Rex Ryan: Reggie Bush owes apology to Darrelle Revis

Rex Ryan isn't finished with Miami Dolphins running back Reggie Bush.

The New York Jets coach told reporters Wednesday he's still waiting for Bush to apologize to Darrelle Revis after suggesting the cornerback's season-ending knee injury was karmic payback for the Ryan's promise to pour "a little hot sauce" on Bush before their Week 3 showdown.

Bush injured his knee in the game but returned the following week. Revis, meanwhile, was lost for 2012.

Ryan told NFL.com and NFL Network's Kimberly Jones that Bush should mend fences with Revis. "They're peers," he said.

"I don't want an apology," Ryan said, per The Palm Beach Post. "I understand where Reggie's coming from. He was injured, and that's not good. It's obviously not good for him, and it's not good for the league. My comments, I certainly didn't mean that. I never want to hurt a player in this league. I've got a great deal of admiration for all the players that play in this league.

"I hope he understands my sincerity in the fact that Reggie Bush is such a player that we are going to pay special attention to him, and I got news for him, we're going to do it this week also. ... I certainly don't want to see him hurt, ever, but when he made the comments about Revis, obviously a guy that's lost for the season who is one of the guys that's great for this league, one of the elite players in this league, it's not good for anybody in the league to have him out."

Ryan said last month that Bush "misinterpreted" his hot-sauce soliloquy.

The star running back took offense to Jets coach Rex Ryan’s remark the week before that his team would put a little “hot sauce” on Bush. A few days after the game Bush said Revis’ season-ending left knee injury was an example of “what goes around comes around.”

Yesterday, Ryan said Bush misunderstood his “hot sauce” remark and that Bush should apologize for his Revis comments.

“I apologized for my comments, and I expect him to do the same,” the Jets coach said. “I never was saying we were going to try to injury Reggie Bush. That’s not even close.

“He’s going to get our attention. I’m sorry, but he’s the type of player that’s going to warrant a lot attention and we’re going to give it to him. ... That was what I meant by my comments. If it was taken differently, out of context or whatever, I apologize for that. Trust me, we know when he’s in the game.

“He is still going to get our attention, but his things about Revis and all that kind of stuff … look, I understand that he got hurt in the game and that’s bad for football. We never want to hurt a player. I respect him as a player. I have a tremendous amount of respect for him. I never want to see that.”

In South Florida, Bush was not buying Ryan’s explanation

“I don’t believe that. I don’t believe that at all,” Bush said. “But it is what it is. Like I said, the great thing about divisional games is you get to play them twice.”

Meanwhile, Jets safety LaRon Landry added his two cents, saying the Jets might be in Bush’s head after the injury. Landry was one of the Jets in on the tackle when Bush was injured, hitting him low and then clapping when he got up after Bush was injured.

“He will remember that hit,” Landry said. “Every time he sees me, he’ll remember the hit if I’m in the box or coming downhill, he will remember that hit.”

Bush has not been the same back statistically since the injury, failing to top 67 yards in any game. Landry said the injury could be on Bush’s mind.

“Just watch the way he runs,” he said. “We’ll see when he comes out here this Sunday. I’m not going to over-talk it and make a story.”

Bush was asked if he expected any retaliation for his remarks about Revis.

“Retaliation? They’re the ones who started it,” Bush said. “If there was ever any retaliation it would come from us. But you know what? With this team, and the caliber of guys and character of guys that we have, we play with respect for the game.

“It’s football. I didn’t go and complain or whine about being a target of the Jets. I expect that every game. So I wouldn’t expect it to be any different this game.”

Calvin Pace exacerbated the situation last month with his postgame comments that the Jets “had to put (Bush) on out.” Ryan and Pace’s words prompted Bush to take a less-than-sympathetic approach toward Revis’ ACL tear.

“They talked all week about putting hot sauce and this and that, and they ended up losing their best player,” Bush said at the time.

Ryan clearly still isn’t happy with that, but he quickly backed off his initial hard stance of getting an apology.

“I don’t want an apology,” Ryan told Florida reporters. “I understand where Reggie’s coming from.”

However, Ryan hoped that Bush would, at the very least, would apologize to Revis.

“I don’t expect one,” Ryan said. “I think maybe Revis or whatever. I’m sure (Bush) got caught up in the moment. He was injured. Obviously nobody likes to get hurt. That certainly wasn’t my intention. I hope he understands that. He doesn’t have to ever say anything to me or even reach out to Revis, but I would expect him to just for the simple fact that that’s his peer. That’s one of the elite players in this league.”

Dolphins coach Joe Philbin said on Wednesday that he didn’t see any intent to injure on the play after he watched the game film. Ryan maintained that he wasn’t worried about whether the Dolphins would seek payback on Sunday.

Bush also wasn’t overly concerned with retribution for his comments about Revis.

“Retaliate?” Bush said. “They started it.”

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It’s a circle Dolphin coaches hope will never be broken.

A young player arrives, raw, eager to learn, and a veteran steps forward and becomes his mentor. It happened when Jason Taylor taught Cam Wake how to play outside linebacker three years ago, and it’s happening again now with Wake and rookie defensive end Olivier Vernon.

