In case you've missed the handwriting on the wall: Taken from today's NJ.com: What you're seeing unfold is a total remake of this franchise. Unless Rex has a really good season w/o all the controversy and embarrassments, you have to figure Idzik is gonna bring in his own man. Nothing else fits with everything he's been doing up to this point. Idzik is methodically replacing the entire Tannenbaum regime from top to bottom. Coaches, Management, you name them. There shouldn't be any doubt that this team really did need to do this. Bradway should be getting his "feelers" out there too. In the end, from top to bottom, this will be Idzik's team. Rex's job depends on what Idzik is looking for in a HC and if Ryan fits that description.
The Jets had arguably the best overall talent in the league in both 08 and 09. 08 Favre got hurt and 09 we had a rookie QB. Outside of Sanchez the Jets roster was killer, among the best overall teams we ever fielded. Marty is not in KC because Reid decided he is going to call the plays and develop the QB.
Front office changes & coaching staff changes are completely different things. Gms are always gonna make changes at the top in an attempt to get people who share thier vision. Certainly he could decide to do tge same thing with rex but that is far from a foregone conclussion. Furthermore, many of the people leaving have been with the jets for 10-15 years. Making the changes more than justified. These changes wont cause drastic reorganization or absolute rebuilding..which the rex firing would
Idzik knows what he's looking for in a HC and if Rex fits that description, he'll stay. Again, a blemish free season is exactly what Ryan needs especially with that schedule up to Dec. 1st. What I do know is that I'd never want to play poker with John Idzik.
You make some good points, but I don't know how you can say our '09 team was stacked. We had a rookie QB (who put up HORRENDOUS regular season numbers), a decent RB tandem (Thomas Jones would never be confused for a top 10 RB), a below average WR tandem (Braylon didn't arrive until later in the year...Cotchery was our #1). Admittedly, the offensive line was fantastic and prob the best in the league. He took that same defense from '08 (middle of the pack) and turned it into the best D in '09.
the 2009 team started with the best OL in football plus an outstanding D. We added a huge FA acquisition on D, Bart Scott, we added Leonard at Safety pairing him with Rhodes, arguably the best cover safety tandem in the league and we also brought in Shepard to start alongside Revis. The team was outright stacked on both sides of the ball. We also had a great return game. Tanny built the team to win in 08 and 09. What we didn't have was a healthy QB down the stretch in 08 and a solid NFL QB in 09. All the other parts were in place.
"blemish free" I agree with, but I don't believe that means a winning season. If Rex can have the team improving & competing throughout the season I think he has a great chance to stay, even if we only win a handfull of games. If the mysterious "un-named sources" rear their ugly heads again it might be enough to doom Rex, even if he wins 7 or 8 games.
The Jets D in 2008 was absolutely mediocre. It was ranked 18th in points and 16th in yards in the league. The 2009 and 2010 teams had weak defensive lines and outside linebackers. The safety play was OK in 2009 (mostly because they had that prima donna Rhodes), but in 2010 was very mediocre and allowed TEs to run wild on them. If it wasn't for Rex's defensive genius the D would have been mediocre in 2009 and 2010 as well. On offense, they had a good running game because of the OL, but their passing game (and their receivers) were pretty weak. The Jets were absolutely not stacked in 2008 and 2009. If you think they were then just remember all those people laughing when Rex was making super bowl predictions in 2009 - why would they have been laughing? Why wasn't anyone taking them seriously?
I guess you didn't think we had a good team after we won on Thursday night in NE and went into TN and destroyed the undefeated Titans on their turf to go 8 and 3 before Favre got hurt and we dived down the stretch. If Rex is such a Defensive genius how come Baltimore's D went from 3 in points with Rex to 3 in points without Rex after Rex stole their roster for one of their starting Safties and LB's? Speaking of the Ravens they seemed to do very well moving on from Rex Ryan while the Jets have been going down hill.
Virtually every coach in the NFL came from an OC or DC job. We have a proven OC to run the offense now. We don't need Rex involved. It's not like Rex helping the defense is going to detract from coaching the team overall. It's just using his strengths to our advantage. Do you seriously believe Rex cannot motivate people? I remember the LT quote about Rex when asked what it feels like to play for him and he said something close to "He makes me want to run through a brick wall for him". What indications to you have to suggest Rex can't motivate or manage? Because he took the blame in 2011 for not knowing everything about the offense? Many folks don't believe it, but I firmly feel that he did that to take the pressure off his team and put it on himself. He's been doing that since he became our coach. Again, what makes you think that he will completely immerse himself in defense and not coach the team as a whole or coach the coaches? Helping with defensive play calling, doesn't mean you spend 100% of your time on defense and ignore everything else. This is the mentality I don't understand. Ya'll act like it's always all or nothing. That's not how life works. It's just an appeal to emotion based on what you THINK MIGHT happen. That's it.
