CORTLAND — When Jets coach Rex Ryan walked off Heinz Field in Pittsburgh after losing to the Steelers in the 2010 AFC Championship game, he was gutted at falling one game short of the Super Bowl for the second consecutive season.
But Ryan was buoyed by the thought his Jets were a team on the rise, one of the teams to watch in the AFC, a favorite to get to the Super Bowl in 2011.
He had a franchise quarterback, Mark Sanchez, who had won more road playoff games (four) than anyone in NFL history at the time. He had a disruptive defense. He appeared to be riding a formidable wave toward the goal he boldly stated when he was hired: a Super Bowl championship.
Ryan felt as if he was going to be a Jet for life.
But sometimes things don’t go the way the script says they will go.
Flash forward three-plus years to this 2013 season. Ryan now is viewed by many around the league as a dead coach walking thanks to two consecutive seasons of missing the playoffs.
Sanchez, his franchise quarterback, is battling to keep his NFL career relevant after turning the ball over 52 times in two seasons and has virtually no chance to remain a Jet after this season — the soonest the team can get out from underneath his heavy ($8.25 million) contract. Ryan’s once intimidating defense has deteriorated due to poor personnel decisions over restocking talent.
Now Ryan is fighting for his coaching life — a sure goner after this season unless …
Unless what?
That is the $6 million (the money the Jets owe Ryan for this season and next) question.
Unless newly hired general manager John Idzik (whom the Jets have made available to the media about as often as they did former reclusive owner Leon Hess back in the day) simply has no intention of retaining Ryan regardless of the 2013 results, I believe Ryan has a excellent chance to turn it all around for himself this year.
There are no expectations for the Jets to have success this year with the quarterback uncertainty and the rampant changes made to the team. So if Ryan keeps the Jets competitive and relevant into December with a depleted roster, that should be enough to buy him a contract extension.
“Judge him by who he’s working with,’’ former Jets special teams coach Mike Westhoff told The Post this week during a visit to training camp.
Indeed, even if the Jets miss the playoffs for the third consecutive year, if Ryan fields a competitive team with this group, he deserves to stay. Team owner Woody Johnson has always preached the importance of continuity, yet he has a history of straying from that philosophy (see Eric Mangini).
Maybe this time Johnson will stay the course. Maybe that’s why he did not fire Ryan along with general manager Mike Tannenbaum after last season, and then required Idzik retain Ryan. (Though there is the theory Johnson simply did not want to let Ryan walk away with the $6 million he was owed.)
“When Mr. Johnson said he wanted to keep me and we’re moving forward I was like, ‘All right, I’m taking it like this is a totally new beginning for me,’ ’’ Ryan told The Post. “When he told me what was going to take place, I was taking it like I just got this job and here we go.
“The first year I had the job, I wasn’t worried about longevity, and I’m not worried about longevity now. I’m focused on this season and getting this team ready to roll and that’s what we’re going to do.’’
This is where the low expectations come in as a big advantage for Ryan. But can Ryan turn this all around for himself?
“It’s a new group. We’ve had lot of turnover and I feel like we have an opportunity here as a staff,’’ defensive coordinator Dennis Thurman, Ryan’s most trusted assistant coach, said.
“No question,’’ defensive coordinator Dennis Thurman, Ryan’s most trusted assistant coach, said.“The one thing about sports is that you’ve got to go play. It’s not played through what they say on ESPN or NFL Network or what’s written in the papers. People can prognosticate all they want, but that doesn’t mean the outcome has to be the way they say it’s going be.’’