ESPN’s decision to add former New York Jets and Buffalo Bills coach Rex Ryan to Sunday NFL Countdown has created some interesting moments this year, especially with his back-and-forth with former Jets’ quarterback Geno Smith (now with the Giants).
Last Sunday, Ryan said “I love Geno Smith. Great guy. I just don’t want him playing quarterback for me.” Smith then responded with “I did see one of my ex-coaches say he didn’t want me to be his quarterback. That really upset me. I saved his job in 2013. We fought our ass for him both years. For him to say that shows how much of a coward he is.” And Ryan shot back again Sunday on NFL Countdown, saying Smith’s chin was “a little soft”:
“And you know what, this might be Geno’s chin. Little soft, that chin’s a little soft there, Geno!”
This all dates back to when Jets’ linebacker IK Enemkpali broke Smith’s jaw with an August 2015 punch, reportedly over a dispute about a $600 plane ticket. That wasn’t the first time Enemkpali got into a fight; ESPN’s Paula Lavigne reported later that month that he had “missed his college team’s 2011 season opener because he injured his hand punching a man he thought was a woman with whom he had arranged to have sex.”
But Ryan clearly took Enemkpali’s side in the dispute, signing him to a deal with the Bills after the Jets released him following the Smith incident and then even making him a team captain against the Jets. And it looks like Ryan still has his trolling instincts on brand.