Ryan, a veteran at cursing out Jets fans, was walking toward a stadium exit wearing sunglasses and a blank look with his wife by his side about 40 minutes after Smith heard something he didn’t like from the stands, looked up, and shouted “F--- you,” to a fan giving him a hard time following the Jets’ third straight loss.
Smith played miserably in the clutch again – two fourth-quarter turnovers in the 24-17 loss to the Lions — but the ultra-loyal and stubborn Ryan said Smith will start Sunday in San Diego. The big news after the game was Smith cursing, caught on CBS 2 video.
Taking on the fans is a fight an athlete can never win, especially in New York. Word of Smith’s tirade had not spread when Ryan held his postgame news conference, so he was not asked about it. After I viewed the video a few minutes later, I saw Ryan coming out of the locker room. Clearly his reaction was essential, except Ryan, who likes to say he avoids no issue, was not such a stand-up guy. Maybe the pressure of fighting for his job for the second straight season with a flawed roster, thanks to GM John Idzik, is getting to him, too. The 1-3 record is the Jets’ worst through four games since Ryan arrived in 2009.
As Ryan began the long walk down a hallway to the exit near where his car was parked, I attempted to ask him what he thought of Smith’s mini-tirade. He had Bruce Speight of the Jets’ PR staff running interference and Speight decided Ryan would not speak to the media again until Monday. Finally, as he was about to open the glass doors to leave MetLife after he emerged from behind a dark curtain, I said, “Rex, how do you feel about your quarterback cursing out the fans?”
Total silence.
He continued to look straight ahead. He didn’t flinch. No response. That’s the first time that’s happened in six years.
Thanks, Rex.
His quarterback, a long way from becoming the face of the franchise, is destroying the season. He has seven turnovers in four games and unless Ryan has been assured by Woody Johnson he will be back in 2015 even if he makes it four straight years without the playoffs, then Smith is in the process of getting him fired.
Smith said he “kind of let my temper get the best of me in that situation.” Then he said, “It’s part of my learning process.”
Oh, please.
It’s one thing for Smith to continually attribute his bad mistakes to inexperience – Jets fans are so sick of this after hearing it from Mark Sanchez for four years – but now it’s a learning experience to not say “F--- you” to a fan? The Jets are enabling him on the field just like they enabled Sanchez, but at least Sanchez had the good sense not to curse out the fans, even if Ryan set the standard for him. At halftime of a tough loss to the Patriots in 2011, and just after the Jets had mangled a timeout, Ryan walked up the tunnel to the locker room. He was in a bad mood.
“Hey Rex, Belichick is better than you,” one fan shouted.
