So there is no doubt, absolutely none, that plenty of NFL types – whether it be Ryan critics in the media, club executives or other assorted pigskin riffraff – would like nothing more than to knock that smile off Rex Ryan’s face before stapling his mouth shut. They would love to be holding that picture up Sunday after a Jets loss to Cleveland, saying: Is Rex laughing now? When’s his next Yuck Barn appearance?

“It (Ryan’s shtick) was unprofessional,” Brandon Tierney said Thursday on ESPN-1050. “…I’m having a hard time separating the ‘fun’ from the Jets not playing crisp football. They better win the game (Sunday).”

Even those who enjoyed Ryan’s hijinks were dubious. Such as SXM Radio’s Steve Phillips.

“As a (former) GM, watching him (Ryan) and listening to what he has to say makes me scared,” Phillips said on the air Thursday.

By no means is this anything new. When it comes to Ryan the song remains the same. In July, the chorus swore Ryan and Co.’s decision allowing HBO’s “Hard Knocks” cameras to invade the “privacy” of Gang Green’s Cortland training compound would return to haunt and hurt the team this season. The Jets were not only putting themselves in a position to be mocked, but giving the competition even more incentive to pound them.

– Bob Raissman, N.Y. Daily News.

Y’all know how I feel about sanctimony in general, but on top of that, it’s really weird to me how many people seem so certain that Ryan’s wig stunt represented some sort of nefarious and calculated plan to draw attention away from the Jets’ sloppy play against Detroit.

I mean, have none of these people ever had a sibling? Could the truth not be the simplest possible explanation: That Ryan is actually just having fun, and seizing the opportunity to taunt his twin brother? The awesome Times feature from earlier this week really made it sound like the Ryans have a pretty healthy, active rivalry going.

And Rob Ryan does indeed have pretty silly hair, and Rex is probably pretty excited to be able to lord his weight loss over his brother, so, you know, why not dress up like  him and take some potshots?

Perhaps I’m biased because I’m a Jets fan and I happen to think Rex Ryan is boss. I just don’t really get why we should be listening to odd and haphazardly directed sanctimony from Steve Phillips of all people, when it strikes me that NFL players probably get pretty motivated for games on their own, regardless of what the other team’s coach has said or done in press conferences that week.

And you don’t have to remind me that bulletin boards exist. I get that. But if you could somehow prove to me that mid-week trash talking actually affects the outcome of games even the tiniest bit, I’d be a lot more open to all the bluster.

Rob Ryan, speaking from the Browns’ facility near Cleveland, pointed to his early victories as a college assistant (Tennessee State over Morehead State) and noted that he owned more Super Bowl rings than Rex (two to one). Rex Ryan said in a telephone interview that he triumphed the last three times they stood on opposing sidelines and that he had never lost to Rob in the N.F.L.

The trash talking even extended to whiffle ball, a Ryan family pastime.

Rob: “I absolutely kill him. His bat’s tardy.”

Rex: “He’s delusional. I buckle him with the knuckle curve. He’s never been the same since I hit him in the head with a golf ball when we were 10.”

– Greg Bishop, N.Y. Times.

I imagine come Sunday the Ryan vs. Ryan angle will be so blown out that we’ll be sick of hearing about it, but before then, enjoy this tremendous read from Bishop.

Also, I’ve mentioned this here before, but every time I see Rob Ryan I think, “man, Thor really let himself go.”

Well for better or worse, the Jets won yesterday. That’s the best part.

And Taco Bell hero Mark Sanchez stepped up in the fourth quarter and started looking like he did in the first couple weeks and last year’s playoffs: Assertive, confident, and dare I say it — poised.

The Jets’ offensive line mostly stymied the Lions’ pass rush. And Darrelle Revis quieted any lingering doubts about his holdout-related injury and early-season ineffectiveness (by his standards), holding Calvin Johnson to one reception and 13 yards.

But the Jets won in spite of themselves, partly because the Lions seemed driven to match them penalty for penalty, partly because of an inexplicable call after the two-minute warning that saved them about 40 seconds of clock time when they were all out of timeouts.

They were all out of timeouts, it should be noted, because they had to burn two of them to avoid penalties for having too many men on the field on consecutive plays in the fourth quarter. Credit safety James Ihedigbo for his ability to count to 12 and prevent the flags, though the Lions wound up scoring anyway.

Like Rex Ryan said afterward, the win is all that matters. But after dominating opponents for a nice stretch earlier this season, the Jets have started to show strong signs of same-old-Jetsishness, prompting reasonable doubts that they are the Super Bowl-caliber club they were billed to be.

Starting Sunday, the Jets play three games in 11 days, starting with the suddenly hot Browns and culminating in a Thanksgiving Day showdown with the beleaguered Bengals. The Texans fall in the middle there.

It’s a Texans sandwich on Ohio-pro-football bread, and you can bet Rex Ryan is hungry. Will this man complete the sandwich? He looks determined:

I spent a good portion of my drive home yesterday wondering if the current Jets could be the best team I’ve ever rooted for. I realized that I’ve never actually followed a championship team, since I was too young to recognize the gravity of 1986. The Mets won the NL Championship in 2000 and Georgetown made the Final Four in 2007, and that’s pretty much the closest any of my teams have come.

So I got to fantasizing about the Jets making the Super Bowl, and thinking about how awesome that would be and all that. I rushed home to catch the game, and then, well, then that happened.

Maybe I jinxed the Jets’ offense, or, way more likely, maybe they just had a bad game. More to follow when I talk with Brian Bassett later. For now, here’s sad Mark Sanchez: