Archives for November 2015

'"Last year, it was an emotional win for me," said Fitzpatrick, who now with the Jets is starting for his fourth different team in the last four years. "Anytime you play against a team that tells you you're not good enough, that carries some extra weight and so this one will carry extra weight for me. But that being said, the farther removed we are from that, the more the faces have changed. I don't know as many guys on the team anymore."'

'"There's so much made about the captain thing, you guys know how I do the captains," Ryan said to reporters Tuesday morning. "I'm a little shocked, to be honest, that so much is being made of I.K. being the guy. But I'm not going to change how we do things, it's something that we've always done and that will never change."'

'"Ah, really?" Fitzpatrick said. "Well, that's all right. I have five kids, so something's working for me."'

'"I don't know why you guys are acting surprised," Smith told reporters. "I don't think you are surprised. No one should be surprised by this. That's that. He's always done that. He's always done that. I was with him for two years. He's always done that whenever we go up against another team. I fully expected that. It wasn't something where I thought he was going to take a shot at me or anything like that."'

'"He's right," Ryan said. "Because what else am I going to do, just stand up here? I got attention, but I got it at the right spot. He's mad because Clemson put it on Louisville again this year. I don't know what to tell you."'

'"It's the truth," Ryan said when asked how he can downplay the significance of returning to New York. "We're just trying to prepare for a game in a short week. Would it have been different if it was longer? Maybe. But at no point was I like, 'I had this one circled.' Everybody knows me. I circle the Patriots. That's what I do."'

'Among players surveyed since Sunday, when this week of Rexmania began, Pryor’s opinion of Ryan qualified as by far the most critical. Seeing him again will be strange, they said. A little disorienting, but nice. That reaction applied to Smith, who said he was hardly surprised that Ryan opted to name his attacker as a captain.'

'“Yeah I mean he’s always done that. I was with him for two years,” Smith said. “He’s always done that. I fully expected that. It wasn’t something where I thought he was going to take a shot at me or anything like that.”'

'“It was definitely kind of disrespectful,” Pryor said. “You have a guy who was once here who hit a teammate. To make him a captain going into this game, if you’re going to make him a captain just make him a captain. You don’t have to announce it on Monday, for the whole world to know.”'

'“I don’t get it. I really don’t get it,” Ryan said of the criticism. “You guys know me. I’ve been around…you guys know how I do the captains. If this was an isolated deal where I just threw a guy out there then I can understand it. But this is what we do every single week.”'

'"He's right," Rex told the media in Buffalo. "What else am I going to do? Just stand up here. He's mad because Clemson put it on Louisville again."'

'“You have a guy who was once here who hit a teammate,” Pryor said. “To make him a captain, going into this game … if you’re going to make him a captain, just make him a captain. You don’t have to announce it on Monday for the whole world to know. That’s his decision. We have to move forward.”'

'“Right now, the thing that’s disappointing to me is that beard,” Ryan told reporters in Buffalo after complimenting Fitzpatrick’s playing ability. “I mean you look at him like, ‘Really kid?’ So he’s not a real handsome kid.”'

'If Ryan had Fitzpatrick, he might still be the Jets coach. Instead, his last three seasons were sabotaged by erratic performances at quarterback. It began in 2012 when the arrival of Tim Tebow undermined Mark Sanchez, who would start 15 games but throw more interceptions (18) than touchdowns (13) and suffer the infamous “Buttfumble.”'

'The Jets experienced some very good times under Ryan, and they were an awful lot of fun on his watch, too – more at the beginning than toward the end. Which is why Ryan ultimately was fired: The losing overtook the winning. It happens.'