Rex Ryan and Mike Pettine used to vacation together every year in Hawaii. On Thursday, it sounded like Ryan would like to choke his former assistant with a lei.
Ryan was agitated by the insinuation from Pettine, who is now the head coach of the Browns, that he messed up by giving Alabama coach Nick Saban a Jets defensive playbook several years ago and that Saban then passed it along to Patriots coach Bill Belichick. Pettine made the comments to the website themmqb.com.
Ryan and Pettine were once as close as brothers. Ryan mentored Pettine, a former high school coach, with the Ravens and made him his defensive coordinator with the Jets from 2009-12. But the two had a falling out in 2012 and are no longer close.
Pettine’s loose lips made it worse.
“It sounds like everyone needs to talk to Pettine because apparently he’s got all the information,” Ryan said.
In the article, Pettine says he wants to keep his initial playbook thin with the Browns because he feels it will end up in Belichick’s hands based on his experience with the Jets.
“I don’t put a lot of graduate-level information in it,” Pettine told the website. “We know in places like New England, it’s only a matter of time that they somehow mysteriously end up with our playbook.”
He said Patriots quarterback Tom Brady once intimated to former Jets assistant Mike Smith the Patriots may have had a copy of the Jets playbook. The conversation occurred at Wes Welker’s wedding in 2012. Smith and Welker were college roommates.
“It didn’t shock me because Rex would give them out like candy anyway,” Pettine said. “He gave one out to 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.’ ”
Saban was Belichick’s defensive coordinator with the Browns from 1991-94. Saban and Ryan are also friends. Ryan spoke at a coaches clinic at Alabama a few years ago.
Ryan said he did give Saban a playbook when Saban visited the Jets for four to five days a few years ago. An Alabama spokesman said the playbook is still in Saban’s office in Tuscaloosa and he would not send someone else’s playbook to anyone under any circumstance.
The comments from Pettine clearly irritated Ryan.
“I think it’s disrespectful to New England to sit back and say that, ‘Oh, they did this,’ ” Ryan said. “I can tell you that every single game that we’ve ever had with New England has been decided on the field. Nobody has had a competitive advantage. Nobody has had anything else. That’s a fact.”
Ryan also discounted the idea that having this type of playbook would give a team any advantage. Teams change their playbooks weekly during the season as they game plan for different opponents.
This is not the first time Belichick and the Patriots have been accused of being underhanded to gain an edge. The “Spygate” scandal stains their three Super Bowl titles and Belichick’s legacy. Asked about these allegations on Thursday, Belichick said: “Talk to Mike Pettine. I don’t know.”
Pettine could not be reached for comment to clarify his remarks. A Browns spokesman said he is on vacation.
Oddly, the whole situation had Ryan defending Belichick and ripping his former close friend.
“He needs to learn to be quiet,” Ryan said of Pettine.
Ryan seemed hurt that Pettine would attempt to make him look bad.
“I don’t understand what he’s trying to gain by it,” he said. “Again, that’s up to Mike. He’s certainly free to do whatever he chooses.”
He was also annoyed that Pettine would make excuses for losing to the Patriots.
“They never had an advantage when we played them – ever. It’s just they’ve outperformed us,” Ryan said. “The times that they beat us they’ve outperformed us. It’s as simple as that. … To discredit somebody, especially a guy like Belichick, who is a real coach, studies his butt off, I think it’s ridiculous. To me, there’s no merit to it.”
Asked where his relationship stands with Pettine, Ryan half-jokingly said, “It’s in a bad spot right now. I’m like, ‘Really, dude, seriously?’ ”