Yet somehow the talk this week has been about a Jets playbook falling into the hands of the Patriots.
Tom Brady once hinted to a New York assistant that the Patriots might have had come into possession of Jets playbooks. Pettine wondered if Ryan’s decision to give a playbook to Alabama coach Nick Saban — a mutual friend of both Ryan and Bill Belichick — played a role.
It isn’t the first time that Pettine has taken a jab at Rex. In his first press conference with the Browns, Pettine told reporters that he isn’t Rex Ryan.
“I won’t be predicting Super Bowls or meeting presidents,” Pettine said after being announced as the 15th head coachof the Cleveland Browns.
He did acknowledge that he wouldn’t be standing there without Rex. But he also spoke about how much he helped, “keep Rex organized”.
An ex Jets front office executive defended Rex Ryan with this tweet:
In the JetNation Forums, Lego the Lageman summed it up perfectly when he called him Mike Pettiness.
History will decide who made who but I feel comfortable saying that Rex Ryan will have a far better, and longer, head coaching career in the NFL than Mike Pettine will. Let the pettiness continue…