Woody: 'I have a lot of respect for Rex'

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. - Owner Woody Johnson backed his coach yesterday, one day after Rex Ryan was peppered with questions regarding a foot-fetish report about Ryan and his wife, Michelle, that surfaced on Deadspin.com.

"I have a lot of respect for Rex and his family," Johnson said at the team's training complex. "My respect hasn't diminished one iota."

Asked if he had spoken to Ryan to offer him support, Johnson said, "He's still the coach of the New York Jets."

The most recent embarrassing incident in an 11-month span full of them came Wednesday, when the team had to toss buckets of water on another smoldering brushfire that Ryan kept saying was a "personal matter." Four foot-fetish videos surfaced, including one in which the cameraman sounds a lot like Ryan.

Johnson had no reaction to the unflattering footage.

"I don't really want to talk about that," he said. "I'm going to respect Rex and how he wanted to characterize it. It's a personal matter, and that's the way it is."

Johnson initially was made available to talk about the situation revolving around strength and conditioning coach Sal Alosi, who's been suspended indefinitely for tripping Miami's Nolan Carroll and ordering players to form a sideline wall. But there's been little movement on Alosi's status, and Johnson doesn't have a specific timeframe for when he'll make a decision.

SEE PHOTOS10 greatest Jets ever

"I'm not really putting it off," he said. "We've looked at what he did."

Johnson said he spoke to Dolphins owner Steven M. Ross.

"I apologized to Mr. Ross and asked if his player was OK,'' Johnson said. "He assured me that the player was fine. He accepted the apology and he said, 'No problem.' But if it's not a problem to him, it's a problem to me. I also called Bob Kraft and said the same.''

Was that because of the comments special-teams coordinator Mike Westhoff made to a Chicago radio station, implicating the Patriots as a team that's used sideline walls before?

"I called Bob about any comment that we may have made and how he interprets those comments," Johnson said, adding: "We don't want to be insulting . . . Our job is not to insult another team, particularly from a coach or owner's standpoint. That's not what we're here to do."

Despite what many believe is an inordinate amount of off-the-field incidents, Johnson said he doesn't feel the Jets have an image problem.

"I disagree with that. I disagree,'' he said. "First of all, I disagree with the word 'inordinate.' I think if you read other media in other towns, I think you'd find perhaps another thing. Not to use that as an excuse, but there won't be any organization I don't think in the public media that's more accessible than we are, and I'll stand by what I said earlier.

"I think we are pretty good addressing each one of the incidents that we've had this year. I hope we won't have quite as many going forward."

Going forward, the Jets (10-4) have an important game against the Bears at Soldier Field on Sunday. A Jets victory will clinch a playoff berth.

"It's pretty exciting,'' Johnson said. "We've got to get the job done this week, and that's what we are preparing for right now. Even through this, I think the team is very, very focused, maybe even more focused than usual.''