WFNY Podcast – 2012-11-16 – Browns vs. Cowboys preview with TD
November 16, 2012Tyler Zeller to return Saturday; Luke Haragondy out for six weeks
November 16, 2012Lots of quotes came out of Dallas Cowboys practice in the last 24 hours, including two notable former Browns.
Let’s start with the fullback. Lawrence Vickers, a 2006 6th-round pick by the Browns, left as a free agent following the 2010 season. Here were his comments on facing his former team, as reported by ESPNDallas.com:
“It’s personal, why wouldn’t it be? It anybody tells you it ain’t never personal when they playing their old team they’re lying to you. It’s always personal. They just keep it quiet. Of course it’s personal. It’s not like, oh, I just got to get them or nothing like that. But I’m going to take it personal because I’m playing against my old teammates and my old organization, and I want to win.”
Then, of course, there’s the always-out-spoken Rob Ryan, brother of New York Jets coach Rex Ryan. Now the Cowboys defensive coordinator, Rob was in Cleveland with the same position from 2009-2010. Here were his comments as reported by ESPNDallas.com when asked if his bitter toward his former employer:
“Absolutely. I spent a lot of time in those offices, too. In fact, I slept in them for seven straight weeks when I said, ‘Hey, I’m not going home until we win a game.’ I’ll never say that again. … Any time you pour everything you have into it and apparently management didn’t see it as if it was good enough, of course it’s personal.”
Ryan also added this garb about former Browns head coach Eric Mangini and what he considers to be a lack of opportunity given by the team’s management:
“Eric is a good friend of mine. He hired me to do a job. Hell, I did it and got everybody fired anyway. I don’t know why, but I wasn’t in charge of that decision. But I plan on doing something about it.”
Of course, Ryan’s players had to do some clean-up work so as not to provide too much posterboard material for the Browns — something that usually works the other way around in non-Ryan coaching establishments. Bruce Carter, a second-year linebacker who’s getting more time for Dallas in the absence of All-Pro Sean Lee, retorted with this final comment:
“We don’t want to make it too personal and get out of our game.”
[Related: WFNY Podcast – 2012-11-16 – Browns vs. Cowboys preview with TD]
3 Comments
Rob Ryan’s an asshat. In his defense, Holmgren’s a bigger asshat. The idea that Holmgren might go to Dallas and fire Ryan again… priceless
Vickers’ comments were very well constructed and seemed grateful at the very least.
This is priceless: “I spent a lot of time in those offices, too. In fact, I slept in them for seven straight weeks when I said, ‘Hey, I’m not going home until we win a game.’”
At some point does he realize that losing for (at least) seven straight weeks might be a more important factor than sleeping in the office for seven straight weeks in evaluating his performance?
Self-pity is such a wonderful thing.
Because Ryan’s the only assistant coach in history who wasn’t kept on after the head coach was fired. So we can definitely understand why it would be personal.
What a sniveler.