Rex Ryan's obsession with Bill Belichick still rages

Their seasons have looked nothing alike, but the New York Jets and New England Patriots sport identical 3-3 records after six weeks of up-and-down play.

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Gang Green can grab hold of the AFC East with a win over the Patriots on Sunday. Jets coach Rex Ryan acknowledged it better not boil down to coaching.

"If it's just between Bill Belichick and me, he's going to win that battle, I recognize that," Ryan told reporters Wednesday, via The Star-Ledger.

Ryan's obsession with Belichick is overt. Both teams have shaped their rosters and schemes to beat one another. Credit Ryan with giving the Patriots more trouble over the years than previous Jets regimes -- but not enough.

New York's challenge Sunday is facing an up-tempo New England offense that has produced 97 first downs through the air alone. It has taken New York's entire attack -- run/pass/penalty combined -- to generate 104. The Patriots' 37 rushing first downs in two wins over the Buffalo Bills and Denver Broncos is more than the Jets have amassed on the ground all season.

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"With this offense they're running -- this up-tempo -- it's going to put a lot of stress on us," Jets safety Eric Smith told Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News.

Ryan told the New York Post he's leaning on his scout team to move as fast as possible to simulate the Patriots' high-speed attack. That did nothing to help the Broncos two weeks ago. We'll find out Sunday if it worked for Rex.

Follow Marc Sessler on Twitter @MarcSesslerNFL.