The victims in last week’s Nashville incident involving former NFL coach Rex Ryan have come forward. And they are making specific and clear accusations about Ryan’s driving.
Via the California Post, attorney Michael Holland said that Ryan “almost killed” Holland and his wife with Ryan’s pickup truck, as they crossed the street.
“If we had been six inches further out,” Holland said, “I’d be in a hospital right now and so would my wife.”
Added Holland regarding Ryan: “He decided he wanted to turn and didn’t care, and just ran over both of my feet, my wife’s foot and got her leg too.”
Holland contends that Ryan didn’t stop, and that Holland caught up with the truck and pounded on the window.
“He was told in no uncertain terms what he had done, and instead of staying at the scene or even saying, ‘Sorry,’ he just got back in his vehicle and took off,” Holland said.
Holland gave the Post a photo of his wife’s injuries.
“I mean, just another inch or two, and his mirror or bumper would have taken off [my wife’s] knee,” Holland said. “His tire literally was like so close to her that it scraped her leg and ran over her feet and both of my feet. You just can’t do that. . . . My wife has already lost one of her toenails; I’m probably going to lose a couple of mine. Her leg is kind of scraped up . . . it hurt.”
Holland took a photo of Ryan’s red Ford Truck, with a Jets license plate holder and a vanity tag that says “HIT QBS.”
It’s entirely on brand for Ryan. Really, everything about the situation is.
Ryan faces six misdemeanors and is due in court next month. It remains to be seen whether he appears on ESPN’s Sunday morning pregame show.
Then again, with the Patriots playing the Lions at 9:30 a.m. ET on Sunday, it’s not as if anyone will be watching.
Bills Clips
Bills right tackle Spencer Brown (ankle) is doubtful for Sunday’s game against the Jets.
Brown missed the Week 8 win over the Ravens with a back injury but returned for Monday night’s win over the Vikings and played 77 of 80 snaps before his injury.
He had limited work Wednesday before sitting out Thursday and Friday. Tylan Grable will start another game if Brown can’t go.
“As always, I still feel the same with a guy like Spencer, so we’ll see what it looks like tomorrow. That’s why we’re not ruling him out,” Bills coach Joe Brady said Friday, via Alec White of the team website.
Cornerback Christian Benford (wrist), defensive back Sam Franklin Jr. (shoulder), wide receiver Tyrell Shavers (knee) and defensive back Jordan Hancock (hamstring) are questionable. Shavers is in his 21-day return-to-practice window.
Left tackle Dion Dawkins (ribs) and left guard Alec Anderson (ankle) are on track to play Sunday, with full participation on Friday and no injury designation.
It sounds like Jets receiver Garrett Wilson is on track to return to action on Sunday.
Head coach Aaron Glenn said that Wilson has just one more step of concussion protocol to clear and he’s confident the wideout will do so.
“I see that happening,” Glenn said.
Wilson missed last week’s game while in the protocol. He has caught 43 passes for 527 yards with three touchdowns so far this year.
Glenn noted that everyone else aside from linebacker Trevin Wallace (groin) is expected to practice in full on Friday.
That includes rookie receiver Omar Cooper, who has been listed as limited on the first two injury reports of the week with an ankle issue.
New York’s final injury report of the week with game statuses is due out later on Friday.
The recent news that Rex Ryan, of all people, allegedly ran over, of all the things, the feet of a pair of pedestrians in Nashville seems too crazy to be true, absent visual evidence.
Apparently, there is visual evidence.
Via TMZ.com, the incident “was captured on camera.” The video has not yet surfaced, but it presumably will at some point.
Ryan was arrested on six misdemeanor charges arising from the allegation that he ran over the feet of two people while driving a pickup truck on November 12.
ESPN hasn’t said much about the situation. From a one-line statement issued on Wednesday: “We are aware and are in touch with Rex.”
It’s unclear whether he’ll appear on Sunday morning’s ESPN pregame show, or whether he’ll make any appearances while the criminal case is pending.
Ryan, who coached the Jets and the Bills before pivoting to TV, is scheduled to appear in court next month.
The ESPN announcement of the viewership for a given Monday night game always requires a careful look for any information about the viewership of the multiple weekly alt casts on the Disney-owned networks.
This week, the release presented only the total viewership for all platforms, at 21.7 million. The release also mentioned that multppe alt casts “averaged more than 900K viewers.”
Andrew Marchand of The Athletic has gotten the numbers. For the Next Gen Stats alt cast, 499,000 tuned in. For the McAfee ensemble, the number was 406,000. Making the total audience 905,000.
The final tally gives Next Gen Stats a 2-0 lead over the McAfee option. The gap was more narrow this time around; when they first squared off for the Week 6 Commanders-49ers game, NFLN attracted 469,000 and ESPN2 got 351,000. (ESPN2 is in roughly 70 million homes; NFL Network’s distribution is at or below 50 million.)
The total viewership for that game was 17.9 million. With Bills-Vikings beating that figure by 21.2 percent, Next Gen Stats was up 6.3 percent over Week 6 and the McAfee cast increased by 15.6 percent.
