Rex Ryan is coming for Jace Amaro.
The New York Jets tight end made headlines last week when he blamed the club’s 4-12 season in 2014 on a lack of accountability. Amaro added that things are much different now under new coach Todd Bowles.
“He’s not really playing around with everyone being late. We had an issue with that last year,” Amaro said on Sirius XM NFL Radio, per ProFootBallTalk. “Guys just weren’t accountable last year as much as they could be. I think that’s the biggest thing, he’s making sure everyone’s gonna be 100 percent in or he’s not going to be on the team.”
Ryan, who now coaches the Buffalo Bills, obviously was none too thrilled about the subtle diss.
“He’s full of s–, and I’ll remind him of that when we play him,” Ryan told Sports Illustrated’s Jenny Vrentas in an interview for The MMQB. “Look, we weren’t perfect, and I never said we were going to be perfect. But that’s a f–ing b.s. comment. But, hey, he’s happy that he’s got a different coach in place. We’ll see how happy he is when I play against him.”
While we don’t know exactly what went on behind closed doors, at least one example from the Jets’ 2014 season comes to mind that backs up Amaro’s comment. Quarterback Geno Smith missed a meeting before the team’s Week 5 matchup against the San Diego Chargers, blaming the time zone change for his confusion. Despite the weak excuse, Smith started and New York was blown out 31-0.
The Jets seem to be in the back of Ryan’s mind, though.
“I want success for (Jets owner) Woody Johnson, I do,” Ryan said. “But don’t kid yourself — we’re gonna try to kick the s– out of them when we bring our team in. We’re going to try to whip your ass. There are people in that organization who are going to be lifelong friends to me. But this is my damn football family now.”
Thumbnail photo via Kevin Hoffman/USA TODAY Sports Images
