Watching Mike Smith on hard knocks makes me feel as though Rex is very underappreciated. Imagine Rex had an offense like Atlanta's along with his defensive scheming?
Funny I think winning 6 games in 12 with that roster, the injuries, Sanchez's meltdown, Tebow drama and Sparano was just as much if not more of an accomplishment than the 8 wins last year. Although everyone was picking us to be one of the worst teams in football prior to the start of last year, most Jets fan knew we would be better than that based on our defense and schedule. If he can pull 8 or more out of his ass again this year, then give that man an extension.
Let me add the Chiefs won just 2 games in 2012 with something like 6 pro-bowlers. Our circus performers won 6!!!
Revis, Holmes, Keller, Hill and so on and so on do not count as having major injuries to key starters?
Well, I dont want to spend too much time talking about 12 since I do think Rex did a decent job last year. But being HC is also about putting together a staff, and in 12 Rex did a poor job there. Sparano was an awful choice for OC. Rex redeeemed himself there in 13 hiring Marty. In other words, when you mention Sparano in connection with 12, I think that is all on Rex. Was Sparano worth a negative two in the standings? Maybe more than two. I actually felt the roster in 13 was not materially better than in 12, but the coaching was better on O. But on the roster, Slauson was replaced by Ducasse and then Winters. So that's a downgrade. At Cb it's true Revis was hurt most of 12, but Cromartie played great and was injured last year, and Milliner was awful for 3/4s of the year, so Cb play was much worse. The DL was beter in 13, but it was not bad in 12. DeVito played well, for example. Coples was a rookie in 12, but he had nagging injuries early last year and was learning a new position. A clear upgrade was replacing Green with Ivory. Not so much at Qb, of course. In fact Smith was worse, but Sanchez was so bad in 12 it's hard to make too much of that. Another factor was strength of schedule. There I would say the schedule was somewhat easier in 13 than 12, but again I don't know how much to give weight on that. And Sparano was really awful. Worst OC I can remember on the Jets. It's hard to point to individual games he lost that Marty might have made a difference on, but it is a signficant variable I think.
From a strictly coaching standpoint I thought Rex did a tremendous job considering all the adversity the team faced that year. However, like you indicated a lot of those adversities were fully or partly his own doing (i.e., Sparano, Tebow, no legitimate back-up at QB..etc.).
Rex got off to a great start. 2011 was pretty disappointing, but it happens. 2012 the talent just wasn't there and last year I think most people, including myself felt Rex helped the team overachieve. Unless this season is a complete disaster (like 4-12 bad) Rex should definitely be given another year regardless IMO. I just don't see where he has done a bad job. Of course he has his strengths and weaknesses like all HC's do. But overall i'm pleased with his work even though we haven't been in the playoffs the last 3 seasons. Just my opinion.
Idk... people always give me shit for feeling like we have always been that team a QB away from a SB run though.. at least in Ryans era. I mean we got close but nobody really projected us to go that far... that just makes me believe even more that with a top 10 QB we would be contenders for sure. Rex's defense is a QB's dream to play with IMO. We get offenses off the field so fast and so often but you would never be able to tell by the score bc we never had somebody that could take advantage of all those chances. Hell i'd even take Tony Romo with Rex putting up those kinda numbers. This year will be different though because of the RB's we have now can actually be playmakers that can put some points up. I always say just about every game just score 3 TD's is all it would take for us to win and we barely ever can do it... end up losing 19-6 or some bs like that.
I agree, in general, but like you said... For example the lack of legitimate backup in 12 imo was a problem accentuated by a mishandling of McElroy's situation. I know he has since retired, and so arguably was never meant to stick as an NFL Qb. But I feel Rex's handling of his situation especially with listing Tebow as the #2 when (I suppose to Rex's credit) Rex seems never to have had any intention of playing Tebow behind center (meaning not out of the wildcat) is hard to justify. As I said before coaching does include choosing and managing your staff, not just the players, so I assume you meant when you say strictly coaching that you mean coaching the players and guiding the team during the games, as well as going through game planning. On the whole he did a good job there even in 12, but there were lapses. And I do think he even admitted not knowing the pulse of the locker room that year.
