Rex Ryan responded on Wednesday to Bill Belichick, who took a parting shot at the New York Jets over the controversial push play from Sunday’s game.
The Jets beat the New England Patriots 30-27 in overtime after getting a second chance at a field goal thanks to a new, uncommon unsportsmanlike conduct penalty being called on the Pats. But as Steve DelVecchio pointed out on Monday, it looked like the Jets did the same thing earlier in the game without being penalized. Belichick referred to that during a media conference call on Tuesday.
“Well, I mean, since they were using the play themselves, I don’t even know about all that,” Belichick said. “But basically we’re just moving on here.”
Ryan wasn’t about to let that slip by. The Jets coach hit back at Belichick for throwing around multiple excuses.
“He’s got to make up his mind,” Ryan said via the New York Daily News. “Was he aware of this thing, was it second level, all this kind of jazz, or now the story is we did it. OK, I gotcha. The fact is, we’re moving on, we earned that victory, plain and simple and we’re focused on Cincinnati now.”
In addition to accusing the Jets of doing the same thing earlier in the game, Belichick initially questioned the interpretation of the actual rule. Belichick said at first that he thought the push had to come from the second level of the defense in order to be considered a penalty. That’s to what Rex was referring when he mentioned “second level.”
Maybe the Patriots violated the new rule on that play, but it seemed like a crappy way to determine a game. And if referees are going to start calling this penalty, they need to do it equally at all points throughout the game.
