Jets coach Rex Ryan was smiling and cracking jokes, but he had to feel some pain after getting stabbed in the back by his former defensive coordinator Mike Pettine.
There was no blood running down his backside, but Ryan looked somewhere between wounded and ticked off while answering questions Thursday about a story linked to Pettine that, intentional or not, makes the Jets coach look reckless.
“He needs to learn to be quiet,” was the message Ryan jokingly had for his former assistant, who is the rookie head coach of the Browns.
Ryan should have been gloating about his team after the final practice of mini-camp at Florham Park. The players’ families were on hand, the grills were smoking hot and the barbecue was about begin — celebrating the last workout until training camp opens at Cortland in July.
But first Ryan had to come up with answers for why a Jets defensive playbook may have wound up in the hands of Bill Belichick and the Patriots and why it was, according to Ryan, “a lot to do about nothing.”
The controversy was created by an article titled “The Accidental Coach of the Browns,” in which Pettine tells a story about Patriots quarterback Tom Brady suggesting a “couple” of the Jets’ playbooks wound up in New England.
“It didn’t shock me because Rex would give them out like candy anyway,” was the quote attributed to Pettine. “He gave one out to [Alabama coach Nick] Saban and I was like, ‘Don’t you know Saban and Bill are pretty good friends? I have a feeling it’s going to end up in New England.’ ”
In essence, Pettine made Ryan look bad in explaining why he won’t follow the same practice in Cleveland.
“I don’t understand what he’s trying to gain by it,” Ryan said of Pettine, “but again, that’s up to Mike.”
Ryan mostly tried to joke his way through his explanation. First he said a playbook initially given Saban during a “four- or five-day visit” would have been no real use to the Patriots because “every single game, your game plan changes. It’s always game-plan-specific,” Ryan said.
Then he seemed determined to refute any notion that the acquisition of said playbooks somehow adds to the idea that the Patriots use performance-enhancing methods to achieve victories. (See: Spygate.)
“It’s disappointing it ends up sending a message that, ‘Oh, here it goes again that they have some kind of advantage,’ ” Ryan said. “It’s not factual.”
Any average football fan understands game plans are developed from week to week, and Ryan handing a generic playbook to Saban, who then may have passed it to Belichick, wasn’t the main reason the Patriots have won three of their last four games against the Jets.
“You change all the time,” Ryan insisted.
Understood.
Still, it’s Pettine’s quote — “Rex would give them out like candy” — that makes Ryan look reckless. Where’s the loyalty? Pettine was a former Pennsylvania high school coach when Ryan nurtured him as linebackers coach with the Ravens from 2005 to 2008. Pettine eventually was named the Jets’ defensive coordinator when Ryan became the Jets’ head coach in 2009. Yet one of the many rumors surrounding the Jets was that Pettine was leaking information to certain media members.
That’s part of the game these days. Assistant coaches get tight with media, who then mention them as possible candidates when openings develop for head coaches.
Pettine, who spent last season as the Bills’ defensive coordinator, was a surprise choice in Cleveland. Yet he is savvy enough to know his quote about Ryan was going to create some noise in today’s world of Twitter, social media and 24-hour sports headlines. Maybe that’s what he wanted.
You weren’t sure exactly how Ryan stood when asked about his relationship with Pettine.
“It’s in a bad spot right now,” he said. “Like really, dude … seriously. Obviously, I think the world of him. I’m proud of the fact that he’s in the spot he’s in now. I think he’s earned it.”
Now someone take the knife out of Ryan’s back.