http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...as-jets-thinking-theyre-better-than-they-are/ Could this be so? They were discussing this on the radio today (can't remember which program), but the jist of it was that coaches usually tell players they're not as good as they think they are to motivate them. By telling them this, they go out and try to prove the coach is wrong. Ryan has taken a completely different tack. He tells his players how great they are and even boasts that we'll "kick ass" and win the Superbowl! Is this breeding overconfidence and swagger instead of preparedness? Even some of the players are saying they weren't prepared. Opinions, please. Here's the article... Joe Namath: Rex Ryan Has Jets Thinking They’re Better Than They Are Michael David Smith on September 26, 2011, 5:25 PM EDT The greatest Jet of them all, Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Namath, says the current group of Jets players need to stop hearing how great they are, and start hearing that they need to buckle down and get to work. And Namath said it’s coach Rex Ryan who bears the blame for the Jets being overconfident heading into Sunday’s loss to the Raiders. “It’s rather alarming,” Namath said on the Michael Kay Show. “It starts at the top. Coach Rex Ryan, he’s been doing a great job, getting us to two conference championship games, but there’s one thing about the athlete: You keep telling him how good he is, he’s going to start believing it to the point that he may not be preparing quite the way he should. He may be losing some respect for the other team.” Namath — the man who famously guaranteed victory before Super Bowl III — never lacked for confidence. But he says there’s a difference between a player expressing confidence in himself and then backing it up on the field, and a coach telling his players that they’re the greatest when they haven’t won anything. “I think these guys might be believing that they’re better than they are,” Namath said. “Rex has been the only coach that we know, in maybe the history of the game that I’m familiar with, that keeps continually telling his guys how good they are. And they have been pretty good — pretty good — but they haven’t won a championship yet. I think they’ve got to remember that there’s room for improvement.” Part of the disconnect between Namath and Ryan is simply a matter of age: Namath played for Bear Bryant in college and Weeb Ewbank in the NFL, and those coaches employed an old-school approach of yelling, screaming and chewing players out, and rarely handing out compliments. (For some of Namath’s years with the Jets, one of the team’s assistants was Rex’s dad, Buddy Ryan, who was never shy about chewing his players out when they weren’t performing up to expectations.) But Namath also seems to believe that Ryan is doing his players a disservice by not calling them out when they make mistakes — including what Namath called a “bonehead decision” by Mark Sanchez on an interception against the Raiders. In thinking the Jets are overconfident and questioning Ryan’s bravado, Namath may anger some Jets fans. But he’ll find a lot of fans of the other 31 NFL teams agreeing with him.
Namath can suck a dick for all I care. This bitch is always negative and doesn't want the organization to win crap, leaving his legacy alone. Fuck off Namath, you were good for the organization only with ur pads on.
He's the only Jet QB to win a SB. If Sanchez wins it, he would now have to share that title with Sanchez. He wants his legacy left alone. He wasn't talking when the Jets were winning, but when the Jets lose, they are not that good and need to buckle up. ok. Great. Jets did a few things they need to sort out, but that doesn't mean this Jets team is not worthy of a 2-1 start.
Yeah Joe, I'm sure you really worked your ass of studying the playbook and going to bed early without making cocky guarantees
I don't really subscribe to the "Namath wants the only Jets SB for himself" theory but I think you're right about Joe not having anything to say when the Jets are winning yet when they stumble he always has something to offer. Then again, maybe it's just a matter of the media only pursuing quotes from him when the Jets are in a rough patch.
Namath needs to stfu. Great player does not mean great coach, so back off & let Rex run this team how he sees fit. After seeing the Jet playoff run two years in a row & all the comeback victories, he's pretty fast to criticize.
JennyVrentas Jenny Vrentas Rex Ryan: 'I'm not going to change who I am just because Joe Namath said something': Invites Namath to see team'... bit.ly/pHrMN5
I dont think Namath hopes they lose to preserve his legacy. When they do win, he'll be in the mix of people to share the spotlight. I don't buy the theory that the Jets are overconfident, however. I've always felt that the Jets CS plays it straight on both offense & defense on the first few drives because they want to react to what the other team is doing, and that's why they seem to come out lackluster at the beginning of games
One loss is all it takes for the RR critics to reappear. One fuckin' loss. The guy has a target on his back because of his schtick.
Of course that is what Rex is doing, and it has gotten the jets pretty far. How fucking dumb is Namath to figure this out just now?
