It was once believed that the antics of Buddy Ryan would keep Rex Ryan from becoming a head coach. They didn’t.
It is now believed that the antics of Rex Ryan will keep Rob Ryan from becoming a head coach. Ultimately, they won’t.
The thing that could keep Rob Ryan from ever becoming a head coach (apart from his crazy homeless guy hairdo and a not-so-girlish figure) is his own penchant for chatter.
Yes, Rob likes to talk. And he talks a lot more than Rex ever did when Rex wasn’t a head coach. Rex seemed to instinctively know that he needed to counter the apple-falling-from-the-tree dynamic by behaving a bit more discreetly. Until, of course, he became a head coach.
Rob apparently feels no such constraints. In addition to his slam of the T-bone offense, which came a day after Rex couldn’t stop it, Rob also has taken aim at his team’s opponent on Sunday.
“Shanahan . . . used to punk me,” Rob Ryan said about the head coach of the Redskins, per the Dallas Morning News (via NFL.com). “He doesn’t anymore.”
Rob Ryan is referring to a stretch of games from 2004 though 2008, when Rob served as the Raiders’ defensive coordinator and Mike Shanahan coached the Broncos. Denver won seven of 10 games during that span.
“He’s going to run a stretch play, he’s going to run his boots,” Ryan said. “We don’t know what formation or what personnel groups they’re coming from, but they’re coming.”
That’s fine. And there’s nothing wrong with that last comment. But boasting about Shanahan “not punking” Rob Ryan is the kind of thing that not only can give Shanahan an extra blast of motivation but also make Rob look foolish if he indeed gets punked on Sunday at FedEx Field by Shanahan.
With the jury once again out on Rex’s performance with the Jets and with Rob presumably only destined to get more talkative if/when he becomes a head coach, there’s a chance Rob never will get that opportunity.