It didn't take long for Rex Ryan to fire back at Jace Amaro.
The New York Jets tight end, who played under Ryan as a rookie, said a little more than a week ago that Gang Green wasn't held "accountable" and had several instances of tardiness last season.
In a sprawling interview with The MMQB's Jenny Vrentas, the new Buffalo Bills coach took issue with Amaro's characterization and vowed retribution.
"He's full of (expletive), and I'll remind him of that when we play him," Ryan said. "Look, we weren't perfect, and I never said we were going to be perfect. But that's a (expletive) b.s. comment. But, hey, he's happy that he's got a different coach in place. We'll see how happy he is when I play against him."
From the outside, the end of Ryan's tenure in New York felt somewhat like an NFL-version of the last days of Caligula. Two high-profile players reportedly missed or were late to meetings -- quarterback Geno Smith and first-round pick Calvin Pryor.
Ryan even admitted he felt like a lame duck for much of the last two seasons.
"They were trying to pull away from me," he said. "Like it was my fault, somehow, that people identified the Jets with me, and that was a bad thing and not a good thing. I was just being who I was. From that point on I knew I wasn't going to be long for that job."
It would have been natural if those sorts of underlying feelings led to some transgressions going unchecked.
Still, Amaro must face Ryan's defense -- which has the potential to be the most physical in the NFL -- twice next season. There is more than a good chance the tight end gets whacked a few times while running his routes.
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