Never afraid to let people know what he’s really thinking, former Bills head coach Rex Ryan told the New York Daily News what exactly he’s looking for in his next coaching gig… where ever that may be.
“I set the expectations too high,” Ryan told the Daily News in a wide-ranging interview on Monday night, his first since getting fired before the Bills season finale against the Jets. “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.’ Every bit of that was true. I put that truck (with the Bills logo) around town. 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.”
“… Let me tell you, I stripped that damn truck the day I got fired,” Ryan added with a laugh. “F–k you guys.”
“The one thing about (being on 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.”
Ultimately Ryan’s distaste with the Bills and hesitation when it comes to that next coaching gig is understandable. The often times candid coach was fired after going 15-16 in Buffalo over two seasons and canned five days before the Bills faced his former team the New York Jets at MefLife.
If you ask Ryan, his undoing with the Bills’ front office probably came with his refusal to bench Tyrod Taylor in the who the team didn’t want to pay more than $30 million in guarantees if he suffered a devastating injury on the field.
From a business standpoint for the Bills, the request to bench Taylor is understandable, dirty but understandable. It’s also understandable from Ryan’s standpoint, especially when you consider the late Philip Seymour Hoffman’s line from Moneyball when he told Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) that he’s going manage the team in a way he could justify in job interviews over the winter.
Or something along those lines.
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