While doing press in Indianapolis, New York Jets owner Woody Johnson reiterated his seemingly blinding support for head coach Rex Ryan, even though it seems that Rex may not know the right path for the Jets to take. Woody believes that this disastrous past season can serve as a cautionary tale for Rex, who he described as “so good as a manager. He’ll take these experiences and be a much better coach. He’s an exceptional coach as it is, but I think he’ll be even better.”

Although it is always a good thing for a team owner to support the head coach and by extension the entire team, but realistically, we have to wonder about Rex Ryan as a head coach. There is no doubt that he is a defensive genius. But regarding the additional requirements that come with being a head coach, he may fall a little short.

First of all, he has had three whole seasons to get the Jets their much-needed and much wanted Super Bowl win. He has failed to even get the team to that game. While back to back AFC Championship game appearances is great, failing to win that game is unacceptable. It just isn’t good enough. The Jets might as well have gone 0-16 because the result is the same: no Super Bowl victory. At least a terrible record allows for a better draft pick. This season, the jets have the number 16 pick and they have so many holes to fill. Rex and general manager Mike Tannenbaum need to hire a draft consultant, because frankly, these two are not getting it done. After all that talent that left the team during this past offseason, hiring a professional is definitely suggested.

Second, Rex has guaranteed a Super Bowl victory twice and he failed to deliver both times. If you make this kind of promise and then do not follow through, there should be some kind of consequence. At least after making that promise the first time, the Jets did nearly make it to the Super Bowl. But after the second time, the Jets went a pathetic 8-8 and infamously failed to make the playoffs. This is an average record because the team performed at an average level with average players with average coaching. Rex significantly overestimated the talent he had on his hands. He is either delusional or just isn’t good at his job. Both these options suck and are not the mark of a good head coach.

Third, Rex is not an ideal leader. He certainly does lead the team, but not in the way that one may expect a head coach to do so. Rex is the king of the trash talk and having a big mouth. The players seem to be following his example…TALK, TALK, TALK. They have become really good at that. The players see him doing that and then they emulate it, kind of like when children see their parents act a certain way and then they copy it. But as entertaining as it may be for them, it has hurt the team. Rex’s big mouth has turned this team into every comedian’s punch line in their lame joke. The organization as a whole suffers because of it.

Finally, and most importantly, this unprecedented post season implosion has taught us just how bad Rex is at uniting his players. In a time of crisis, it is within the scope of human nature for people to pull together. We have seen this all throughout history on many different levels. But in Rex’s locker room, events unfolded that just defied millions of years of human nature. It would have been great for the football community to see that even though the team crashed and burned and disappointed everyone greatly, well, at least they all stayed together as a team. That clearly didn’t happen.

So one must wonder, where are Rex Ryan’s strengths? As a head it doesn’t seem like there are many. As a defensive coordinator, he was brilliant. He built the Baltimore Ravens defense and then brought some of that mojo over to the Jets. His first two years, the Jets had very high-ranking defenses. He should just focus on what he’s good at–being a defensive coordinator—and not where he is weak—being a head coach.

Angie Kozak is the New York Jets writer for The Penalty Flag. Angie was raised in New Jersey and has had NY Jets season ticket for 12 straight seasons and counting. She moved to Pennsylvania for college, and graduated from Penn State University in 2010 with a degree in Communications. Although a lifelong diehard Jet fan, Angie writes from a critic’s point of view. Follow her on Twitter @Angie_Kozak or email her at AKozak@ThePenaltyFlagBlog.com.

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Rex Ryan of the New York Jets has a lot of confidence in himself.

In this video, Sexy Rexy is on a rant to bring you the only true Super Bowl 2012 prediction you need to understand.

He’s not a leader, he can’t lead himself, but he does need a snack! (This is of course a parody)
http://www.youtube.com/user/DailyFiberFilms
http://dailyfiberfilms.com/
starring and written by Raymond McAnally.
Directed and edited by Mark Nickelsburg

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I would just like to start with a half sarcastic/half serious question: What did New York Jets’ fans expect? We lost how many amazing players during the off-season? Damien Woody, Jason Taylor, Kris Jenkins, and Jerricho Cotchery to name a few. Yes, we signed some great new talent in an attempt to compensate for the losses, but as we learned this season, the new faces on our team, most notably Plaxico Burress and Aaron Maybin were very hot and cold. Plax had a game with three touchdowns and he also had games where he did not have a single reception. Maybin had some great games where he sacked the hell out of the quarterback and forced fumbles, but he also had games where he was nonexistent. Inconsistency seems to be the theme of this season.