Of the total audience for the game, 2.2 percent watched NFL Network and 1.87 percent watched ESPN2. Which raises, once again, a one-word question: Why?
The Monday night alt casts don’t draw in new viewers. It’s added expense, with no extra revenue for the broader operation. (Unless there’s a tangible benefit to siphoning viewers from ABC/ESPN for the other channels.)
Ultimately, it’s a zero-sum game. With alt casts, Bills-Vikings viewership was 21.7 million. Without alt casts, Bills-Vikings viewership undoubtedly would have been 21.7 million.
And that’s why the various ABC affiliates are upset that Disney will have a full slate of alt casts for Super Bowl LXI. The total number will be the total number, if the game is on one network or twenty. The alt casts will rob the Peter of ABC to pay the Paul of the various other platforms.
The game itself was not much fun to watch, except for Bills fans. That didn’t impact the viewership.
Via ESPN, 21.7 million watched the Week 9 game between the Bills and Vikings on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, NFL Network, and ESPN Deportes.
The announcement doesn’t mention the audience for any of the two alt casts — the McAfee gathering on ESPN2 or the Next Gen Stats edition on NFL Network — either individually or collectively.
Next Monday night’s game features the Chargers at the Ravens. It won’t do 21.7 million viewers, primarily since the 0-8 Chargers have become entirely unwatchable.
After that, it’s Bengals-Commanders, Panthers-Buccaneers, Cowboys-Seahawks, Steelers-Jaguars, Patriots-Chiefs, Giants-Lions, and Texans-Packers.
And, yes, the season is already slipping away. Enjoy it while it lasts.
Except when it’s Chargers-Ravens.
Safety Amani Hooker was catapulted up the standings this week.
Hooker was traded from Tennessee to Buffalo on Tuesday and the move took him from a 1-7 team to a 7-1 club that has designs on making a long postseason run. Acquiring Hooker to shore up the back end of their defense should help their chances and Hooker said on Wednesday that he was thrilled by the change in circumstances.
“It’s amazing,” Hooker said, via Nick Suss of ESPN.com. “That’s literally all I can say. Because I’ve been on a team that hasn’t been winning. So I’m obviously very grateful for the Titans and what they did for me. But in the past, we haven’t been winning. And to be on a team that’s putting up points with a quarterback and offensive guys that are on fire, and a great defense, I’m just excited to be here.”
Hooker said he’s confident he will pick up the Bills defense well enough to play against the Jets on Sunday and the process of getting him up to speed will continue over the next couple of days.
No, it’s not The Onion. No, it’s not April Fool’s Day.
Former Jets and Bills coach and current (for now) ESPN analyst Rex Ryan has been arrested in Nashville after allegedly running over the feet of two pedestrians with his truck.
Via Edward Lewis of the New York Post, the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department said that Ryan turned himself in “on six outstanding misdemeanor warrants” for “striking two pedestrians with his pickup truck” just on November 5.
“The pedestrians were crossing Broadway from 4th Avenue with a walk sign when the pickup truck turned right from 4th Avenue running over both victims’ feet and making contact with one of the individual’s legs,” the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department said.
“The pedestrians said the vehicle kept going, but stopped for the red light at Broadway and Representative John Lewis Way where they waved down the driver. They said he stepped out of the truck to argue with them, got back in, and drove away. They took pictures of the truck’s license plate and the driver.”
Ryan faces two counts of leaving the scene of an accident, two counts of failure to give information/render aid, and two counts of failure to obey a traffic control signal.
Ryan became notorious in 2010 for a foot-fetish video that appeared online. He made light of the situation last month on ESPN, saying “I’m an expert in a few things. One of them is feet.”
The Bills are bringing in some help for their secondary.
Buffalo has agreed to acquire veteran safety Amani Hooker from Tennessee.
Tom Pelissero of Netflix was first to report the trade. Multiple reporters note Buffalo will send Tennessee a second-round pick in exchange for Hooker and a fifth-round pick.
Hooker, 28, currently leads the league with five interceptions in 2026. He’s also recorded 52 total tackles with one tackle for loss.
A fourth-round pick in the 2019 draft, Hooker has appeared in 103 games with 74 starts. He’s tallied 17 career interceptions with 45 passes defensed and five forced fumbles.
In recent days (including today), reports have emerged that certain players will not be traded. That definitely does not mean they’re untradeable.
It means only that the team has yet to get an offer it will accept. The mere process of working the insiders to send that message could give the process one final goosing.
Regardless, not many players are truly untradeable. For all but a handful of players, there’s an offer that his current team would accept.
The only players who currently wouldn’t be traded, in our view, are Bills quarterback Josh Allen, Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, Bears quarterback Caleb Williams, Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence, Packers quarterback Jordan Love, and probably 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy.
Any other can be had, at the right offer (up to and including three first-round picks plus more). By now, teams know whether the right offer will be made. Which makes it easy for them to throw out their chests and say the player won’t be traded.
And to reverse course if an offer they can’t refuse is made before 4:00 p.m. ET today.
