Sports Radio Interviews

Rex Ryan Keeps It Real On Revis, Sanchez, Hard Knocks and Dungy

Rex Ryan doesn’t care. I believe him when he says that. He’s just trying to win football games and do good by his players. He doesn’t care about negotiating strategy, media speculation, cameras following him around all the time or what Tony Dungy has to say. I think it works. For football and for this team specifically that is built around a hard-nose group of guys in a hard-nosed environment, Rex Ryan is perfect.

He’s probably perfect for the game as well. Love or hate, respect or not, there is little in between for fans, but he elicits attention. He knows what his dad Buddy did with the 1985 Chicago Bears and he has personal experience from the 2000 Baltimore Ravens. This is a once-in-a-decade team like that. It should be so dominant on defense that the offense could rank in the bottom quarter of the league in points scored a game and the team could still be a Super Bowl favorite. He may not care, but he knows what he’s doing.

New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan joined Michael Kay on ESPN Radio New York to talk about expectations for the team now that Darrelle Revis is with the squad, whether being filmed for HBO’s Hard Knocks was a positive experience or not, his responsibility in the negotiations with Revis, Mark Sanchez’s “night and day” progression from his rookie season and losing all faith in rookie Joe McKnight.

On if his team is complete with Darrelle Revis:

“We are not at full strength, but we are at enough strength that’s for sure. We won’t be complete until Calvin (Pace) and Santonio Holmes are with us, but we certainly feel like we have more than enough to get it done… Our chances are a lot better now that he (Revis) is here. It’s funny, last year, we played the entire season and did not have our starting defense out there together – not even for one game. That’s the way the league is. It’s about your entire team. Clearly, Darrelle is the best corner in football. It’s much easier this way than it would have been without him.”

On how close he expects Revis to be to “Revis Island” of 2009:

“He’s probably going to be right there. He looked great today. He’s probably a few pounds over what he normally plays at. There’s probably very few guys that could miss all of training camp and be successful, but I think that Revis is definitely one of them.”

On if doing HBO’s Hard Knocks was a good or bad move:

“I think it shows a true picture of who we are, the type of players we have, the chemistry we have and it shows the organization we have. We do things in a first class manner. We have the top facilities in the league. How we take care of our players, that stood out. I think it might have painted me in a different type of light. From that standpoint, I could have done without a few comments from Tony Dungy and the likes. But who cares? This is who we are. We are proud of who we are. We have nothing to apologize for… Those guys do such a great job, you don’t even know you are being filmed or you forget when you are on the field.”

On if he went screaming out of his meeting with Revis and his agents:

“I was just tired of hearing it from both sides. I wanted the thing to get done. Darrelle wanted to play. I just couldn’t take it. It’s hard for me to understand the thing not getting done. There was definitely some urgency on our part, my part for sure, and on Darrelle’s part. Watching that, I don’t think I’m a very good negotiator.”

On if he were Baltimore Offensive Coordinator Cam Cameron, would he throw at Revis:

“I think he should. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Go for it. Last year, Darrelle was thrown at the third most of any corner in football. So it never worked out too well for other teams. I think, without question, they should challenge Darrelle.”

On if he thinks Mark Sanchez took a step back in preseason:

“I don’t think so. When you look at the entire training camp, he had an outstanding camp. The practices every day, he did some really good things. It may not have translated into the preseason games and things, but I definitely have confidence in him. When you evaluate everything, he is light years ahead of where he was last year.”

And on if he has any faith in Joe McKnight:

“Struggling with it right now. I don’t have enough faith in him right now to make him active. He should be active with the kind of talent he has, but I don’t have any faith in him right now.”

Listen to Rex Ryan with Michael Kay on ESPN Radio New York.

Tags: AFC, AFC East, Darrelle Revis, ESPN Radio NY, Mark Sanchez, Michael Kay, New York Jets, Rex Ryan