But we did have high expectations. Why? Well because of Rex Ryan. This guy, this big mouth, know-it-all promised us a Super Bowl and we bought it. We bought his delusions because, well, we are a bit delusional. We want that Super Bowl so badly that I think that when some guy comes to New York and gives us hope in a hopeless time, that we just automatically bought it. It has taken three seasons, but we can see him for what he is: an excellent defensive coordinator who is maybe in a little over his head as head coach. I have definitely snapped out of my delusion because I now view him as a snake oil salesman and a faith healer that preyed on the down and desperate. Yes, those are some harsh words for a guy that coached us to two AFC Championship games in a row, but we need to realize that he promised us a Super Bowl multiple times and the  AFC title  is not the Super Bowl.

I know that it’s been only four days since our season officially ended and that really isn’t a long time to accurately reflect on the tragedy that was this season, but I saw this coming since Week 3 when we couldn’t beat the Oakland Raiders. I thought to myself that if we were that sloppy against the Raiders, there was no way that we could possibly beat a good team for the Super Bowl victory that we all crave so badly. So I think that I have a lot less anger and disappointment than my fellow Jet fans because, frankly, I expected this kind of implosion. It’s not being disloyal to the Jets or not being a ‘true Jet fan’, it’s being realistic and I’m sorry if that reality sucks. I agree, it does suck. I just happened to have accepted it a few months ago.

Angie Kozak is the New York Jets writer for The Penalty Flag. Angie was raised in New Jersey and has had NY Jets season ticket for 12 straight seasons and counting. She moved to Pennsylvania for college, and graduated from Penn State University in 2010 with a degree in Communications. Although a lifelong diehard Jet fan, Angie writes from a critic’s point of view. Follow her on Twitter @Angie_Kozak or email her at AKozak@ThePenaltyFlagBlog.com.

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“And as far as Brian Schottenheimer’s concerned, we’ll just keep working side by side, shoulder to shoulder, and we’re trying to find a way to beat Miami. I have confidence in him. I have confidence in all of our coaches. It’s just that we have to find a way to get it done.”

When I first read these words, I thought that they were the ramblings of a mad man. After all, how could anyone that is sane or even remotely knowledgeable about this sport honestly say these things? Clearly, they had to be the words that belonged to be someone who escaped from some sort of institution or at least belongs in one. Upon further investigation, I was very troubled to discover that this was said by none other than the biggest mouth in New York sports, Rex Ryan, during his Monday conference call.

I quickly formulated my next theory…that Rex dipped into some leftover holiday spiked eggnog. So to confirm this, and frankly for my own amusement, I decided to listen to the conference call myself. Nope, he was sober and his inflections implied that he was not being sarcastic at all.

So after living through this season, watching all the games, I still cannot understand how someone could stand by Brian Schottenheimer. Just based on Saturday’s loss against the Giants (a team that is mediocre at best), how can anyone think that way? The Jets’ offense had 59 passing plays and 25 rushing plays. The play calling was atrocious. It is like some kind of annoying broken record with Schottenheimer. Passing the ball worked at first and then we did a do-si-do and the football was getting tipped left and right. But he wouldn’t give up on it. The Jets have been successful with Ground and Pound, but for some reason, Schottenheimer decided that a notoriously weak passing offense would be the way to go.

With one game left in the New York Jets’ horribly disappointing season, Rex has to play this game. This game, like we still have a chance at winning the Super Bowl this year. He can’t state the obvious, that we are done. We are a broken team. We aren’t officially eliminated, but are we going to the post season? Probably not.

In the unlikely event that we do make the playoffs, (if the Houston Texans beat the Tennessee Titans, the Baltimore Ravens beat the Cincinnati Bengals, the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Denver Broncos/ San Diego Chargers beat the Oakland Raiders, and of course we beat the Miami Dolphins) the Jets will most likely go one and done. For the record, my prediction is that we will not beat Miami, so all the other games’ results will be moot. There are of course people out there that don’t feel the way I do. I like to refer to them as those who live in denial, whereas I am someone who lives in reality. For whatever reason, (cough, Schottenheimer, cough) things just aren’t clicking this year and that prevents us from being a Super Bowl winning team. That is the reality and it really sucks. And to be brutally honest, it was written on the wall during Week 3 when we couldn’t beat the Oakland Raiders.

I am hoping that Rex is just trying to save face by publicly standing by his colleague. He figures that they still have another week to work together so he wants civility and he doesn’t want there to be any more infighting. And obviously stating that the offensive coordinator is a failure would really prevent that. But if he really does believe that Schottenheimer has been doing a good job for this team, we are in a lot of trouble. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: the Jets cannot win a Super Bowl with Brian Schottenheimer on staff. It is simply an impossibility. But also, if our head coach cannot see this no-brainer, we need to further question Rex Ryan’s intelligence and competence.

