Add the Ryan family honor to the list of things that will be at stake Saturday when the Jets face the Giants at MetLife Stadium.
Sure, there are huge playoff implications for the team that wins or loses the game. Bragging rights as New York’s best football team are meaningful, too. But Jets coach Rex Ryan has something personal at stake, knowing the son of Buddy Ryan can’t let Kevin Gilbride beat him in an important football game.
It was nearly 18 years ago during a January game against the Jets at the Astrodome in Houston when Buddy Ryan, then the Oilers defensive coordinator, took a swing at Gilbride, then the Oilers offensive coordinator. The confrontation played out before a national television audience and was one of the most memorable incidents in NFL history. The two coaches were ready to go mano-a-mano on the sidelines before being separated by stunned players and coaches.
Gilbride is now the offensive coordinator for the Giants, and with all the pride Rex Ryan takes in his dad and his family name, losing to Gilbride is the last thing he wants on his resume. Though Rex hasn’t mentioned Gilbride by name when he talks about the Giants, don’t think the incident is forgotten.
According to Warren Moon, the Oilers starting quarterback at the time, the feud between Buddy Ryan and Gilbride began at training camp for the 1993 season.
“Buddy took the job as defensive coordinator and had a lot of pride and was very aggressive and believed in his 46 defense,” Moon told The Post yesterday. “We went against it in practice with our Run-and-Shoot offense and had our way with them a lot of the days. Buddy didn’t like the fact that we moved the ball against his defense. And that’s where it started as to who was the better coordinator. I don’t think they were friendly throughout the season.”
The animosity came to a head on Jan. 4, 1994. The Oilers had a 14-0 lead with under a minute left in the first half, but Gilbride wanted to score more points and called for a pass play. Quarterback Cody Carlson, playing for a resting Moon, dropped back to pass and had the ball knocked away. The Jets recovered but wound up missing a field goal en route to a 24-0 defeat.
Ryan thought Gilbride should have run the ball to end the half, and told him so as the two exchanged words and came to face-to-face. That’s when Ryan threw a straight right that grazed Gilbride’s face. Ryan was 59 at the time, Gilbride 42.
“I couldn’t believe that was going on,” Moon said. “It’s a good thing they got separated because Kevin liked to lift weights with us back then and he was strong and in shape. If he would have gotten a hold of Buddy, it would have been ugly.”
Rex Ryan watched that game on television and once said he thought his father might be black-balled from the league and ruin his own chances of becoming an NFL head coach. But Buddy Ryan was hired to be the Cardinals’ head coach next season and added Rex Ryan to his staff.
“I was fortunate that the Cardinals hired my dad [later in 1994] and I was able to get that opportunity to coach with him,” Ryan said. “That was huge. If I don’t have those two years coaching under my dad, I wouldn’t even have come close to being the coach that I am now.”
Moon said Rex and his brother Rob Ryan are too much like their father to forget what happened 18 years ago.
“They are definitely his sons,” Moon said. “They both are very confident to the point of being cocky. They believe in what they coach and how they coach it. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree.”
That’s why the Ryan family honor will be at stake Saturday.