Rex Ryan cries at team meeting; denies reports of wanting to be fired

Image courtesy of LOL Pats

The New York Daily News reported yesterday that New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan wanted to be fired if Jets owner Woody Johnson failed to make significant off-season personnel changes to boost the team.

The Daily News has learned that Ryan, the swashbuckling point man who dominated the headlines for the past four seasons, has intimated to “anyone who will listen” that he would be better off getting fired if Johnson isn’t willing to rectify player personnel and coaching issues on offense, according to sources.

The report also stated that Ryan "would also be amenable to taking a one-year hiatus and working in television."

After reading the report, Ryan was extremely upset. So much so that he adamantly denied asking to be fired, and called a team meeting where he apparently cried in front of the players.

From ESPN:

"That is totally untrue," Ryan said. "The fact is -- and it's simple -- this is the only team that I want to coach, period. And I think anybody that knows me knows that I'm telling you the truth."

Ryan, who was "mad as a hornet" after he read the New York Daily News story, held a team meeting where players described him as both angry, and so upset that he openly cried.

"Rex has always been a fighter and he taught us how to fight," running back Joe McKnight said. "... It hurt him to say stuff like that. He was crying too, he was that mad, that hurt. You hurt a man like that and he cries."

Who do you believe? Rex or the Daily News reporter? NFL.com seems to be siding with the reporter, posting an article on how the reporter stands by his report and claims it to be 100% true:

Ryan shot down the report -- written by Daily News beat reporter Manish Mehta -- as being "garbage" and "untrue" while questioning why his comments from a Thursday night conversation with Mehta weren't included in the story.

During a Friday call-in interview on SNY, Mehta said his report was "100 percent accurate" and explained he didn't include any quotes from Ryan because it had been agreed that their conversation was off the record...

...Ryan is wasting his breath trying to discredit Mehta, who has been breaking stories on the Jets beat all season. Ryan is better off trying to figure out the identity of the unnamed sources who seem intent on undermining him.

This season has been an absolute circus for the Patriots' arch rival. While it appears as though changes are in the works for the Jets, part of me hopes that the carnival stays in town another year or two. Or forever.