Rex Steals a Page From The "Herm Edwards Book Of Game Management"

Here's an interesting article from today's Star-Ledger:

http://www.nj.com/jets/index.ssf/2010/10/politi_rex_should_have_kept_th.html

Politi: Rex Should Have Kept That Red Hanky In His Pocket

Steve Politi/Star-Ledger Columnist

Jets coach Rex Ryan watches the reply on the big screen as he waits for a ruling on his second challenge of the game, which he lost. Rex Ryan has earned his reputation as a coach who holds nothing back, from his use of four-letter words to his penchant for bold predictions. But who knew that applied to the red challenge flag, too?

Ryan threw his twice when he should have kept it in his pocket, and then didn’t have it available the one time he needed to use it in the fourth quarter of a close game.

And, as the Jets sort through the wreckage of this deflating 9-0 loss to the Packers, that’s a good place to start.

The quarterback was off his game again. The receivers had an epic case of the dropsies. The offensive coordinator failed to get any of his big weapons involved in the game.

When an offense with this much firepower gets shut out — on its home field — by an injury-riddled defense ranked just 18th in the NFL, there is plenty of blame to go around.

But this loss falls squarely on the head coach. Ryan has enjoyed one of the longest and most celebrated honeymoons in coaching history, a lovefest from fans and media that has lasted a year and a half.

He did not have a good day. The man who promised a Super Bowl is looking at a second-place team in the AFC East in large part because he stole a page from the Herm Edwards Book of Game Management.

A good coach never jeopardizes his final challenge in the first half — and certainly not when the play in question has little chance of getting reversed and, even if it did, the benefits were negligible.

That was the situation facing Ryan when, on third-and-11 from the Packers 43, cornerback Tramon Williams ripped the ball out of receiver Jerricho Cotchery’s hands on a short pass.

Ryan threw the red hanky on the field, claiming Cotchery had possession. Replays were inconclusive, but that is only half the point. Even if he won the challenge, the Jets were facing a fourth-and-8.

The coach said he would have passed up the 58-yard field goal and punted anyway. So why waste the challenge? Why risk exhausting his allotment in the first half of a close game?

He had already used one on another questionable call — a Brad Smith fumble on the first play of the second quarter — breaking a cardinal rule of coaching: Taking his player’s word for it.

“I talked to Brad about the first one and he clearly thought he was down,” Ryan said. “We probably shouldn’t have challenged that one because it was too hard to tell, but we felt good about it.

“On the interception, I clearly thought our receiver had possession of the football, or if worse comes to worse, it’d be dual possession, which is the offensive player’s football.”

The referees didn’t see it that way, and as is almost always the case, you knew the Jets would regret it. The offense was finally moving when tight end Dustin Keller had the ball ripped from his hands from Green Bay cornerback Charles Woodson.

It was a huge turnover for the Packers — and a bad call by the refs. Keller was clearly down by contact.

“It was a very similar play to what happened with Jerricho,” Ryan insisted, referring to the earlier challenge. “It was almost identical. I’m sure it would have been Green Bay’s ball anyway.”

Alas, the Jets will never know. The failed challenges were only one facet of the Jets’ coaching woes in this one.

Ryan inexplicably burned all three timeouts on defense with four minutes to go, forcing his offense to go for it on fourth down deep in its own territory on its next drive.

And there was the fake punt in the first quarter that set up the Packers’ first field goal. Why put the decision in the hands of Steve Weatherford?

“It was something Steve did on his own,” Ryan said, but it was the head coach who gave him the green light to make the decision.

Look, the Jets weren’t going to win the rest of their games. Darrelle Revis called the loss “a bump in the road,” and maybe it’ll turn out to be exactly that when the season is over.

Or maybe it’ll be the loss that determines who wins the division and gets home-field advantage in the playoffs. If that’s the case, the Jets will regret the day that Ryan lived fast and loose with his red hanky.

Steve Politi: spoliti@starledger.com;Twitter.com/NJ_StevePoliti

 

I understand what you are saying, but the replay was inconclusive and needed to be conclusive in order to win the challenge. It's the first half, and now you're gambling with your last and final challenge. I think that's his point. Burning the final challenge in the first half on something that could have gone either way (and probably more against the Jets because it has to conclusive to overturn) is clearly a page out of Herm Edwards' Klutz Game Management Book.