A day after Bill Belichick accused the Jets of cheating by pushing, Rex Ryan pushed back.
The Jets coach did not appreciate Belichick saying Gang Green employed the same illegal pushing technique on field goal blocks as the Patriots were flagged for in overtime in Sunday’s 30-27 Jets win.
Ryan denied the Jets pushed and then tweaked the hooded Patriots coach.
“That’s not true,” Ryan said Wednesday. “That’s not true. He’s got to make up his mind. Was he aware of this thing? Was it, you know, second-level, all this kind of jazz? Or now the story is we did it. OK. I’ve got you. The fact is we’re moving on. We earned that victory, plain and simple. We’re focused on Cincinnati now.”
It was a rare feisty moment for the toned-down Ryan, but the Patriots seem to bring that out in him. Ryan surely is annoyed the penalty call in overtime has overshadowed his team’s first win against New England in nearly three years, too.
Ryan was referring to Belichick’s initial statements after Sunday’s game that he did not believe the officials called the rule correctly because he thought it was only a penalty if a player off the line of scrimmage (on the second level) pushed a teammate on the line of scrimmage. A day later, he admitted he was wrong about the rule.
Belichick kept the controversy alive Tuesday when he responded to a question about the Jets reportedly tipping off the officials that the Jets were illegally pushing each other on field goal attempts.
“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.”
But Ryan could not let that slap go without retaliation, and it’s another example of him pushing the right buttons this season. The Jets will love Ryan standing up to Belichick and having their backs.
Ryan has done a tremendous job this year of getting his players to buy into his message. The Jets, who were left for dead by most NFL followers this summer, are 4-3 and preparing for another tough test with the Bengals this week.
Jets players heap praise on Ryan, who repeatedly has told the Jets they are better than anyone gives them credit for. Guard Willie Colon said the key has been Ryan has told them they’re good, but he’s also kept them humble.
Colon described an example of this from training camp. He said the Jets had a bad day of practice and Ryan called the team together and told them, “we’re not a good enough team to have throwaway practices. We have to come out and work our tails off each and every day.”
“I think not selling us dreams and not selling us fluff keeps us right where we need to be,” Colon said. “Telling us, ‘Hey, we’re good but we’re not great. We can be great, but it’s how much work we put into it.’ I think that keeps us very grounded and humbled. I think that’s why we’re starting to have success now. Guys are starting to realize we’ve got to go to work. No one’s going to give us anything. It’s working in our favor.”
It also is working in Ryan’s favor. With one year remaining on his contract after this year, Ryan was viewed as a lame duck coach by most entering this year. But new general manager John Idzik has to be impressed with what he’s seen from Ryan, who has put together a top-flight defense and kept the team believing despite a large number of critics.
Ryan has maintained since the offseason that the talk of his job security never has bothered him.
“It really never has been about me, the security, all that kind of stuff,” Ryan said Wednesday. “When I say it, I’m telling you the truth, it’s not how I think. But the fact about being picked 32nd , all this and that, yeah, I’d be lying if I said that doesn’t motivate you [and] drive you a little bit to say, ‘hey , we’ll show you.’ ”
Ryan has showed them so far this season and he showed he’s not taking grief from anyone this season, including Belichick.