Rex Ryan Comments on Playing Patriots on Monday Night Football

The New England Patriots have long been a thorn in the side of Rex Ryan and vice versa.

The Buffalo Bills' head coach will lead his troops into battle on Monday night to take on the defending Super Bowl champions, and Ryan has this feeling that Tom Brady and Co. will look to make a statement.

"Of course they want to bury me," Ryan said Thursday, per ESPN.com's Mike Rodak. "No question they want to beat me. But this is nothing to do with me, it's something to do with our team. Yeah, they want to put us away, there's no question. When you look at it from their perspective, right now we're second in the division, so of course they're gonna try to do whatever they can."

The Patriots are 9-0 and are only a couple of weeks away from winning another AFC East title. Even Ryan has conceded the fact that Buffalo is 5-4 and sitting second behind the Patriots, but it would take a miracle to catch up to them.

"Does that give us an opportunity to win the division? No, they're gonna win the division," Ryan said. "I don't see them losing four games in the upcoming things. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't see it happening."

Throughout Ryan's coaching career, his path to getting where he wants to go has always gone through the Patriots. Even when he was the head coach of the New York Jets, Ryan always fell victim to Bill Belichick's team. The Patriots beat the Bills, 40-32, back in Week 2.    

Ryan respects the Patriots for sure, no matter how much distaste there may be between the two parties. Per Rodak, Ryan called Belichick the "greatest coach of all time," with the best offense and the best quarterback in Tom Brady. But to insinuate that the Patriots are trying to "bury him" may be overthinking it a bit.

The Patriots are on a mission to "bury" the rest of the NFL before they even think about Ryan and his Bills.