Are you ready for fisticuffs between Rex Ryan and Bill Belichick?
Well, it’s unlikely the Jets coach will take a swing at the Patriots coach, but that is what he told his team he was going to do a few years ago, according to one of Ryan’s former players.
“We were playing the Patriots one time,” former Jets running back LaDainian Tomlinson said on NFL Network.
“As I mentioned, Rex is a master motivator, and it was going to be a big game, a heated rivalry game. Rex got in front us and he said, ‘I’m going to set the tempo today, I’m going to set the tempo when I meet Bill Belichick in the center of the field. I’m going to start it off and punch him in the face.’ We loved that. I loved that from Rex.”
Ryan was joking, but he got his point across.
“Yeah, he was motivating his guys and he wanted to jump it off …We won [the game],” Tomlinson said.
Did the players like Ryan’s tactics?
“Absolutely, because our coach showed [the] confidence that he had in us, but in himself,” Tomlinson said. “He can be joking and lighting the mood at the same time while being serious about the competition.”