FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The big question to arise along with Rex Ryan’s middle right finger salute to rowdy Dolphins fans Saturday night is this: What’s the fallout?
Earlier this season, Titans 86-year-old owner Bud Adams was fined $250,000 by the NFL for giving Bills fans a double-barrel one-finger diss during a game.
So the natural question is this: Does that mean Ryan, who used only one hand to deliver his lewd message at that Mixed Martial Arts event in South Florida, is in for a $125,000 hit — half of Adams’ punishment from the league?
A league source told The Post yesterday that is not the case at all, because when it comes to poor conduct from its players and coaches, where the incident took place is a factor in doling out punishment.
“There’s a distinction between conduct such as that during a game or at the team’s facility or during a press conference and conduct that occurs away from the game,” the source said.
The source made the example that the Adams incident took place during a game on national television.
“There is a distinction. I don’t know what that distinction is in terms of a decision being made [by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell],” the source said. “It’s a factor in the decision. Apparently, some fans were getting after Rex [at the event] and he turned around and did what he did with a smile on his face, instead of charging [the fans]. It has to be looked at in its full context.”
The league source also said that it’s very likely that, if the Jets fine Ryan internally, the league would not follow up with another fine.
“The Jets said in their statement [by general manager Mike Tannenbaum] that they might do something,” the source said. “This is not double-jeopardy. If a [team] imposes discipline on the employee, then [the league] doesn’t usually do it.”
Given the way the league handles these matters, it’s a safe bet to say the Jets will impose a manageable fine on Ryan to keep the league out of it.
After the NFL caught wind of the Ryan incident, NFL spokesperson Greg Aiello said the league “is looking into” it. “There may be a fine and there may not be,” Aiello said. “There hasn’t been a determination.”
You can bet, with the Super Bowl this week, that “determination” won’t come from the league until next week at the earliest, if at all, if the Jets fine him.