Rob Ryan Goes Full Rex When Asked About Patriots: 'We Are Going To Beat Them'
By Matt Dolloff, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- It's freaking May and Rex Ryan's Buffalo Bills have already delivered some fresh bulletin board material for the Patriots. This time, the needless bluster came from Rex's brother Rob, who joined the team as an assistant head coach in January.
Rob Ryan, who won two Super Bowls with the Patriots as linebackers coach in 2001 and 2003, was asked in a Q&A along with Rex by Jenny Vrentas of MMQB if he knew all the Patriots' secrets from working under Bill Belichick, a.k.a. "Rex's greatest coaching nemesis."
"Absolutely not. All the respect in the world for Bill Belichick," he said. "That was fantastic training working for him for four years, and I learned a ton. Look, he is the No. 1 nemesis of every coach in this league. So it's not just Rex."
But here comes the good part.
"I am sure the respect [between the teams] is mutual. But I know one thing, we are going to beat them. We are together, we're going to beat the best. It's two against one. Him one on one against any coach in the league, that guy is pretty damn good. And he's also got his best buddy Tom Brady with him. He trained him, and he single-handedly made him great as well."
Love how Rob just goes all-in on the Rex-iness. Doesn't beat around the bush. Doesn't say things like 'We aren't afraid' or 'We're going to be ready for this one.' Nope, just straight-up "We are going to beat them." He also said he and his brother Rex are "going to beat him, and we're going to beat [Belichick] together." In total, the brothers mention Belichick by name nine times in the Q&A.
Rex should tell his brother that literally predicting wins has rarely worked against the Patriots.
Also, how about that subtle dig at Tom Brady? 39 years old, four Super Bowls, about to become the winningest quarterback ever, and still has to deal with these kinds of comments. Bill Belichick "single-handedly" made Brady great? You could argue that it's the other way around.
Ultimately, the Pats' run is the combination of dominance at both the head coach and quarterback positions, executing and winning in perfect harmony. The last thing you should do as a Patriots opponent is just hand the team extra motivation as easily as Rob did here. He might as well have distributed printed copies of this story around Gillette Stadium.
The Bills play the Patriots for the first time in Week 4, which could potentially have Jimmy Garoppolo under center. If they pull off Rob's guaranteed win on that day, the victory will ring hollow - much like Rex's smack talk in the past several years.
Matt Dolloff is a writer for CBSBostonSports.com. His opinions do not necessarily reflect that of CBS or 98.5 The Sports Hub. Have a news tip or comment for Matt? Follow him on Twitter @mattdolloff and email him at mdolloff@985thesportshub.com.