I don't agree with that at all. In 08 we had a good offense, but a mediocre at best D. In 09 we had a great defense due to the emergence of Revis and Rex's exotic blitz schemes, but a shitty offense overall. The running game was good, but they weren't more talented than they were in 2010. Tom Jones plus a rookie Greene, vs LT & Greene there is no comparison. We peaked in talent overall in 2010 with the #11 offense and #3 defense. After 2010 we lost a lot of talent because of the Revis contract and we took a step back. That was not Rex's fault. The only thing more talented in 2008/2009 was the oline and maybe the safeties. People act like Rex inherited this awesome team, but he really didn't. Favre was gone, he had a rookie QB, and turned the D from mediocre to best in the league. That wasn't just inherited. Same with the offense. He drafted a RB & QB early, we didn't have many leftover great talent aside from Woody/Faneca/Mangold/Washington, and Leon only played like 4 games in 2009. 2008: 16th defense, 16th offense: 16th average 2009: 20th offense, 1st defense: 11th average 2010: 11th offense, 3rd defense: 7th average You can argue that Favre was hurt or whatever else, but the team was average in 2008, above average in 2009, and top 10 in 2010 when they had the most success. Aside from QB and oline in 08/09, every aspect of our team was more talented in 2010. Better RBs, better WRs, better TEs, better CBs, maybe linebackers and safeties were slightly weaker, but we had the most talent in 2010, since Parcells.
Unfortunately, football is based on a complete season and to quote the Tuna, you're only as good as your record. Also, last I checked Favre didn't play on the Jets defense and they were 16th in 2008. Just because a franchise quarterback can make you into a good team, doesn't mean you are a good team without that franchise quarterback (hello, indianapolis without manning). With respect to baltimore vs. the Jets, how many legitimate Hall of Fame candidates did Baltimore have on defense? How many did the jets have in 2009/2010? Revis, maybe? Baltimore had much better personnel on defense than the jets and, what's more, they had much better depth than the jets had. If you have great personnel, then you don't need to have as great a coach. The jets had significant weaknesses on defense, yet they were number 1 in D in 2009 because of Rex's smoke and mirrors. If Rex is gone (as many people here seem to advocate), you can forget about having a top 5 NFL defense.
Give me stats all you want the 08 was flat out a stacked all around team that went on the road and beat NE and TN in back to back weeks to get to 8 and 3 before Favre went down. We also had an absolute beast on the D line who went down. That was a great team that had it's best player on both sides of the ball go down. Revis may or may not be a HOF player but he was clearly better than any player on the Ravens D since 09.
2009 OL was great. Remember our starting DT Jenkins went down immediately in 09 and Rex brought over his players and made that D from average to great. It's silly to say the D was outstanding and not give Rex credi for that. Tanny built the team in 08,09,10 to win now. However the 09 and 10 teams were much closer to that goal than the 08 team. NE had Matt Cassell that year. Not as impressive as going into Foxboro with Brady there. A Matt Cassell who carved up our D that game if I remember correctly. Revis might be the best player Rex has coached on defense, but Suggs, Lewis, Reed, Ngata all can impact a game more than Revis can. So maybe on the Jets D Rex had the best player out of his BAL and NYJ D, but BAL had the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th best players after that.
And now Rex has Wilkerson, Coples, Richardson to develop and challenge for some of the spots on that lofty list. Not bad with Milliner/Cromartie/Wilson to go along with it...this defense could and should be something special by next year after one more draft and enough cap space to bring in one difference maker on defense in FA to complete the unit. Rex used absolutely insane blitz schemes in '09 which caused the great results. That defense was somewhat flawed in places especially absent Jenkins but since then he hasn't had the personnel to even try that strategy nearly as often. This year and especially next year, the blitzes will be like '09 but on [way more] steroids. That '09 scheme was designed and predicated on Revis and his unique ability to take away the top receiving threat and make the game 10 on 10. Rex was able to take that unique advantage and cash in on it in a big way. He will be able to design an even fiercer unit specifically to the strengths of this cast of up and coming talent.
An O that ranked 4th in the league in yards that year and put up over 40 points 4 times after the Bye. I personally thought the 08 team was substantially better than both the 09 and 10 teams primarily because of Favre. He's injury killed that team. The 09 team which arguably was the best of the 3 on paper backed into the playoffs mostly on the Colts game.
Rex The question is would any of us hire a coach who delegates as much as Rex. If a GM''s job depends on building a long term winner wouldn't he want an overall head man who takes responsibility for all facets of the squad. I'm just asking for opinions.
