Buffalo Bills head coach Rex Ryan isn't one to bite his tongue and when it comes to the New England Patriots, he has had plenty to say during his seven seasons as a head coach in the AFC East.
Patriots vs. Bills 2015: Rex Ryan isn’t a New England fan
Rex Ryan has been a head coach in the AFC East for seven seasons and he has had things to say about the Patriots every step of the way.
While 2015 is his first season with the Bills, Ryan is making up for lost time and making his feelings about Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and the Patriots known. On Sunday, the Bills will host the Patriots for the first time during Ryan’s tenure in Buffalo and while he’s keeping things relatively tame, the Bills are making it clear that the Patriots are the team they want to take out.
One day after dealing the Indianapolis Colts a 27-14 loss in Week 1, Ryan told reporters that he spent plenty of time during the offseason preparing for the Patriots and that he was fired up for the "hated" rivals to come to Ralph Wilson Stadium.
“They’re kind of the hunted in my eyes, because they’re the world champions. So they obviously won our division every single year that I’ve been here. So obviously they’re the ones that you want to knock off.”
Make no mistake, in all the years of Ryan’s head coaching career, he’s had plenty to say about the Patriots, but there has always been a deep-seeded respect for the team consistently atop the AFC East.
Rex found early success vs. Belichick
Ryan's dislike of the "hunted" Patriots dates back to his arrival as the new head coach of the New York Jets. Early in his first season in New York in 2009, Ryan left a voicemail for Jets season-ticket holders asking them to make it "miserable for Brady & Co. and seem like there's 13 or 14 guys out there on defense."
“I admit that I’m not as good as Belichick, but at the end of the game, I want to be 1-0 against him,” Ryan ended the message. “So, help me out if you don’t mind. That’s my challenge, OK? Thank you. Bye.”
The Jets won that game against the Patriots, 16-9, and while New England evened the score nine weeks later with a 31-14 win, New York finished with the No. 1 defense in the NFL and advanced all the way to the AFC Championship.
New England lost to the Jets in Week 2 again in 2010, and were booted from the playoffs when Ryan’s team traveled to Gillette Stadium and beat the Patriots, 28-21, to advance to the AFC Championship again.
Momentum came to a grinding halt
That victory in New England turned out to be the pinnacle of Ryan’s rivalry because the Jets hardly even competed with the Patriots over the next four seasons. A 30-27 win in 2013 was the only victory in the next eight matchups, which included embarrassing moments like the butt fumble.
Throughout those four years, Ryan had plenty to say about the team atop the AFC East including "I don't like Tom Brady" and "I came here to kick [Belichick's] butt."
New England has earned the AFC East crown in each of the last six seasons and have always brushed off Ryan’s comments, and nothing has changed now that he’s in Buffalo.
Bill Belichick: "I think our record against [Rex Ryan] has been OK. We'll take it."
— Mike Rodak (@mikerodak) September 16, 2015 All things considered, though, Ryan’s comment that the Patriots are “the hunted” because they’re world champions isn’t that controversial or heated. Instead it’s the Buffalo players that are picking up the slack.
Ryan’s players bring the heat
Defensive tackle Marcell Dareus told Tyler Dunne of Buffalo News "don't nobody like the Patriots" and some of his teammates agreed:
In the locker room was safety Aaron Williams: "I don't like New England so, yeah, it's definitely personal for me. Me saying that may run a lot of stories. But that's just the way I feel."
Ryan’s players in New York also had no problem letting the world what they thought about the Patriots. In 2011, Jets cornerback Antonio Cromartie told the New York Daily News exactly what he thought about Tom Brady.
Okay, what kind of guy is Brady?
”An ass----.
“---- him.”
While Ryan has never been that crass when talking about the Patriots, he hasn’t bit his tongue when asked about them. On Thursday he said that his recent lack of success against Belichick and co. will change now that he’s in Buffalo.
“The Patriots have been the most dominant team in the National Football League the past 10 years, but this year is a different year,” Ryan said. “I’m going to put that caveat out there. It’s a different year and we’ll see who is the king of the mountain at the end of this season.”
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