Text with Brian Costello all season as he brings Sports+ subscribers the latest Jets intel from on the field and off.

The message was 70 seconds long. There were some who thought they were being punked, because that sure sounded like the head coach of the New York Jets on the other side of the telephone, or on their voice mail, but come on: Obviously this couldn’t be the head coach of the New York Jets. 

Except it was the head coach of the New York Jets. 

“Hey, this is Rex Ryan, the head coach of the New York Jets,” the message began. “I just wanted to let you know how much we need you this week. You know, I’ve already admitted that, hey, the Patriots have a better head coach and they’ve got a better quarterback than us. But we’re going to see who’s got a better team.” 

The message was being delivered specifically to Jets ticket holders, so by now the targeted listeners were at least intrigued. There weren’t going to be a lot of people hanging up. This, after all, wasn’t a phone call you receive every day.