Tom Brady Yells Out ‘Rex Ryan!’ at Line of Scrimmage
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The Patriots often wait to do their talking on the field, and that’s exactly what Tom Brady did Monday night—literally.
On the Patriots’ first drive of the contest against the Bills, Brady shouted “Rex Ryan!” at the line of scrimmage to change into another play. Brady played it coy postgame when he was asked if the audible was a shot at the braggadocious head coach, saying the Patriots change up their signals on a regular basis.
“We have a lot of unusual terms,” Brady said. “I think we run the gamut. So we’ve got to get creative and think of different things. That one is pretty unique.”
Rex Ryan!! pic.twitter.com/d42v1XVD5J
— Jason Gay (@jasongay) November 24, 2015
Tom Brady yelling REX RYAN at the line is a top-10 troll job in history
— Bruce Arthur (@bruce_arthur) November 24, 2015
Fittingly, the play was a run up the middle for running back LeGarrette Blount that only resulted in a one-yard gain. In addition to aggressive defenses, one of the hallmark of Ryan’s teams is a moribund offensive attack. The Jets finished in the bottom third of the league in points scored in four of his six seasons as head coach.
Ryan, a Hall of Fame troller himself, said after the game he enjoys a strong relationship with Brady.
Rex Ryan on Brady calling out his name presnap: “He likes me, I know that.”
— Tim Britton (@TimBritton) November 24, 2015
The Patriots and Ryan have a long history of tweaking each other. When Ryan was hired as Jets head coach in 2009, he said he wasn’t “there to kiss [Bill] Belichick’s rings.” Prior to the Patriots and Jets’ playoff matchup in 2011, former Pats wideout Wes Welker made 11 foot metaphors in a pregame press conference, an overt reference to a homemade foot fetish video starring Ryan’s wife that was leaked earlier that season. Welker was benched for the first series of that game for daring to show a personality.
Ryan spent much of the last week denying he’s preoccupied with the Patriots, telling the Boston media in a conference call that they’re the ones who are “obsessed with them,” not him. Though Brady doesn’t provide any bulletin board fodder at the podium, his customized audible is an indication that the apparent fixation goes both ways.
