Jets face former coach Rex Ryan on Thursday but won't change approach
Head Coach Rex Ryan of the Buffalo Bills watches the game from the sidelines during an NFL game at Ralph Wilson Stadium on Sunday, Nov. 8, 2015. Credit: Getty Images / Brett Carlsen
The Jets won't change their approach or the way they prepare this week. But facing Rex Ryan will add something to the game -- at the very least, in warm-ups.
"I'm pretty sure I'll talk to him before the game," said linebacker David Harris, who played six seasons under Ryan from 2009-14. "After that, it's business as usual."
Don't expect the emotions of a Rex-Jets reunion to spill over in between the white lines -- at least not for Todd Bowles' team. For them, Thursday's prime-time game against the visiting Bills is about winning the next game on the schedule and defeating another AFC East opponent.
"We love Rex here," cornerback Marcus Williams said. "He's a great coach. But it's not about Rex this week. It's about the New York Jets against the Buffalo Bills."
"Obviously there's some motivation, said receiver Eric Decker, "but I don't think that's going to change how we approach the week."
Ryan and former general manager John Idzik were fired Dec. 29 after the Jets' 4-12 finish in 2014. But he won over his players with his fiery disposition, his tell-it-like-it-is attitude and his brash claims that the Jets eventually would dominate the division.
Brandon Marshall didn't play for the ultimate players' coach, but he knows all about Ryan.
"There are going to be some who look at their sideline and jaw back and forth. Rex will jaw back and forth," Marshall said. "Pretty much all of the guys in this locker room and most people in this facility love Rex -- great coach and great person. Hopefully things work out for him in Buffalo, just not when we play him."
Ryan, however, downplayed his return to MetLife Stadium.
"It's just another opponent right now," he said after the Bills' 33-17 win over the Dolphins on Sunday. "Will that change when I'm in there? That's a possibility . . . It's all about you're playing another team. And I know that team really well . . . And it's no more than that -- I can promise you. It'll be the same way I'm answering it right now until at the end.
"Now after the game, that might change."
