Rex Ryan has been away from the New York Jets for just over three months, but that was long enough for one of his former players to criticize him for the way he ran the team. Last week, Jets tight end Jace Amaro said there was an “issue” with tardiness under Ryan. Not surprisingly, Rex didn’t appreciate the remark.
During an interview with Jenny Vrentas of The MMQB, Ryan scoffed at the notion that the Jets lacked accountability when he was in charge.
“He’s full of sh–, and I’ll remind him of that when we play him,” Ryan said of Amaro. “Look, we weren’t perfect, and I never said we were going to be perfect. But that’s a f—ing b.s. comment. But, hey, he’s happy that he’s got a different coach in place. We’ll see how happy he is when I play against him.”
As we mentioned before, Rex and new Jets head coach Todd Bowles have contrasting styles. Ryan is widely known as a players’ coach. He loves to joke around with his team and let them speak freely to the media. Bowles takes more of a no-nonsense approach.
Amaro said last week that Bowles “just wants to win.” Ryan emphatically stated that his goal is the same.
“I want to win the damn Super Bowl,” he told Vrentas. “That’s what drives me. I don’t want to just be known as good. I want to be special. For our team, for our franchise here in Buffalo, that’s what we want.”
For what it’s worth, Geno Smith was benched last year after he was late for a meeting with an incredibly lame excuse. There’s no telling if Smith would have been benched if he was playing well, but you can still argue that Rex held him accountable.
Meetings between the Bills and Jets next season were bound to be personal. This likely gives Ryan even more motivation.
