As the winter of discontent lands on their respective doorsteps, the Jets and Giants find themselves at head-coaching crossroads.
Rex Ryan is in more trouble than Tom Coughlin because his fate rests in the hands of a rookie general manager who couldn’t hire his own man; because he has missed the playoffs three years in a row; because two AFC Championship game appearances do not carry the same weight as two Super Bowl championships.
As much as Coughlin seems to be revered inside the Big Blue walls, he has missed the playoffs four of the past five years and will be 68 years old next summer. It is time for ownership to sit down with him and discuss a succession plan, possibly as early as the end of 2014, and sooner rather than later.
The Jets coach faces the prospect of a harder landing.
JetLife Stadium heard him long before they saw him in 2009, heard him loud and clear. Everyone had heard him, especially Bill Belichick. He was just days away from standing on the sidelines at MetLife Stadium for the first time as Jets head coach, and there was Ryan leaving a phone message for Woody Johnson’s season-ticket holders.
“Hey, this is Rex Ryan, the head coach of the New York Jets. I just wanted to let you know how much we need you this week. You know, I’ve already admitted that, hey, the Patriots have a better head coach and they’ve got a better quarterback than us. But we’re going to see who’s got a better team.
“Again, I admit that I’m not as good as Belichick, but at the end of the game, I want to be 1-0 against him. So, help me out if you don’t mind. That’s my challenge, OK? Thank you. Bye.”
And here we are five years later, not at a beginning, but possibly at an end, wondering whether Sunday against the Browns will be the last time JetLife Stadium sees him coaching the home team — no one, not him and not them, knowing for sure whether it is time to say, “Thank you. Bye.”
It wound up Jets 16, Patriots 9 that day, after which Ryan announced he was awarding the game ball to Jets fans. It was a harbinger of exhilarating times to come, those back-to-back AFC Championship game appearances, before it all went south on Mark Sanchez and Darrelle Revis and Tim Tebow and, of course, Ryan.
There were no phone messages left this week for Jets fans. What was there to say? Stay tuned and keep your fingers crossed for me on Black Monday?
He has a rookie quarterback and a severe talent deficiency on offense, but if GM John Idzik isn’t interested in hearing excuses or giving Ryan the benefit of the doubt, if he doesn’t trust Ryan and offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg with developing quarterback Geno Smith into the leader of an explosive offense in a quarterback-driven league, if Idzik believes it is time for an offensive-minded head coach, then this will be the swan song of a lame duck.
Back before the Jets’ season opener against the Buccaneers, Johnson stood outside the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center and answered questions about Ryan.
“I think Rex is a great coach, I think he’s a good head coach, he’s a great teacher, and I have a lot of confidence in Rex,” he said.
Johnson said there was no benchmark of wins for Ryan.
“He’s a good leader,” Johnson said. “If you look at a head coach, or a good leader, if the players are willing to play for a coach, or a head coach, I think that’s a positive. If you look at what a good teacher he is, I think that’s an element of being a head coach. How he deals with the media and all that I think is part of it. It’s a gigantic job. He has the traits and elements that good coaches have.”
His players still play for him. They can say they love their coach, want him to stay their coach, all they want.
Don’t tell us. Show us.
Even for future Hall of Famers, there inevitably comes a time when a new voice is needed, but it wasn’t so much Coughlin’s voice this season as it was the players listening to that voice, injured players and complacent players and selfish players and even the franchise quarterback, left naked and skittish on Manning Island.
Coughlin has earned the right to return, but someone from his staff needs to go, and if he and Manning continue to pound the table for offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride, it won’t be him. Whatever happens, as much as the Giants crave stability and continuity, there is no such thing as coach-for-life status, even in East Rutherford.
It would be out of character for Coughlin to want to go out like this, but he should be on notice next season along with everyone else, including GM Jerry Reese. Penn State coach Bill O’Brien is someone to keep an eye on. He fits the Giants profile.
But barring a stormy exit meeting, Coughlin should coach the Giants in 2014.
Barring an epic humiliation these next two weeks, Ryan should coach the Jets in 2014.
If Idzik’s final verdict on Ryan can yet be influenced in any way by Sunday’s game against these 4-10 Browns, then Ryan better not lose it. Or the next time Ryan says, “Thank you. Bye,” to Jets fans might be the last time.