Rex Ryan will be part of ESPN’s Super Bowl LI coverage this Sunday and a move into television felt like an inevitability after he was fired by the Bills with one game left in the regular season.
Ryan provided plenty of fodder for the media over the last eight seasons as the head coach of the Jets and Bills thanks to heavy doses of bravado when he’d get in front of a microphone. During an interview with Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News, Ryan said that he thinks that boldness helped bring his run with the Bills to an early end.
“I set the expectations too high,” Ryan said. “Like, boy, that’s a shock. In a way, I felt, why not us? I stepped in where the head coach had quit, the defensive coordinator quit and the quarterback quit on them. So, I thought that it was important at the time to say, ‘You know what? Shoot, I believe in you. And I’m proud to be the coach here.’ ... I was all-in. Even though those other three had quit, I wasn’t a quitter. I was ready. And I wanted to be there. And I wanted to win. And I thought I could win.”
Ryan said he’s not bitter about the way things ended in Buffalo -- “maybe that $15 million [salary left on his contract] is one of the reasons” -- but adds that “I just don’t wish [the Bills] luck” as they move forward with new coach Sean McDermott. Ryan said he “got two opportunities when a lot of great coaches don’t get any” but doesn’t sound like he’ll be rushing to take on a third now that he’s found his way into the television business.
“The one thing about [TV] is that you don’t lose,” Ryan said. “You’ll remember every damn loss. But the wins? You don’t necessarily remember. So, it takes a lot out of you. I’m tired of getting f---ked. Unless it’s a real situation, there’s no sense of getting into it again.”
That situation may not materialize, but Ryan’s willingness to shoot from the mouth makes it a good bet that he’ll be part of the football landscape for a long while anyway.
