Rex Ryan on report he wants to be fired: 'That's garbage'

• After two years in the AFC Championship Game under Rex Ryan, the Jets have failed to make the playoffs for two seasons
• With two years remaining on his contract, Ryan appears safe, despite a losing season and a dysfunctional team
• The Jets end the season Sunday in Buffalo against the Bills, and it's likely Tim Tebow's final game with the club

Rex Ryan stepped up to the podium, wearing his New York Jets gear, as always – more on that in a bit – and seemingly ready to give his usual end-of-the-week rundown of the injuries.

"It's Friday," Ryan said at the top of his news conference, "but this is going to be a little different."

Different because the latest bit of anonymously sourced news had been aimed right at Ryan in the form of a New York Daily News story that indicated Ryan is ready to walk away from the Jets if owner Woody Johnson doesn't take the necessary steps to fix the issues with the team's offense and coaching staff.

Ryan wasn't happy about the report. In fact, he said he was "disappointed and mad as a hornet."

While he didn't raise his voice, he tried his best to put a stinger in the story and Manish Mehta, the Daily News reporter who wrote the article.

"It's untrue. In the article it talked about in a certain way I did not want to be the head coach of the New York Jets, and that's totally untrue," Ryan said. "The fact is, and it's simple, this is the only team I want to coach, period. Anybody that knows me knows that I'm telling you the truth.

"Has it been perfect? No. Would I like this player or that player? Of course, anybody would. But I'm telling you, this is my team, these are my players and I don't want to coach somebody else's players. This is the team I want to coach, period."

Ryan addressed his players during a meeting Friday morning to tell them the report was inaccurate. He said the speech he gave was "probably a little more passionate, emotional, whatever you want to call it, because I'd just read the story." Ryan said he also called Johnson after he read the story to say he was not pulling a power play.

"That's total garbage. That's garbage. That's not the case at all," Ryan said of the notion he was threatening to leave if changes weren't made. "The premise I'd rather go somewhere else to coach somebody else's football team? No way. That's not it. This is my team. I'd rather coach my players and coach my team. I don't care about who else it is. New England Patriots or anybody else, I don't care. I want this team. This is my team."

Ryan later added of Johnson, "I called Mr. Johnson as soon as I read the article and let him know 100% that's not my intention. No way in heck. I'm not putting an ultimatum to this man that hired me. No chance. This is his football team. I take it as my team, the guys that I coach and the football part of it, that's how I approach it. But it's Mr. Johnson's team. I feel honored he hired me to do a job."

Ryan said he spoke to Mehta on Thursday night and gave him his side of the story, which he indicated was the same one he gave to reporters Friday but "for whatever reason he elected not to put my response in."

There have been numerous anonymously sourced stories, most from the Daily News, over the past year-plus, criticizing certain members of the organization (Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow) or insinuating they want out (defensive coordinator Mike Pettine). Now, Ryan is the target, though he said he hadn't addressed his staff about the leaks.

"Whoever's agenda it is, I don't know," Ryan said, adding, "The fact (the leaks) still exist, does it bother me? Of course it bothers me."

Everybody's agenda in an organization should be to win. It appears that's been clouded of late in the Jets facility.

Ryan says that can change for the better. Under his guidance, of course.

"Let's face it, I wear Jets stuff every single day. Every day. I'm proud to be a Jet," he said. "Sometimes I'm proud to be a Jet more than others, but I'm proud to be a Jet. This season has been a rough one, no question, but again this is my team. That's how I approach it. And I believe we will get back – and this is really a topic for next week – but I believe we can accomplish what I set out to do when I took the job, and that's the truth."