Angie Kozak is the New York Jets writer for The Penalty Flag. Angie was raised in New Jersey and has had NY Jets season ticket for 12 straight seasons and counting. She moved to Pennsylvania for college, and graduated from Penn State University in 2010 with a degree in Communications. Although a lifelong diehard Jet fan, Angie writes from a critic’s point of view. Follow her on Twitter @Angie_Kozak or email her at AKozak@ThePenaltyFlagBlog.com.

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Rex Ryan has been fined $75,000 for his abusive language towards a fan during half-time of the New York Jets and New England Patriots game.

As Ryan went into half-time a fan yelled at him, “Hey Rex, Bill Belichick is better than you!” Ryan responded “Shut the f- up!”

This is the second time Ryan has been fined at least 50,000 as fans caught him flipping off a fan at a MMA event just last season.

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Since Rex Ryan’s appointment as head coach for the New York Jets January 18, 2009, Jet fans have embarked on quite the roller coaster ride. When he was hired, many of us felt a huge sense of relief. We had just lived through a disastrous end to a season that should have been prolific. After all, we had acquired the legendary Brett Favre during the off-season. But in typical Jets fashion, we imploded at the end of the season, losing four of our last five games—most of which statistically speaking, we should have won. To the satisfaction of many Jet fans, the useless Eric Mangini was fired. And then Ryan’s hiring gave Jet fans something that we hadn’t had in a very long time: HOPE.

The man with this infectious, charismatic personality promised us that he would bring that Lombardi trophy back to us. After a nearly 40 year drought, that is something we loved hearing. We ate it up, and because we started the season 3-0, we thought that maybe this crazy SOB could actually deliver. Then the reality of having a rookie coach and a rookie starting quarterback in the same season set in. By the time we reached our bye week in Week 9, the Jets stood at 4-4. We ended the regular season with a 9-7 record and that was somehow good enough to get that 6th seed in the playoffs. And even more amazing, once in the playoffs, we just kept winning—until we didn’t and our hearts were broken. Rex Ryan again promised that we would win the Super Bowl the following year.

The 2010 Jets season was a PR nightmare. There was criticism—and rightfully so—over excessive cursing, a DUI, a tripping incident, foot fetish videos, and far too many brash remarks said by our head coach and players off the field. While this all may have annoyed some and entertained others, all of these things were huge embarrassments to diehard Jet fans. It was one ridiculous situation (and the accompanying news articles) after another. We were already suffering with how our season was going at the time and so all these off-field incidents were so the last thing we needed to deal with. The week that led up to the playoff game against the New England Patriots was tiring. Our players were crass for no reason. To make matters worse, Belichick ordered his players to stay silent. This man who all Jet fans despise was acting in a smarter and classier manner than our own coach. Thankfully, our guys backed up their arrogance by beating those Patriots. Then, we moved on to the next week. After we miraculously made it to the AFC Championship game for the second year in a row just to be taken down by the Pittsburgh Steelers, that seed of cynicism that is automatically planted in Jet fans at birth started to grow. And just weeks later, Ryan again promised us that Lombardi trophy.

That’s when many Jets fans became fed up. Many of us feel like his charisma and excitement duped us into playing along with this fantasy that having a heart of gold will get you to the Super Bowl. That seed of cynicism grew mightily, seemingly overnight. But we had to put that away. The beginning to every season means a fresh start for everyone. We had to play against the Dallas Cowboys on the 10th anniversary of 9/11, in a game that proved to be an emotional nightmare for so many reasons. WE were so proud of our team—and ourselves. Up until the last seconds on the game clock, that stadium was packed. No one left early in an attempt to avoid traffic, as is what happens in many games. Jet fans rallied for their team and we were rewarded with a beautiful victory.

Again, reality set in and our 3 game away series turned out to be a disaster. We had to play the Chargers in Week 6. Rex Ryan has some bitter history with the San Diego Chargers. They passed over him for head coach in 2009. Evidently, he did not get over this and he made an obnoxious statement about how had he been hired as their head coach, his superior coaching would have won them Super Bowls. When he says things like this, Jet fans cringe. It’s tacky. It’s unnecessary. Most of all, it’s embarrassing. When your team is 3-3 and has not one redeemable quality, this is not something you say.

The silver lining to this is that it may have been a wakeup call to Rex Ryan. It has been approximately 3 weeks and Rex hasn’t said anything cringe-worthy—which I believe may be a world record. He needs to keep it up and “stay classy”. He needs to realize that whether he likes it or not, he is not just our head coach, he is a representative of the New York Jets family. When he says or does something obnoxious, that affects how people view all of us. I know that Jet fans have a bad reputation. People think that we are rude and classless. But this could not be farther than the truth. Surely there are Jet fans out there that are this way, but they are not the average fan. They are the outliers…the minority and every team from every sport around the world is going to have that. All of the Jet fans I know are civil people who simply love their team. Rex not watching what he says has definitely had a negative impact on our reputation. He needs to lead by example and maintain the behavior he has exhibited the past few weeks.

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