Who said there’s no crying in football? Jets coach Rex Ryan, with his team gathered before him for the morning meeting yesterday in the wake of the previous day’s devastating 24-22 loss to the Jaguars, delivered an impassioned speech to his players that was so emotionally-charged it brought him to tears.
The memorable moment simultaneously stunned his players and made them want to run out of the auditorium right then and there and board the bus to Foxborough, Mass., for Sunday’s last-stand game against the Patriots.
“He didn’t bash us at all; he was just very emotional . . . he was crying,” right tackle Damien Woody told The Post. “Rex believes in our team so much I can’t even put it into words and it would be a shame if we didn’t capitalize on our opportunity.”
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That opportunity, of course, has been severely impaired by five losses in the last six games, though the Jets continue to insist they’re better than their 4-5 record says they are.
“I was a little upset to see him that way,” cornerback Darrelle Revis told The Post. “I’m upset for the same reasons he’s upset.”
Asked if he’s ever been a part of a meeting with such high-powered emotions, Revis said: “No, I haven’t been a part of a meeting where a coach cried like that. . . . In the future, I hope there are more tears of joy than the one this morning.”
After the Jets won the season opener in Houston — Ryan’s first NFL victory as a head coach and the start of a 3-0 run to begin the year — Ryan, who wears his emotion on his sleeve, cried in front of his team.
“I’d much rather have it that way,” Ryan told The Post, comparing his emotion in Houston to yesterday’s display. “Houston was great, but this one . . . I’m just being myself and sometimes that happens. Very rarely, but it happens.”
Woody remembered those tears in Houston.
“This was a different type of emotion,” Woody said. “I’ve seen him cry after we won the first game. That was emotional. This was different. He just showed you how much he cares about the team.”
Ryan’s moving moment took place as he was telling the players how much he still believes in them.
“He was talking about the situation — this upcoming game with New England and how we’re still there, how we still have a pulse,” Woody said. “He said it’s all about us, that nobody believes in us and that we are the only ones who believe we can get things done.
“He said, ‘I believe in you; I believe you get can get this thing done,’ and that’s when he really got emotional.”
Ryan’s reaction had a profound effect on many in the room.
Revis said Ryan implored the players to stick together, even bringing up the training camp in Cortland, N.Y.
“He’s not getting [potential] out of us and [the] team meeting was very emotional because of that,” Revis said. “He said one of the reasons he brought us out to Cortland was get together as a team and be close. Right now it’s a struggle for us because we’ve lost [five of six]. He was telling us to get back to where we were in Cortland and stick together as a team so we can rack up some wins.
“We know how good we are and I don’t think we’re really focusing in on things and he just had to bring it out with the passion and the crying to let us know we can do something special if we really want it.”
Woody said he felt fired up after the meeting.
“Whatever each individual is doing, just step it up,” Woody said. “Rex’s thing was to just sell out. That’s the type of guy you want to play for. He knows the potential for this team and what we’re capable of.
“He wants guys to understand how good we can be if we just do the little things. It all goes back to his belief in this team. That’s why he was so emotional. He was crying because he believes in our team so much he sees the opportunity and it would be a shame if we didn’t capitalize on our opportunity.”
As bad as things look after the Jets’ latest loss of calamitous proportions, the opportunity for the team took a turn for the better with the Patriots’ collapse in Indianapolis that night. That loss means the Jets go to New England on Sunday with a chance to sweep the season series with the Patriots and be a game out of first place in the AFC East.
“It was a gift,” Woody said of the Patriots’ loss. “We could have been three games back if they had won the game. The fact that we’re two back, as far as things we’re trying to accomplish there is a pulse.
“But the gift is only good if you can capitalize. We’ve got to capitalize on it. We want to take advantage of this opportunity, because it’s there. It’s not something that’s impossible. It’s tangible.”
As tangible as the tears streaming down Ryan’s face yesterday.