In his last couple of years as Jets coach, Rex Ryan toned down his press conference performances quite a bit from the entertaining shows that they were in his first few years with the team.
Ryan’s lack of job security may have had a lot to do with that, but that’s not an issue any more. Ryan has plenty of job security in Buffalo and his press conference was a throwback to his first day on the job with the Jets in 2009.
Ryan opened by tapping the microphone and asking if it was on because “it’s getting ready to be on.” Ryan stopped short of guaranteeing the Super Bowl win he never delivered to the Jets, saying only that the team would pursue the Super Bowl with everything they had in the tank. He was willing to make another promise that probably sounded good to long-suffering Bills fans.
“It’s been 15 years since the Bills made the playoffs. Well get ready, we’re going,” Ryan said.
Ryan, who denied a report that he preferred the Falcons and 49ers jobs to the one in Buffalo, kept going from there. He said that the Bills would build a “bully” and see if other teams want to face them for 60 minutes, that the Bills would lead the league in defense and took a shot at former Buffalo coach Doug Marrone by saying that the team deserved a “loyal coach.”
There was some humility, most notably Ryan’s admission that he needs to do a better job developing a quarterback, but it was mostly a vintage Ryan performance. He invited other teams to put his comments up on their bulletin boards because the Bills would be backing all of them up.
It was definitely a win in the press conference for Ryan and the Bills. One thing we’ve learned over the last six years, though, is that a win at the press conference doesn’t mean nearly as much as a win on the field.