NFL: QB Brady won't be baited by Jets' Ryan

Tom Brady skipped watching the first half of the New York Jets playoff game Saturday night to attend the Broadway play Lombardi.

The New England quarterback said he noticed many similarities between legendary the Green Bay Packers coach and his own coach, Bill Belichick.

"They demand the best from their players," Brady said Monday during his weekly appearance on WEEI radio. "They don't give a damn who you are or what you've done. They care about what you're going to do this week."

This week the Patriots are preparing for Sunday's divisional playoff game against the Jets, who advanced with a 17-16 win over the Indianapolis Colts and Peyton Manning.

Jets coach Rex Ryan couldn't resist aiming a zinger at Brady.

"Peyton Manning would have been watching our game," Ryan said Monday with a huge grin.

Brady shied away from a verbal spat, saying "maybe he's right."

On a roll. Before their stunning upset of New Orleans on Saturday, the Seattle Seahawks' most complete performance of the season came in a Week 6 victory at Chicago.

So maybe that's why there is a general feeling of comfort about returning to Chicago for Sunday's divisional playoff. While they are going to be decided underdogs again, the Seahawks already know they can win in Soldier Field, having beaten the Bears 23-20 back in mid-October.

And the Seahawks are on an improbable roll - a win over the Bears would give Seattle its first three-game winning streak since 2007.

Coaching carousel. Ron Rivera emerged as the leading candidate to be Carolina's next coach on Monday when the San Diego defensive coordinator arrived for a second interview with the Panthers.

Team spokesman Charlie Dayton said Rivera was scheduled to meet with team officials in Charlotte. But Dayton said Rivera had not yet been hired to replace the fired John Fox.

The 49-year-old former Eagles assistant is the first candidate to be interviewed twice, and the first to speak directly with Panthers owner Jerry Richardson.

Fox, Carolina's former coach, will interview for Denver's vacancy Wednesday. It was rescheduled after he was unable to fly out of North Carolina due to bad weather. New Orleans defensive coordinator Gregg Williams also will interview in Denver on Wednesday.

ESPN commentator Jon Gruden, who grew up in Sandusky, Ohio, rooting for the Cleveland Browns, was hired by current team president Mike Holmgren as an entry-level assistant in Green Bay in 1990. The two remain close and Gruden's name has gathered momentum as a candidate to replace Eric Mangini in Cleveland.

An ESPN spokesman said Gruden was unavailable for comment on Monday, and that "he remains committed to ESPN and to Monday night football."