There are a few certainties in pro football. Death, taxes, and Rex Ryan ripping the Patriots unprompted without any clear instigation.
Last week, the former New York Jets and Buffalo Bills head coach went off in a rant critiquing Bill Belichick’s coaching process. Setting aside that Belichick is widely regarded as the greatest football coach in the sport’s history, Ryan’s diatribe rang a little stale. It read as if Ryan was waiting specifically for Belichick’s team to finally fall to the bottom of the abyss after roughly two decades of excellence.
But then again, that’s par for the course for Ryan, who has four career playoff wins, compared to Belichick’s 31. Ryan probably needs something (anything) to cling to as the decisively inferior football figure:
More Rex Ryan on the Patriots: "Tom Brady was the only reason you won anyway. I'm just telling you the difference… I said they would never win again when he trotted down to Tampa." pic.twitter.com/wLCO5IoarJ
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 27, 2023
On Monday, Belichick finally caught wind of Ryan’s harsh critique during an episode of The Greg Hill Show on WEEI in Boston. When asked his thoughts about Ryan calling “The Patriot Way” culture an exhausting endeavor for players, Belichick had a succinct but accurate response.
Ryan has never coached with the Patriots or been associated with them in any meaningful fashion outside of a “rivalry” he stirred up to keep his teams motivated. Well, Bill — when you’re right, you’re right:
"Rex has never been with the Patriots, I'm not really sure what that means either"
Bill Belichick reacts to Rex Ryan's comments regarding the 'Patriot way' pic.twitter.com/AIRTGpi8e0— The Greg Hill Show (@TheGregHillShow) December 4, 2023
Blasting Belichick’s processes is easy as the Patriots languish about to the NFL’s second-worst record. It’s the definition of kicking someone when they’re down. However, outside of manufactured drama, I don’t much remember critiques like Ryan’s when New England was playing in the AFC title game every year and winning Super Bowls in the NFL’s greatest dynasty ever. To be clear, Ryan often still made cutting remarks — because he needed a villain to pin a tail on — but people mostly turned a blind eye to them.
Even with the Patriots finally falling back to Earth, this should still be the case. Ryan just wants to throw dirt on New England’s disastrous 2023 campaign, nothing more. That doesn’t mean he has any idea what constitutes building pro football’s finest run of success with a culture that, up until now, had seemed impregnable.
