed that he recently showed the Jets his original blueprint for the team when he was hired in 2009 and “learned a ton of things” over the past few years. “I have everything in place right now,” Ryan said. “There is no question about it.” Despite his confidence, Ryan is steering clear of any grandiose predictions about his team. “The arrows weren’t just coming on me,” Ryan said of the fallout of his past predictions. “They were coming on my players. That’s not what I wanted. If we weren’t going to succeed, I knew I would be getting – that the bullets should be coming my way. I understand that. But I never wanted to put the added pressure on the team. That wasn’t it. I thought by making that guarantee it was only going to come down on me. But that wasn’t the case. But maybe (the media) would have said, ‘Didn’t you figure that out?’ No… I never figured that out. But I certainly did at the end of the season.”