Rex Ryan Unloads On Brandon Staley After Loss To Jaguars

Former New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan isn’t exactly someone who will hold back or not be totally honest about what’s on his mind, and after the Los Angeles Chargers blew a 27-0 lead in Saturday’s wild-card playoff game to the Jacksonville Jaguars, he let Chargers head coach Brandon Staley have it.

Ryan not only implied that Staley shouldn’t be coaching a team like the Chargers due to his inexperience, but he had some even harsher things to say about his character.

“This guy is so disrespectful to the game…he’s been reckless ever since he took the job.”

Rex Ryan crushes Brandon Staley. 👀 pic.twitter.com/bMQOYLjwPC

— Keyshawn, JWill & Max (@KeyJayandMax) January 16, 2023

“This guy thinks he’s the smartest guy in the room,” Ryan said of Staley. “He ain’t close. He may be in a math quiz or something like that, but this is football. … I don’t think he respects the game. He needs to grow from it. This is what happens when you hire guys with limited experience.”

Staley has been criticized by Chargers fans for months for various indiscretions, including but not limited to leaving his offense on the field in risky fourth-down situations and not turning star quarterback Justin Herbert loose in more of a vertically-oriented passing game.

But it has gotten even worse lately, especially after he decided to play his starters in a virtually meaningless Week 18 contest against the Denver Broncos – until wide receiver Mike Williams suffered a back injury that was later diagnosed as a fractured back.

Perhaps if L.A. had a healthy Williams versus Jacksonville, his ability to score in the red zone and haul in imperfect passes would’ve flipped the result of that contest.

In that contest, as the Chargers saw their lead slowly evaporate, they had a number of miscues on both sides of the ball, some of which were more egregious than others.

This big gain on fourth down by Jags running back Travis Etienne seems to stand out more than perhaps all the others.

TRAVIS ETIENNE JR. ON FOURTH DOWN WOW 😱pic.twitter.com/SSNDaqvdSR

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) January 15, 2023

Somehow, Staley still has his job right now, even though most outside of the Chargers organization feel he doesn’t deserve to.

His only choice now is to, as Ryan said, grow from his failures and show some humility by learning from his more experienced and accomplished peers.