Rex Ryan vs. Mike Tomlin: Coaching Love-Fest 101?

Rex Ryan making nice?

Is this a sign of the apocalypse?

Seems all the trash was taken out last week which means there's nothing but nice things coming out of New York and Big Rex has turned in his application to join the Mike Tomlin fan club.

To the west, over there in Pittsburgh, Iron Mike Tomlin would never say anything bad about anyone. Heck, it's the Tony Dungy way and Tomlin is a Dungy Disciple and is telling tales of his admiration for big ole Rex up there in New York.

No trash talk, no controversy, just mutual respect—what a novel idea in the National Football League!

Somehow you just knew that those guys in green wouldn't be running their mouths about the Pittsburgh Steelers. No one really wants to do that, do they?

In the meantime, Rex and Mike were making nice in their Tuesday observations, telling us that the two of them are very similar in so many ways.

Ryan set the tone for the love fest and was quick to call Tomlin "one of my favorite coaches."

Then Tomlin, back in the Steel City, was telling the scribes "our styles are probably more similar than you would imagine," referring to his New York counterpart, the rotund Ryan.

"I love Rex," Tomlin went on to say. "Rex has a lot of fun but when you see past all those things, this is a great football coach. He has the pulse of the football team. He does a great job motivating them, is very sound schematically in all three phases and his glass is always half full."

Sounds like Tomlin's next move might be to wear a "I love Rex" button around Steeler headquarters this week.

All kidding aside, it's the Dungy way which makes it the Tomlin way and the decision to hire Tomlin looks better and better with time. The Steelers have been to the playoffs in three of his four seasons and won the Super Bowl his second year there. Memories of Bill Cowher are fading.

Tomlin also knows how to dance around controversy.

When asked if Ryan and his antics are good for the NFL, Tomlin took the high road:

"I think he's great for the Jets and I think that's who he's concerned about being really great for."

In other words, I'm not biting on that one, guys.

Back in New York, not to be outdone, the Big Guy was busy gushing over Tomlin.

"We're similar. You look at our backgrounds, we're similar. We're defensive guys. We both have incredible opportunities. We know that. I just want to win a Super Bowl like he has. Talk about respect, I have a huge amount of respect for Tomlin."

That's enough to make Bill Belichick feel unloved, isn't it?

Back to Tomlin and Raves About Rex:

"They went to Indianapolis and beat those guys. They went to New England and beat those guys. They deserve to be here as we do. We are familiar with them. They have been to Heinz Field recently and wacked us. We are going to have to play better than we did last time."

No fires, no fuel, just nice stuff.

Same in New York. No one's calling anyone names, no one's calling anyone out and maybe that's a good thing, Maybe both teams realize they have a tough task come Sunday.

No one's disliking anyone, seems like.

"Like or dislike," Tomlin added. "That's sidebar stuff. We're in the AFC Championship. Likes or dislikes really are irrelevant."

Back in New York, Ryan's inmates are silent as well. Cromartie's not crowing and neither is anyone else.

Back in Pittsburgh, Tomlin had no problem talking about his team's mindset:

"We have one standard," he said, "and that standard is winning."

Then he said, his team has had one train of thought all season.

"I think we've been pretty consistent about stating our intentions all year, which is to be world champs."

Nothing trashy about that talk.

Even in New York, sounds like all the trash was taken out last week.