“I remember Koa (Misi) doing the same thing (Vernon) is doing now a couple years ago,” Wake said. “Coming to me and asking, ‘What are the packages?’ ‘What do I do when they do this?’ I want to pass on my wisdom as much as I can, and help him utilize the assets he has.”

Vernon was about as raw as a rookie can get when he arrived as a third-round pick out of the University of Miami last summer. Leaving UM after his junior year, he took Wake as his role model at the defensive end position and, with his playing time limited early this season, has watched and learned.

“When I’m on the sidelines during a game I just look at him and I’m like, ‘Man, how did you do that?’ ” Vernon said. “He gives me some pointers and I try to apply it.”

Wake said their size similarity — Wake is 6-foot-3, 258 pounds while Vernon is 6-2, 268 — means they face similar challenges in getting to the quarterback.

“We’re that ‘Too big to be a linebacker, too small to be a defensive end’ size,” he said. “You’ve got to have a mentality every time you step on the field and you’re giving up 80 pounds to an offensive lineman. You’ve got to be able to say, ‘I don’t give a blankety-blank how big you are, I’m just as strong, and powerful, and explosive.’ And he has that.”

Vernon impressed General Manager Jeff Ireland in a workout prior to the draft, but was still surprised when the Dolphins, who were switching from a 3-4 defensive scheme to a 4-3, selected him.

“I could have sworn I was going to a 3-4 team, because every team I met with was playing a 3-4 scheme,” he said. “So when I came to the Dolphins and heard (they were playing) a 4-3, I was like, ‘All right, cool, I’ll put my hand back in the dirt.’

“But the coaches have given me a little leeway with a two-point stance. I feel a lot more comfortable in a two-point stance (standing up).”

Before most every practice, Ryan Tannehill does his best Mike Miller impersonation (minus the balky back, of course).

Tannehill spends five minutes lofting footballs into a small, netted target from a considerable distance, like Miller unleashing a deep three. On Wednesday, Tannehill couldn’t seem to miss, dropping most every toss into the intended target.

On Sundays, he has been just as effective.

Through the first six games of his young career, Tannehill is at his best when chucking downfield. On throws of 20 yards or longer, Tannehill has completed 11 of 19 passes for 395 yards, two touchdowns and, most importantly, no interceptions. His quarterback rating at that distance — a sparkling 137.5.

“It’s been unusual for a rookie or any about else to have that kind of accuracy on the deep ball,” Jets coach Rex Ryan marveled Wednesday. “He takes shots and hangs in there and makes accurate throws down the field. It’s been impressive.”

Tannehill is not only one of the league’s best deep throwers (statistically, at least), but, surprisingly, he is also far better at that than he is on intermediate routes.

The rookie’s completion percentage drops to 50 percent, and his quarterback rating to 55.9, on passes between 10 and 19 yards, according to Pro Football Focus.

When asked to explain that disparity in effectiveness Wednesday, Tannehill merely shrugged.

“I think there’s areas of improvements in both situations,” Tannehill said. “You go back to the [first] Jets game, there were some balls downfield that I left out of bounds. Those are huge plays for us, if you just let the guy try to make a play.

“You’ve got to improve in both areas.”

He’ll have a chance to do just that come Sunday, when the Dolphins face the Jets once again. (He completed 16 of 36 passes for 196 yards and threw a pick when the teams met a month ago.)

And, based on New York’s changes in personnel, there’s reason to believe Tannehill will fare better this time around. Jets all-world cornerback Darrelle Revis tore his ACL in that game and is out for the season.

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The war of words continued yesterday with Dolphins center Mike Pouncey firing back at Jets linebacker Aaron Maybin.

“He’s a joke,” Pouncey told reporters in South Florida.

This comes a day after the Jets, including head coach Rex Ryan, and Dolphins running back Reggie Bush went back and forth. Maybin told ESPN.com the Jets “want to knock [Bush] out of the game, but we’re out to do it legally.”

Pouncey took offense to that and then called Maybin out about his limited playing time this year.
CRAZY TALK: After saying the Jets wanted to knock Reggie Bush out of Sunday’s game, Aaron Maybin became the target of several angry Dolphins yesterday.
CSM/Landov
CRAZY TALK: After saying the Jets wanted to knock Reggie Bush out of Sunday’s game, Aaron Maybin became the target of several angry Dolphins yesterday.

“He won’t even play enough to hurt Reggie,” Pouncey said. “I don’t even want to talk about talk about him. He’s a joke.”

When asked if he would say anything to Maybin, he said: “I guess if I’m on punt block, I’ll say something to him.”

Maybin has played just 23 percent of the Jets’ defensive snaps this year and does not have a sack.

When he is on the field Sunday, Maybin may want to watch his back.

“You can tell Aaron Maybin that we’ll be after him on Sunday,” Pouncey said on ESPN Radio.

Maybin did not want to respond to what Pouncey said. He denied using the phrase “knock him out.”

“There was no trash talk coming from this side,” Maybin said. “Basically, I’ll say the same thing I said yesterday: We have to stop the run and that means eliminating Reggie Bush. However people want to take that out of context that’s fine, but I’m not going to get into it.”