Rex Ryan thinks the New York Jets are better than the New York Giants .

Tom Coughlin would rather settle the matter on the field.

The Jets will once again try to back up the talk of their brash and boisterous head coach when they face the Giants on Saturday in a meeting that could severely damage the loser's playoff chances.

Since being hired by the Jets (8-6) in 2009, Ryan has made headlines with his bold talk and controversial statements. Losing 45-19 at Philadelphia last Sunday with a performance that some players called "embarrassing" hasn't quieted the jovial Ryan, either.

Now, he wants everyone to know that his sights are set on claiming New York for the Jets.

"There's a lot of talk going back and forth, most of it driven by me," Ryan said. "But I'll stand by anything I've ever said. I didn't come here to be anybody's little brother. I came here to win, to be looked at that way and to take over not just this city, even though it's the city to take over, but also this league.

"To say a team's better than you that never made the playoffs is ridiculous. Clearly, we were the better team my first two years. We get to prove it Saturday who the best team is this year."

Coughlin, on the other hand, prefers to avoid verbally sparring with Ryan.

"Talk is cheap, play the game. That is the way I've always believed," the Super Bowl-winning coach said. "It will be one of those knock-down, drag-out games without a doubt."

Both teams are trying to improve their playoff chances, and winning the final two games of the regular season is the only way to guarantee a berth.

The Jets hold the final AFC wild-card spot with Cincinnati, Tennessee, Oakland and San Diego lurking, while the Giants (7-7) need to win the log-jammed NFC East to qualify for the playoffs.

They're one game back of first-place Dallas and one ahead of Philadelphia. Those teams face each other Saturday before the Giants host the Cowboys in Week 17.

"I think if you were to sit down in August and say that with two games to go you'd have your destiny in your hands, not depending on somebody else, you'd say, 'Okay, sign me up for that,'" Coughlin said.

The Giants, though, have dropped five of six and are trying to rebound from a 23-10 home loss to last-place Washington last weekend.

The defense is drawing sharp criticism for allowing an average of 432.2 yards - 293.8 passing - the past five weeks. The unit ranks 29th against the pass this season, surrendering 257.5 yards per game.

That's given fodder to the Jets' Santonio Holmes , who feels like his team could be in for a big day through the air. According to the Super Bowl XLIII MVP, the Giants' defensive backs "are poor tackling guys," and cornerback Corey Webster should be "ready to bring his 'A' game."

Perhaps engaging in trash talk is one way for Holmes to move past his dismal performance in Philadelphia. He fumbled his first catch and it was returned for a score, and a dropped pass later in the first quarter turned into an interception that led to a touchdown.

Holmes, who had four catches for 40 yards, didn't help matters when he celebrated a touchdown catch by flapping his arms like wings when the Jets trailed by 18.

While Ryan and Holmes are giving the New York tabloids back page material, Mark Sanchez is taking a different approach, complimenting counterpart Eli Manning .

"For me, being younger than Eli, he's done a great job," said Sanchez, who hasn't thrown for more than 181 yards since Week 11. "That's been somebody I've watched on the field and he's done a heck of a job for his team."

Sanchez threw a pair of interceptions against the Eagles last week, but it was Manning's three-pick day that really cost the Giants.

Though Manning is having one of his best seasons - completing 61.6 percent of his passes for a career-high 4,362 yards - he's thrown 10 interceptions in his last seven games after having just five in his first seven.

The Jets' defense ranks seventh against the pass, yielding 205.1 yards per game, but they've only come up with three interceptions the past six games after grabbing 13 in their first eight.

While the Giants are a consistent threat through the air thanks to Manning and receivers Victor Cruz and Hakeem Nicks , the Jets also boast an impressive receiving corps that includes Plaxico Burress .

Burress is facing his former team for the first time in the regular season since he accidentally shot himself in the leg in a New York nightclub in November 2008. He was cut by the Giants prior to his nearly two-year stint in prison.

Burress' only catch in the past two games was a nine-yard TD last week, tying him with Homes for the team lead with eight.

"I see the same kind of red zone threat that he has always been," Coughlin said of Burress. "He has certainly done an outstanding job there."

The Giants have won four in a row against the Jets since 1996. This is the latest in the season they've met since a Jets win kept the Giants from reaching the postseason in the final week of 1988.

"We have to win this game, we have to get in the playoffs, and the Giants have to do the same. So it's going to be huge," Ryan said.

The Giants will be without defensive end Osi Umenyiora , tight end Jake Ballard and linebacker Mark Herzlich due to injuries, and wide receiver Mario Manningham is listed as doubtful. Jets running back Joe McKnight , the NFL's leading kick returner, and defensive back Marquice Cole are listed as questionable.

Cruz, Bradshaw lead Giants past Jets 29-14

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -- Rex Ryan was brash and confident all week, insisting his Jets were the kings of New York.

Well, the Giants shut him up in a big way - taking the city bragging rights and setting up an even more important showdown with the Dallas Cowboys next weekend with a 29-14 victory Saturday.

"I hate to use that cliche, but this is a huge one," left tackle David Diehl said. "This is about the city, the city of New York and what team wants to be responsible. They have talked all week and said what they wanted to say. From Day 1, they're our big brother and other stuff. We went out there and played our game and showed whose stadium this is."

