Rex Ryan On WFAN: Jets' Amaro 'Is Going To Be Accountable For His Comments'
NEW YORK (WFAN) -- Rex Ryan says New York tight end Jace Amaro will get what's coming to him when the Jets and Bills meet on the field.
Buffalo's new head coach has responded for the third time in the span of a week to comments made by Amaro, who took a parting shot at Ryan when he said the Jets lacked accountability in 2014.
"It's not the truth. And that's the thing that I was saying. It's absolutely not the truth," Ryan told WFAN radio's Kim Jones on Saturday. "That kid's a little, you know, he's gonna get -- we'll see what happens. I just know it's not the truth, and for him or anybody else to pop off like that, I think it's absolutely a joke."
The Jets fired Ryan after a disappointing 4-12 finish in 2014, the team's fourth straight year missing the playoffs. The coach, popular among his players, took some knocks in the media for not benching Geno Smith after the quarterback missed a team meeting in October.
Ryan said Amaro's criticism didn't sting as much as it could have, considering the source.
"Now, look, if (Jets veteran) David Harris would have said something or D'Brickashaw Ferguson, Nick Mangold or something, I'd be hurt by it," he said. "I would be absolutely devastated by it. But a kid like that? Nah. I know him, and that doesn't bother me one bit."
Ryan told Sports Illustrated that his former player was "full of s---," calling the remarks "f---ing B.S." He followed up the profanity-laced rebuttal by saying Amaro "is the least of my worries" during a press conference Wednesday. Then came Saturday's interview with Jones in New York.
"I think the kid's got some talent," Ryan said of Amaro, a second-round pick who was targeted 53 times but struggled with drops in his rookie season. "But, you know, I'm just going to leave it at that. I just know one thing: he totally misspoke. And you talk about accountable -- he's going to be accountable when we go to play him. He is going to be accountable for his comments."
As for his relationship with the Jets organization, Ryan told Sports Illustrated that he started to get the feeling he was being marginalized when, after the firing of general manager Mike Tannenbaum, the new regime called a meeting in early 2013 to discuss branding and the differences between "brash" and "bold."
Ryan, still brash as ever, went into more detail on WFAN.
"Basically, it was clear then that they were trying to push away from me," he said. "I never asked to be the face of the franchise. It just turned out that way, but it's the way it is. ... But in my opinion it was pretty clear, and I am sure it was clear to every single person that was in the meeting, which was actually every employee.
"They really never had to have had that meeting. They should have just told me. They wanted to have it for whatever reason -- maybe a new sheriff is in town or whatever. So be it. No big deal to me. But it was pretty obvious that they were wanting me to take more of a back-seat role, which I did. I'm a team guy, and if that is what they wanted, all they had to do was tell me. But it was pretty obvious to me."
Listen to the full interview for more, including Ryan's thoughts on the Jets' roster last season, Tannenbaum's replacement, John Idzik, and his outlook for the Bills:
Rex Ryan
Ryan was hired by the Jets in 2009 and led New York to consecutive AFC Championship game appearances in his first two years.
