Jets coach Rex Ryan came across as either ill informed or dishonest yesterday while answering questions about “Hard Knocks.”
The news came out Friday that the Jets declined a repeat appearance on the HBO reality show. Asked about it at a charity event yesterday, Ryan pleaded ignorance.
Asked the thought process behind turning it down, Ryan first turned to a Jets media relations staffer as if looking for a go-ahead to talk about it.
“Whatever, I don’t even know. This is news to me,” said Ryan, who prides himself on transparency.
The NFL likely has asked the Jets not to comment publicly on turning down the show, after numerous teams have turned down “Hard Knocks” so far.
Ryan, owner Woody Johnson and general manager Mike Tannenbaum were at a charity walk to raise money for the Alliance for Lupus Research at MetLife Stadium.
Johnson is the founder of ALR. But Johnson refused to speak to reporters, a strange move considering it was a charity event important to him. It is possible Johnson did not want to get tripped up by any questions regarding “Hard Knocks.”
Ryan and Tannenbaum touched on a few other issues:
* Ryan on Darrelle Revis calling Patriots coach Bill Belichick a “jerk” and saying Belichick has been disrespectful toward the Jets: “It just tells you how fierce this rivalry is. I know one thing: We’re going to do whatever we can to beat them. They’re going to do whatever they can to beat us. We know they’re an excellent football team. … They’ve won our division the last three years. We want to win our division. We know we have to beat themIt goes through New England.”
* Tannenbaum on the Jets getting a contract done with first-round pick Quinton Coples: “I don’t foresee any big issues on that. I would never comment [specifically] where we are, but barring anything unforeseen… I would think our rookies will sign this year fairly uneventfully.”
* Ryan on when the Jets will begin installing special plays for Tim Tebow: “Right now we’re at the beginning stages of putting in our offense. [Offensive coordinator Tony Sparano is] putting in our offense. As far as a timetable, I don’t know about all that. We’re just trying to put in our base offense right now.”
* Tannenbaum on Joey Clinkscales, who quit as Jets vice president of college scouting this week to take a job with the Raiders: “Joey’s a good friend. We’ve been together a long time. He got a great opportunity, good organization, big step up in responsibilities. I’m really happy for him. We’re going through the process right now [of finding his replacement]. We really don’t have any updates yet.”