We all know how Rex Ryan feels about Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots. So when his former defensive coordinator accuses the Pats of cheating, you’d think Ryan would laugh and/or agree.
That was not the case when Rex was asked about Mike Pettine’s assertion that the Patriots have gotten their hands on opponents’ playbooks before.
Pettine told Greg A. Bedard of The Monday Morning Quarterback that Tom Brady once bragged to a Jets assistant coach about how New England had copies of a couple of the Jets’ defensive playbooks. The Browns coach also said he is not surprised, since he heard Ryan hands out playbooks “like candy.” Rex seemed bothered.
“One thing I know for a fact, it’s disrespectful to New England to say, ‘oh, they did this…” Ryan said, via CBS New York. “Every single game, your playbook changes. Your game plan changes every single week.
“Your playbook, if you study your opponent, is based on your preparation. This thing has probably been blown out of proportion a little bit. To me, this is a lot to do about nothing.”
ESPNNewYork.com’s Rich Cimini said Ryan added that it “ticks (him) off” when people insinuate that the Patriots had some sort of unfair advantage when playing the Jets. Current Jets defensive coordinator said the Pats would have to be able to decode what they were looking at even if they did get a copy of the playbook, so it wouldn’t matter.
“It sounds like everybody’s got to talk to Pettine because it seems like he’s got all the information,” Ryan added. “I don’t understand what he’s trying to gain with it.”
This probably isn’t the type of attention Pettine needs in his first season as a head coach. Whether he was joking or not, he really doesn’t gain anything by making enemies. Maybe he’s trying to take the attention off Johnny Manziel.
