FOXBORO -- When Rex Ryan was relieved of his head-coaching duties in Buffalo earlier this week, one would expect that Bill Belichick must have had some sort of reaction.
The two matched wits on 17 different occasions since 2009 over the course of Ryan's time with the Jets and Bills, with Belichick winning 12 of those (3-1 versus the Bills, 9-4 versus the Jets).
Ryan's had a long, weird history with Belichick and the Patriots -- which DJ Bean chronicled here -- but Belichick still chose not to react one way or the other when the topic of Ryan's firing was broached at Friday's press conference.
"Are you going to miss," Belichick was asked, "the element of competition that came along with coaching against Rex Ryan in the AFC East?"
"Yeah, right now we’re just thinking about Miami," he replied. "We’re not thinking about anybody else."
In all likelihood there will be a day at some point in time when Belichick reflects on his matchups with Ryan. But two days before the regular-season finale and three days after Ryan was fired wasn't it.