Rex Ryan sent a message to Quinton Coples last week, telling reporters that he wasn’t happy with Coples’ performance in the weight room.
Thanks to modern technology, the message was received.
Coples said he found out about Ryan’s remarks when his manager got a Google alert in his inbox.
“He’s a coach and he spoke how he felt and I took it, moved on and got better this week,” Coples said, via Conor Orr of the Newark Star-Ledger.
Ryan’s intent was obvious on several levels, including the continuing mockery of the term “voluntary” workouts. If you don’t volunteer, you get called out, and perhaps worse down the line.
Coples said he hadn’t talked to Ryan since then, but he agreed with the coach’s assessment.
“I wouldn’t say I got too comfortable, it was just during a drill, it was videotaped and I could have given a better effort,” Coples said. “The next day when we came back in, I gave better effort. . . .
“I wasn’t shocked by it, it was something he did and I responded well. I responded in the weight room and I got better.”
Which means, mostly, that Ryan’s tactic worked.