Rex Ryan Clarifies That the Jets Can Sleep with Their Wives Before Playing the Patriots

It’ll be an interesting match-up between the Patriots and the Jets this weekend, not the least because of a goofy clarification Jets coach Rex Ryan was forced to offer the media about what behaviors are and aren’t allowed out of his players as they prepare for the game.

According to kick returner Josh Cribbs, quoted in the New York Daily News, Ryan told his players (charmingly), “Don’t do nothing for your wife.” This was interpreted by some to mean that players should avoid wasting energy on, ahem, bedroom activities so they could keep focused on defeating the Patriots. Cribbs, though, thought Ryan was focused more on unnecessary household chores that might distract his guys. Cribbs said:

“Say baby, next week. You’ll take out the trash next week. I’ll take the kids to practice next week but I’ve got to rest for this game. I’m going to tell [Ryan] to put it on paper so when I give it to my wife, I can be like, ‘Rex said that I don’t got to take out the trash.’ So he might get a call.”

But other players had their minds in the same place as reporters. “‘Most definitely,’ defensive lineman Sheldon Richardson told the Daily News when asked if Rex’s message included “hanky panky,” (to use the paper’s phrase.)

This so entertained players and reporters, many of whom have carried headlines on the subject, that Ryan had to come into the media room and clarify that no, Jets players weren’t banned from having sex. (God, imagine if a reporter put that question to Belichick.) It’s perhaps worth noting that if the Jets were supposed to abstain, they’d be in a fine tradition of athletes who have sworn off carnal pleasures in the days before competition. Though with some studies actually suggesting that sex before competition might improve performance, we New Englanders are left a bit disappointed that Ryan wasn’t feeling more Puritan.