Revis is the only one of those that was a legitimate loss, and the way Cro stepped his game up and played, his loss was hardly noticeable. Holmes and Keller disappeared when they were healthy and on the field. Hill a key starter? Hardly. KC had a much better team than we did and if I'm not mistaken was a legitimate playoff team the year before. They suffered a complete collapse with their injuries and the other issues they had. The Jets didn't.
You're still missing the point. It doesn't matter if last year was his best coaching job. You seem to not understand the goal of a head coach in the NFL. It's to build a winning program and get his team into the playoffs. What accomplishment is it if you exceed expectations and still finish .500? You don't get a medal for that. This isn't little league. This is the pros where you're measured by playoff appearances and rings. You act as if Rex was a first year HC last year. He was in his 5th season. He doesn't get any passes at this point in his tenure. You can bring up all the boring excuses you want about lack of talent. Every coach in the league has to deal with setbacks. It's how you overcome those setbacks as a HC that separates the great from the average. You don't just keep the same staff for the sake of consistency if they are consistently mediocre. That's counterproductive. Oh, and Rex does have say in the talent being brought in here. Just look at the drafts under his watch. It's not some coincidence that most of his first rounders are all defense. So he has a role in the talent that's on this team as well. Don't act like he's just got to deal with what's been given to him. Clearly that is not the case and clearly he's nothing more than a glorified DC whose D did not even finish in the top 10 in the league last year. He's got zero leverage to stand on if he misses the playoffs AGAIN.
Keller and Holmes were our best weapons for the QB and missed most of the year, to say they weren't key losses is silly.
I disagree with post 53 here. I hardly consider myself a big Ryan fan, but when your FO puts together a roster that undermines the approach the HC wants to take, it's hard to blame the HC if he can't bring the team to some unrealistic goal like the playoffs. (Ftr if the Jets had made a move at Cb, perhaps also add a quality wideout, and played Vick from the get go and he stayed healthy, this probably would have been a team that would contend for a playoff spot. But since that is not where the team is, I don't see them contending.) Everybody here, FO homers as well, know that Rex wants to field a D that has cb's that can play man coverage, and do it well. It is the basic architecture of his D. Yet we have seen a steady diminution of quality at Cb since Idzik arrived. How is the HC supposed to be the fall guy if the results are found wanting? Again I wanted Rex gone after 12, but with Marty now the OC, and being part of Rex's team, I think getting rid of the whole CS next off season because (as appears increasingly likely) the D can't stop the pass is not only unfair. It is ridiculous. It doesn't matter in such assessment that the Jets were mediocre to bad in 11 and 12. There is no magic number of seasons in a row without the playoffs that requires an HC be fired.
So we're supposed to go by what the "experts" predict for a team over what the coach says. Even though the "experts" don't know shit, at least if you read most of the threads that bash any negative prognostication of the Jets by these "experts". When the coach boasts that he has the most talent he's ever had and says the Pats need to be worried about the Jets instead of the other way around, he increases the expectations for the team himself. If his team then proceeds to play under .500 football he gets a pass? Because the team was actually not very good even though he said it was?
I've never seen a coach downgrade expectations for his team except when he had a rookie QB and knew the season was going to be a downer because of that. Most coaches say that they expect to make the playoffs in a given year if asked by the media. That's the normal thing to put out there. You guys are just used to having a mute head coach who doesn't interact with the media in any way that he can possibly avoid. That's not normal. Rex is a little bit out there with some of his predictions but Belichik is one of the strangest birds ever to coach an NFL team. He just won't talk and he's perfectly happy looking anti-social in the process.
Not sure what BB's total lack of personality has to do with this? It is what it is I'm not criticizing Rex's proclamations, I'm just wondering if they have any affect on his employment if the Jets finish under .500 this year.
