Rex Ryan's Non-Apology Did Nothing to Slow Down Criticism Over Amari Cooper Comments

It's no surprise Rex Ryan's apology for his bizarre Amari Cooper rant on ESPN Friday morning was half-assed.

(After all, the former Jets coach has never been an ass man.)

Ryan went scorched earth on the big-money Dallas Cowboys pass-catcher on "Get Up" Friday, calling him a "turd" whom he never would have paid so handsomely, an assessment that made very little sense to the rest of us and hinted at some deeper, more personal beef.

Yes, that video's still up!

As anticipated -- after ESPN had milked the clip for all it was worth, of course -- Ryan trotted himself back out and smoothed the situation, but barely.

Ryan's apology started off pretty well (and fairly boilerplate): "“First off, I mean, I can’t believe I said that. I used that word. Obviously it was a poor choice by me to say what I said about Amari."

Somehow, though, he used the middle portion of his remarks just to reiterate his original point in the first place, arguing at length that Cooper still did not deserve his paycheck.

"Now, with that being said, I think the Cowboys overspent for Amari Cooper," Ryan continued in his video clip. "And the reason for it is [that] I don’t doubt this is an elite player. He has those traits. But an elite player to me shows up on the road, he shows up against great corners, and he shows up in crunch time. And those are three things that Amari Cooper has not done so far in his career.

At some point, perhaps Ryan can stomach a full-throated walk-back. For now, he's just got his foot in his mouth, and not in the way he presumably enjoys.