Rex Ryan could put a positive spin on a hemorrhoid. So don’t be surprised when the Jets head coach makes last night’s 26-10 win over the Bengals sound like the second coming of the ’85 Bears.
Don’t believe him. Playing in the Thanksgiving nightcap, his team came out flat, trailed 7-3 at halftime and was booed as it headed to the locker room. And even after scoring on their second play of the third quarter, when Brad Smith ran 53 yards on an end-around for a touchdown, the Jets still needed help to take control of an opponent they should have dominated.
First the Bengals blew a 27-yard field goal, and then fumbled a punt return when the ball may or may not have bounced off the helmet of a blocker. The Jets recovered and turned the early Christmas present into a touchdown, scoring on a 6-yard pass from Mark Sanchez to Santonio Holmes.
The Jets led 17-7, and later 24-10 after Smith took a kickoff 89 yards for a touchdown as the Bengals parted like the Red Sea, proving why they are a bad (2-9) team going nowhere.
The Jets victory could be viewed as the dominant win they had been looking for. But it really wasn’t. Not after being booed at halftime and needing the Bengals to, well . . . be the Bengals.
But now the Jets (9-2) have a 10-day break before a Monday Night game that will determine whether they really are one of the league’s elite teams.
They’ll travel to Foxborough to face the Tom Brady and the Patriots and Ryan will somehow make it sound like a pick ’em game even though New England is playing the best football in the NFL after whipping the Lions 45-24 yesterday in Detroit.
“They’re clearly the best team in football,” Ryan said of the Patriots. “That’s what all the experts say . . . except me.”
While the rest of the NFL is playing football this weekend, the Jets are left to realize it’s put up or shut up time, especially for Ryan who keeps insisting the best is yet to come.
He keeps telling us the Jets are “built” for winning in December and January. Well, guess what? It might as well be December now. The Patriots are on the clock.
“Everything we do is about winning in December and January,” Ryan said earlier this week and again after last night’s game. “That’s where we’ve got to be at our best.”
I asked Ryan to explain what he meant by that. What exactly goes into being “built” for December and January, the months that bridge making the playoffs with succeeding in the playoffs? He talked about the 100 percent attendance in the offseason program and giving his team a week off during the bye week. “That’s commitment to each other,” he said. “We work our guys. We push our guys in the weight room. That’s so we can be stronger in December and January.”
It sounds like coach-speak, but Ryan has recent history on his side, considering the late-season push the Jets orchestrated last year to reach the AFC Championship Game. They were 3-1 in December last season and won three straight in January before losing at Indianapolis one game short of the Super Bowl.
Now he starts another December against the Patriots.
“I think they’ve won 25 straight at home. We’ve won eight on the road,” Ryan said. “We plan on making it nine. We know it’s going to be tough. But we’re just the men for the job.”
Listen to Ryan and getting to this point has been all part of a master plan to be ready for the Patriots and the final two months of the season. There will be no excuses come a week from Monday Night.
“When you get to December and January you have to win,” Ryan said. “That’s what we’re built for.”
Guess what? It’s December now. The Pats are on the clock.