WASHINGTON — Woody Johnson still won’t commit to bringing back Rex Ryan next season, but the Jets owner gave his coach a ringing endorsement Tuesday for the job Ryan is doing this year.
Fresh off Monday night’s thrilling, 30-28 road victory over the Falcons, Johnson told The Post at the end of the NFL’s annual fall meetings that Ryan has done “a fantastic job” getting a 3-2 record so far out of a team with a rookie quarterback in Geno Smith and that many expected to do nothing in 2013.
“He’s getting the most out of the team and his coaches,” Johnson said in an exclusive interview. “He had the team very well prepared [Monday] night, he had a good gameplan with a rookie quarterback, and he’s getting the wins.”
Ryan is in the penultimate year of his contract with a new boss in first-year general manager John Idzik, a combination that is usually the kiss of death for a coach’s job security.
But though Johnson refused comment when asked if Ryan would be his coach in 2014, the Gang Green boss — still admittedly riding the emotional high of Monday night’s last-second victory — made Ryan come off as anything but a lame duck.
“It’s been an excellent effort [from Ryan] so far,” Johnson said.
Even so, Johnson sounded like he is taking a wait-and-see approach in terms of a contract extension for Ryan.
Coaches rarely choose to enter the last year of their contract without demanding an extension because the uncertainty can lessen the respect from the locker room and make it difficult to hire coaches or lure free agents.
Ryan has said little about his contract situation, in large part because he has little leverage after missing the playoffs the past two years. Johnson, meanwhile, told The Post his policy is to make contract talk off-limits — at least publicly — while games are being played.
“We don’t make any statements like that during the season,” Johnson said. “I’m looking at practice tomorrow. That’s as far as I go.”
Interestingly, Johnson was muted when asked by The Post to assess Idzik’s performance, even though the new GM appears to have hit a home run so far with Smith and first-round pick Sheldon Richardson.
“He’s doing a good job, but it’s week-to-week,” Johnson said of Idzik. “We’re focused on the Steelers [on Sunday at MetLife Stadium].”
The setting for Johnson’s comments yesterday was particularly ironic, because he made them while normally talkative Giants co-owner John Mara walked past after refusing comment to a Post reporter about Big Blue’s shocking 0-5 start.
Asked if he had a moment to speak, Mara said: “No.”