Rex offers insight into his trash talk

In last week's episode of HBO's Hard Knocks, Rex Ryan took a verbal shot at Redskins cornerback DeAngelo Hall after a late hit on LaDainian Tomlinson after a long run. Ryan suggests Hall should have made the play closer to the line of scrimmage.

"You aren't gonna tackle anybody," Ryan shouted. "That's why my brother got rid of your [butt]!"

Ryan was referring to his brother, Rob, the former Raiders defensive coordinator at the time Hall was released from Oakland around mid-season.

I asked Ryan about it, and he feigned ignorance at first.

"I never said anything about DeAngelo Hall," he said. "I just said something about a player that was out there. Maybe you guys were making an assumption that it was DeAngelo Hall."

But Ryan admitted, of course,that it was Hall, and explained why he sometimes gets so worked up in games.

"It's just a thing that you do," he said. "I think [Hall] is a heck of a player, but when you’re out there, there is a different switch that goes on in you. Everybody is against you. That’s how you approach it: If you don’t play for us, we don’t like you and so we’ll say things. Things just come out. Usually it comes right back to you. They fire right back at you most of the time. It’s just one of those things, a little competitive thing that happens sometimes."

I asked Ryan if he ever surprises himself when he watches footage of his actions during a game.

"Yes, sometimes," he said with a laugh. "When you get the game, you’re like ‘Oh boy.’"

But he said he will not put a filter on what he says.

"I’m not going to try to change,' he said. "I’m just going to be myself.. I’ve said that. I’m too far gone [anyway], I think."