http://www.northjersey.com/sports/p...Ryan_should_win_before_challenging_fans_.html O'Connor: Ryan should win before challenging fans Thursday, September 17, 2009 LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 17, 2009, 6:25 AM By IAN O'CONNOR RECORD COLUMNIST 5 Comments Page 1 2 >> FLORHAM PARK - Rex Ryan was done motivating his players and aides, and so Wednesday became his day to motivate the paying public, the people who bow to a leader named Fireman Ed. AP Rex Ryan should focus more on the Pats and less on Jets fans, according to Ian O'Connor. Suddenly, Jets fans were the target. Not Bill Belichick or Tom Brady or the AFC East juggernaut that has won eight consecutive games on the Jets' home field. The men, women and children in the stands. Families that have passed a championship drought of biblical proportions from generation to generation. ?I'm challenging our fans,? Ryan said. Jets fans might need a lot of things, but a challenge isn't one of them. They need hope. Touchdowns. Victories. An appearance in the Super Bowl for the first time since man walked on the moon. They don't need a 1-0 rookie coach asking them to ?maybe be the difference in the game this week.? The game with the New England Patriots, that is. Listen, Rex Ryan paid two lifetimes' worth of dues and clearly arrived as the right candidate for the job. Through the force of his extra-large personality, Ryan is trying to elevate a franchise that's harder to raise than the Titanic. Only Jets fans have had their faith betrayed far too often for a coach 15 minutes into his term to blitz them with a morning voice mail and an afternoon news conference plea designed to get them, in football parlance, to step up their game. Winning is supposed to inspire the undying devotion, not the other way around. Yes, the Jets looked awfully good in dismantling the Houston Texans, even if far too many were making the Texans out to be the '72 Dolphins. Yes, Ryan completely outcoached Gary Kubiak, and yes, Mark Sanchez quarterbacked like a kid with designs on having a long and charmed run in this market. But over the seasons and decades, Jets fans have been asked to believe in one set of counterfeit goods after another. They've also been asked to provide a home-field advantage in a building named for another team. Now Ryan wants the final season of Giants Stadium to become the first season of Jets Stadium. He decided to take the fight to season-ticket holders with a taped phone message telling them, among other things, ?how much we need you this week.? Ryan broadened his approach later from behind a live mike. He mentioned how he'd publicly challenged his players, but ?I don't think I've publicly challenged the fans.? Until now. ?I want our fans to be a factor in this game,? Ryan said, ?to help our defense out. Make it loud. Make that communication tough. I know Brady's seen it all before, but still, let's look like we have about 13, 14 guys out there. It will be great. ?Sometimes I've seen that happen where it gets so loud, it only takes one guy to miss a check. ? We're looking to get an edge any way we can get it, and if that means our fans stepping up and being as loud as we can be, making it difficult for them to communicate on offense, then so be it.? Here's the question: Until further notice, why should Jets fans buy any pitch Ryan is selling? It isn't personal, just business. The business of being a Jets fan who's had to endure a conga line of unhappy endings. It says enough that the team has to keep trotting out Joe Willie Namath, who last won a big game more than 40 years back. Maybe Sanchez will be that ceremonial figure someday. Maybe Sanchez will win himself a Super Bowl or three. Maybe the kid will rage against the grain of young quarterbacks who have come undone when confronted by Belichick's evil schemes. But that should happen first before Sanchez's coach is pressing a battered fan base to buckle up its chin strap and make a play. ?It certainly helps when you have your fans believing in you,? Ryan said, ?and you have your fans understanding what you want as an organization, that you want it to be a rough place to play and you want your fans behind you. ?It's almost like they're an extension of the defense, and that's the way you want them to look at it. ? I know in the past, being at Baltimore, I felt we had that. I think here with the Jets, I haven't seen it yet. But I think we're going to have it here also.?
Actually NO, JETS fans need to be asked for the most obvious thing because most of them prefer to be outside getting drunk while LEON is taking the Kickoff. The fact is that it's sickening that even in the biggest games JETS fans can't get the fuk to their seats early enough. Is it sooooo hard to pack up the tailgate 15mins earlier and get to your seats? This writter has NO clue about JETS fans.
This guy has no clue. Stopped reading where he says "Rex Ryan should focus more on the Pats and less on Jets fans". Im pretty sure one of the element of beating the Pats will be the fans. So yeah, he is focused, u dumb mother fuckin horseshit!
Spot on ...Hate seeing those Red Seats everywhere when the players come out of the tunnel and im sure they F*kin hate it too!
Exactly! and btw, if you wanna see more pix of the chick in your avy, I posted some yesterday in the hot chicks thread :smile:
Okay, people might disagree about the comments aimed at the Pats, but does anybody think that Ryan challenging the fans to be a factor for the team is a bad idea? Does this guy even have a freaking clue?
forget the article. Ryan just wants to see people in their seats before the kickoff for once. Stop tailgating after kickoff, its pointless
If Rex can make a solid football player and contributor out of Gholston he will have proven beyond any doubt that he is the perfect man to coach the Jets regardless of what happens this Sunday.
No , I say Ryan wants to have the crowd into the game and makin noise when the Pats have the ball. Not sitting on their hands and waiting for the tool Fireman Ed to lead the Jets chants - at all the wrong times. In addition, those who stumble in late because the tailgate is the main prupose are either too drunk to notice or are standing in lines at the beer stands or the bathrooms. So they make no difference either way.
^ if there are 4,000 people total still not in their seats because of tailgating or other bullshit at the start of the game it makes a difference. for once i'd like the fanbase to make it tough on an opponent.
no. even after this challenge, if people at the stadium don't show up, we have the worst fans in the world.
First off let me say I agree wholeheartedly that I'd love to have our crowd make it tough on our opponent. Again, I still say the missing kickoff perception is off base. Those few "thousands" who care not to make it in for kickoffs aren't the fans who will be on their feet cheering for this team. I've been going to the games for 30 years, I've been losing my voice almost every Sunday at the games. There aren't many fans who really get into the game . Hell in my section its almost impossible to get a good Defense chant going even on 3rd down. People look at you like , why are you making so much noise. They cheer on two occasions - when Firemen Ed tells them to , or when the team is winning and playing good - otherwise crickets. I'm really hoping the new stadium will weed out all the "daytrippers" who are more interested in texting their friends or talking on their cells then in rooting for their team.
Sure he called it a "challange" but to me it sounded more like an invitation to be part of the team, to help the team win. I don't have tickets and I heard the voicemail (on YouTube) and was like "Sh*t, I wish I was going, the team needs all of us, I could help out". The guy's attitude is just so damn infectious. I thought it was a great move by his part and I honestly think all the fans there this week are gonna be maniacs just like the Jets D. And I hope Ian O'Conner's next sh*t is square. Douche bag.
I commend you for being a real, true football fan. you're a dying breed at Jets games. I've been to Giants games, and its the same stadium obviously, but you wouldn't know it because its night and day in terms of crowd atmosphere. its sad.
