Rex Ryan hit his former team below the belt on Monday.
The Bills coach said defensive end IK Enemkpali, who punched Jets quarterback Geno Smith and broke his jaw in August, will be a captain Thursday night when the Bills face the Jets at MetLife Stadium.
Ryan always has players facing their former teams as captains. He sees no difference here, even though Enemkpali assaulted a member of the Jets.
“I’ll get ripped or whatever, but I do this all the time,” said Ryan, who spent six seasons as the Jets coach. “Anybody that’s played [for that team], you’re gonna see [as a captain]. Will [former Jets tight end Matthew] Mulligan be out there? Yep, he’ll be out there.”
It is the latest stunt from Ryan, who picked Enemkpali up off waivers the day after the Jets cut him in August when he punched Smith, then the Jets’ starting quarterback, over an unpaid debt.
No one around the Jets seemed offended by the move.
“Typical Rex,” wide receiver Brandon Marshall said. “That’s a Rex Ryan move. I mean, are you guys surprised? Love it.”
Asked if it was disrespectful, Marshall said, “He has the balls to do it.”
Todd Bowles, who replaced Ryan in January, had no interest in getting dragged into this conversation. Bowles, the anti-Rex, did not say much.
“He coaches his team,” Bowles said. “He can name whoever captain he wants. We just coach our guys.”
He also was asked if the move was a sign of disrespect to Smith and the Jets.
“We just worry about us. We don’t worry about anybody else,” Bowles said.
Smith was not made available for comment by the Jets.
Enemkpali told reporters in Buffalo, “it’s understood what this game means” for Ryan and him.
“Everything is obvious,” he said. “I don’t gotta really talk about it.”
Enemkpali was then asked if he has contacted Smith since the August scuffle. “Next question,” he said.
Marshall said he did not think Jets players would be looking for retribution against Enemkpali.
“That was so long ago,” he said. “You just reminded me that happened. We’re focused on getting win [No.] 6 and trying to move forward. You’ve got to understand he was a teammate of a lot of people in this room. People make mistakes. Hopefully, he grew from that and he’s a better person for it.”
Bowles said the Jets have not decided who their captains will be Thursday night. He was asked if Smith could be a captain.
“We haven’t discussed it yet,” he said.
Ryan is known for having fun with his captains. He sent former Dolphins guard Richie Incognito out Sunday against his former team even though Incognito was run out of Miami after a bullying scandal. Two weeks ago, he sent the entire offensive line out to tweak former Bills coach Doug Marrone, who is now the Jaguars offensive line coach.
Usually, though, Ryan just sends guys out who are playing in their home states or against their former teams.
“Because I think for them, you put him out there, that was recognized [by] their teammates and their former teammates,” Ryan said. “So I do, if there’s a kid that’s on our roster from [New Jersey], it’s pretty safe that he’ll be a captain also. If there’s a guy that went to high school in [New Jersey], there’s a pretty good chance he’ll be there.
“So that’s how I do the captains. If IK went out there by himself, maybe that would be a different statement. But that’s not what we do.”
Ryan was asked if he might name himself a captain on Thursday.
“We’re checking on that right now,” he joked.