By Nina Mandell
DNAinfo Producer/Reporter
The Jets may be out of the playoffs, but coach Rex Ryan hasn't managed to avoid the spotlight after flipping his middle finger at Miami fans over the weekend.
Ryan, who was in Florida for the Pro Bowl, was doing a ringside interview with a Showtime reporter that was piped through a Florida arena during an MMA event.
As the crowd booed him, he delivered one of his bold predictions: "I just want to tell everyone in Miami that we're coming to beat you twice next year."
After the event, he flipped off Miami resident David Hildenbrand, according to numerous reports. Hildenbrand took a photo, which quickly circulated on the internet.
Hildenbrand told the New York Post that Ryan "was walking by us after the event and a couple buddies of mine said some things like, 'Dolphins rule, Jets suck.' " "[Ryan] looked at us and said, 'Go f- - - yourselves,' and then he gave us the finger."
Ryan apologized through the Jets organization, calling his behavior “stupid and inappropriate.”
"I wouldn't accept that type of behavior from one of the coaches or players and it’s unacceptable from me,” he said in a statement. “I apologize to the Jets organization, the National Football League and NFL fans everywhere."
The NFL said it would "look into" the possibility of fining Ryan. The Tennessee Titans' owner flicked off Buffalo Bill fans in November — and he was fined $250,000.
This isn’t the first time Ryan has exchanged words with the Dolphins. In June, after hearing Ryan say he "never came here to kiss Bill Belichick's, you know, rings", Dolphins' player Channing Crowder responded that the new Jets coach hadn't accomplished anything yet.
Ryan shot back, “I think he’s wrong because I think you do win in June, I think you win with your preparation and all that kind of stuff. And if I was younger, I’d handle him myself.”
Crowder replied “He says he’d take care of me if he was younger? I’d have beat the hell out of the big old joker.”
The Jets lost to the Dolphins twice in 2009.
