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The more you listened to Rex Ryan talk Tuesday, about how he has failed as a head coach, mostly because of how clueless he has been about offense, the more you became convinced Jets owner Woody Johnson should have cleaned house.
“I’ve failed to this point,” Rex said, “but I have confidence in myself and this organization that we will succeed.”
The more you listened to Woody talk, about what a leader and motivator Rex is, about how he is every bit as sophisticated as the New York Jets fan, about how prospective general managers have been instructed to keep Rex, about how Rex will somehow have input into finding that GM, the more you realized this wasn’t merely a case of love is blind, this was a case study in the blind leading the blind.
“I think Rex Ryan is perfect for the New York Jets,” Woody said.
Woody’s Wrecks.
“I’m approaching this day like it’s my first day as a head coach,” Rex said. “This is a new chance for me. … This is a beginning, it’s certainly not an end.”
It is the beginning of the end, only he and the owner can’t see it. And don’t want to see it.
Rex has his $6 million owed to him over two years. Woody has his larger-than-life headline magnet/movie star, who will now need to pick up the slack for the inevitable and merciful departure of Tebowmania.
“Having been in business, around football for a while, you can recognize talent when you see it,” Woody said.
Lame duck? It smells more like a partnership.
Lame Old Jets.
If the Mayans weren’t moved Tuesday to predict the end of the Jets world in 2013, they never will be.
But Doomsday is coming.
Woody, let the incoming GM decide whether Rex stays or goes, for crying out loud.
Mike Tannenbaum: gone. Tony Sparano: gone. Mike Pettine: gone. Mike Westhoff: gone. Strength and conditioning coach: gone. Brian Schottenheimer: long gone. Mark Sanchez: $17 million salary cap reasons why he won’t be gone.
Rex keeps his dream job and Woody keeps the 34-30 coach who presided over the demise of his franchise quarterback and a buttfumbled season that will live in Jets infamy.
“I fervently believe that he has a rare ability,” Woody said.
Yes he does — to mesmerize, maybe even hypnotize, his boss. Who may have been hiding a tattoo of his wife wearing a “Rex For President … If It Can’t Be Romney” T-shirt beneath his long-sleeve shirt, for all we know.
Status Woe for long-suffering Jets fans.
“One of the things that impresses me about Rex as a leader is that he knows where he wants to improve and he’s committed to do that, and I trust him,” Woody said.
But wait! Rex has had an epiphany. He is so eager to uproot his Ground & Pound roots that he will be terrorizing Bill Belichick with a new “attack” style offense.
Without, of course, a quarterback who can attack.
With Santonio Holmes and Stephen Hill and Jeremy Kerley.
And, oh, what Rex meant all along was he wanted an all-weather offense.
“I don’t think I’ve done as good a job of implementing who I am throughout this team,” Rex said.
Then who is he?
After all, he’s only had four years to implement who he is.
Could Norv Turner save Sanchez? Can anyone?
“At the end of the day, I wanted to move this team, I think, in a different direction offensively,” Rex said.
How about forward, towards the other team’s goal line for a change?
“As hard as we are to attack defensively, I want to be the same way on offense,” Rex said.
Wouldn’t that be nice! And unpredictable, he wants to be unpredictable! Sounds like things a new head coach might say at his introductory press conference.
“I have the best facilities in the National Football League. I have an organization committed to the wellness of their players like no other organization in this league. I have an owner that’s committed to winning, that has a passion for winning, that loves this football team,” Rex said.
And this coach. On Paradise Island, he sweated out his future.
“I was concerned because I know the year we had was nowhere close to the expectations we had as an organization,” Rex said.
Not to worry. Woody still looks at Rex and sees a Vince Lombardi-Muhammad Ali hybrid.
Asked if there was a mandate for Rex to make the playoffs in 2013, Woody said, “No, there’s no mandate.”
Woody’s Wrecks.