<
>

Rex Ryan: 'I certainly didn't interfere with the official'

Rex Ryan said little following Monday night's loss to the New England Patriots about a third-quarter play in which officials inadvertently blew dead a play that ended in a completion to receiver Danny Amendola.

However, in a scheduled appearance Tuesday on WGR 550, Ryan expounded on that play and a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against him for what referee Gene Steratore called "obstructing" the play.

Here is the full exchange between Ryan and the hosts:

There was the penalty on you for being in the white area [on the sideline]?

Ryan: Yeah that was interesting. I actually never knew I got a penalty. Yeah, that was … I never bumped into anybody. I was wondering, like, why – if you’re saying, No. 1, I think that should be blown dead, period. I mean, it was blown dead. Marcell [Dareus] stopped. [Ronald] Darby stops. Everybody stops. And then the inadvertent whistle or whatever. And they say, well, by rule, where he caught the ball is where he’s gonna spot the ball. And I’m like, ‘Well, he never caught it here. He caught it, you know.’ And then they’re like, ‘Well, oh yeah, we had a penalty on you.’ I’m like, ‘What?’ Like, ‘You had a penalty on me? It wasn’t – we’ll leave it to the officials to explain it, because I’m sure they’ll do a much better job of explaining it. I can’t remember exactly what was told to me. I was thinking more in shock than anything else.

From what I read today, they mangled that. You hear the whistle before the ball was caught.

Ryan: Guys, right before it’s thrown is when the whistle happens. So that’s -- Marcell stops. And then everybody stops. The thing I don’t understand is how you can give it a completion if the whistle is blown there, while, let’s just say the ball is in the air when the whistle blows. The fact of the matter is, everybody stopped.

It feels more like me to a compromise ruling, because if the whistle isn’t blown – and it shouldn’t have been – maybe Amendola goes all the way.

Ryan: Maybe he does, because my guy stops. I got news for you: I’ll go all the way if the guy stops. So what happens if my guy would have made an interception? Because he’s still continuing the play. I don’t know. It’s easy to say, ‘Well, he would have scored.’ Yeah, my defenders stopped. My guy stopped because that’s what you’re trained to do when the whistle blows.

Did you end up in the white because the whistle blew?

Ryan: No, but I think that would be the – and I could sit back and say that – but that’s not the case. I was telling my guy, ‘Come get him, come get him.’ Trying to cut him off. And I’m just trying to get my guy to close the gap on him, and that’s really what happened. But I wasn’t on the field of play. OK, I was in the white. I got news for you: a lot of times coaches are in the white. I certainly didn’t interfere with the official, I can tell you that much. In my view. They can say something else, but quite honestly, I never got that one. And it’s hard not to take it personal because are you going to flag Bill Belichick on this? I don’t know.