The head coach of the Jets was asked about Bill Belichick's decision to bench Wes Welker for the opening series of the Patriots-Jets playoff game in January. The decision came after Welker had snuck several uses of the words "foot" and "toes" in a news conference, poking fun at the Ryan's foot fetish controversy.
Ryan said he appreciated the move, but given how the Patriots operate, he wasn't surprised.
"It never surprised me," Ryan said, according to ESPN.com's Tim Graham. "It's not the Patriot way of doing things, so [Belichick] was upset about that. At the time, I was, like, that's pretty cool. It was kind of neat."
Ryan explained that he's often joked via text message with Welker, who was college roommates with Jets assistant Mike Smith, and that there were no hard feelings. From a competitive standpoint, though, Ryan wouldn't mind if the punishment carried into next season.
"[When it happened],I was like, 'Cool! Welker's not there!'" Ryan explained. "Yeah, I would bench him, too. I would bench him for the whole game. Bench him next year."