Ryan said the Jets were the better team the last two years, based on their consecutive trips to the AFC championship game and the Giants missing the postseason. Tom Coughlin responded by saying, "Talk is cheap. Play the game."

It was the Giants who did.

"They were the better team today, and they're the better team this year," a humbled Ryan said. "Clearly, I was wrong."

The Giants kept their postseason hopes alive, helped by Victor Cruz setting two franchise receiving records and Ahmad Bradshaw running for two touchdowns. While neither team looked much like playoff material, the Giants (8-7) are now in position to win the NFC East with a victory at home next Sunday against Dallas.

"Given everything that was at stake, and all the noise that has been coming out of Florham Park," Giants co-owner John Mara said, "yeah, it means a little more."

Running back Brandon Jacobs said he had an exchange with Ryan after the game in which the coach approached him, used an expletive and said, "Wait till we win the Super Bowl."

Added Jacobs: "And I told him I'll punch him in the face. I told him out of all these Giants players on this team you're talking to the wrong one. And that was that."

Ryan acknowledged that he and Jacobs "had a private conversation. He doesn't like me; I respect him."

The back-and-forth went on even in the hours before the game, when Jacobs and kicker Lawrence Tynes both removed black curtains placed by the Jets over the Giants' Super Bowl logos. The Jets said it was simply their standard practice to cover those logos for every one of the team's home games, regardless of opponent, because it is the players' entrance.

"We knew early what we were going to get no matter what happened as soon as he had the opportunity to run his big fat mouth," Jacobs said of Ryan's boasts throughout the week.

Meanwhile, the Jets' playoff hopes took a devastating hit, and at 8-7 they'll need to win at Miami next week and get major help from several other teams. They have to hope for Cincinnati and Tennessee to lose, and have either Oakland or Denver lose.

"I mean, we don't deserve to control our own destiny," Jets linebacker Bart Scott said. "We haven't played good enough football to do that. We need to try to finish strong, but if you don't make it to the playoffs, you've got nobody to blame but yourself."

Cruz, who had three catches for 164 yards, broke Amani Toomer's single-season mark for yards receiving - and the team's record for longest touchdown reception, a 99-yarder that gave the Giants the lead for good in the second quarter.

"It's just amazing," Cruz said, "and to beat the Jets in the process is added incentive."

It was a brutal game at times, with both offenses sluggish and prone to mistakes. The Jets were also penalized 10 times, including a late hit call on Aaron Maybin , who plowed into D.J. Ware in the fourth quarter - a play on which Coughlin was injured out of bounds. The Giants coach needed to be checked out on the bench briefly before limping back to the sideline.

"Never better," a smiling Coughlin said when asked how he was feeling.

Eli Manning finished just 9 of 27 for 225 yards. Mark Sanchez completed 30 passes on a career-high 59 attempts but put up only 258 yards and was intercepted twice. The Jets were also a brutal 4 for 21 on third-down conversions.

"I left a lot of completions out there," Sanchez said.

The sloppiest stretch came midway through the fourth quarter with wild swings of momentum.

The Giants thought they had stopped the Jets on fourth down, but a pass interference call gave them new life. Plaxico Burress - playing against the Giants in the regular season for the first time since they cut him in 2009 and he served a 20-month prison sentence on a gun charge - thought he had scored a touchdown, but offensive pass interference called it back. The Giants thought they'd recovered a fumble by Sanchez, but officials reversed the call on a challenge, saying his arm was going forward.

The Giants got their turnover moments later, though, when Sanchez fumbled the snap in the end zone.

The Jets weren't done. David Harris intercepted Manning's pass that tipped off Hakeem Nicks ' hands, and the Jets had another apparent fumble by Sanchez reversed on review.

On third-and-12 from the 13, Sanchez scrambled for 11 yards - and Antrel Rolle was called for holding, putting the ball at the 1. Sanchez dived into the end zone, making it 20-14 with 7:17 left.

But the Jets wouldn't get any closer. Chris Canty sacked Sanchez for a safety, and after an onside free kick by the Jets was recovered by the Giants, Bradshaw had a 19-yard TD run with 2:04 left.

"It's real sad right now," Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis said. "We needed this win. We made some mistakes and they outplayed us."

Cruz's 99-yard catch - the longest scoring pass in team history - came with the Giants in dire straits facing third-and-10 from the 1. Manning, standing in the back of the end zone, zipped a pass to Cruz, who dodged tackle attempts by Antonio Cromartie and Kyle Wilson and took off down the right sideline. Eric Smith was the only one with a chance to get him, but Cruz outran him to give the Giants a 10-7 lead with 2:12 left in the opening half.

It was also the longest offensive play against the Jets in team history.

Now the Jets will prepare for the Dolphins - and keep their fingers crossed.

"If the gates open," wide receiver Santonio Holmes said, "we're going to walk right through them."

Notes: DE Jason Pierre-Paul had two of the Giants' five sacks, giving him 15 1/2 this season. ... Jets S Brodney Pool said he experienced migraine symptoms during the game, worsened after a hard hit in the third quarter when Bradshaw slammed into him. He said he was fine. ... Jets LB Garrett McIntyre hurt his knee covering the opening kickoff, and there was no immediate word on the injury.

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