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The Jets hired Rex Ryan as their head coach 980 days ago. He’s only caused divisive opinions on about 978 of them.
Ryan finds himself under attack this week from Jets legend Joe Namath, who sounded more like “Joe Willie from Beaver Falls. First time, long time,” when he ripped Ryan for pumping up his team too much.
This criticism of Ryan has to stop. It’s ridiculous. People forget what this franchise was like when Ryan took over. Do you want Mealy-Mouthed Mangini back saying nothing every week?
Ryan’s braggadocio is an easy target when the Jets lose a game like Sunday’s. The vultures circle and scream about Ryan putting a target on the Jets’ backs or that the team is too cocky.
The 34-24 loss to the Raiders had less to do with Ryan’s pregame speeches and more to do with a lack of tackling by his defense. If you want to rip him for that, go ahead. But to question how he prepares his team when none of us really knows what goes on in team meetings is a waste of breath.
Listen to what Jason Taylor, who spent 2010 with the Jets, told NBC in Miami about playing for Ryan:
“He’s the anti-normal NFL coach,” Taylor said. “But the beauty of him, and what his players like, is he’s ultra-confident and optimistic.”
Taylor talked about the Jets’ playoff victory over the Patriots in January. Though the Jets had lost 45-3 to the Pats a month earlier, Taylor said Ryan made the Jets believe there was no chance the Patriots could beat them again.
“I promise to you on my kids’ eyeballs there wasn’t a person on our football team that thought we were going to lose to New England,” Taylor said. “That’s how confident we were.
“It was ingrained in us so much that it became us.”
Namath is the better former Jet, but Taylor is the better source on this one because he actually has been in Ryan’s practices and meetings.
It’s funny that this week’s opponent is the Ravens. Ryan got his coaching degree in Baltimore, and desperately wanted to be the team’s head coach when Brian Billick was fired after the 2007 season. But Ryan’s style even hurt him there.
The Ravens passed him over to hire John Harbaugh. Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti had not addressed the reason he did not hire Ryan until this summer during a conference call with season-ticket holders.
“From a chemistry standpoint . . . we really liked John and we thought it was going to be tougher for Rex to bring the whole team together after him spending 10 years on one side of the ball that was the dominant side of the ball,” Bisciotti said.
Bisciotti declined an interview request this week from The Post.
Jets wide receiver Derrick Mason was on the Ravens when Ryan was passed over and said the players were disappointed. He also said the idea of Ryan being divisive is wrong.
“Everybody loved him throughout that football team,” Mason told The Post. “I don’t think there was one guy who didn’t enjoy Rex. You had a bunch of offensive guys that loved him. Those are things you don’t get in other places where the defensive coordinator is liked by the offensive guys.”
Ryan has accomplished a near-perfect balance between being a player’s coach and a disciplinarian. He knows when to scream at his players and when to laugh with them.
Confidence is the fuel that runs Ryan’s Jets, and it has resulted in two trips to the AFC title game.
“It starts with the out-there-and-in-front head coach saying we’re going to kick everybody’s you know what,” Taylor said of Ryan. “He writes the check and you’ve got to cash them. At some point, you start to believe, ‘You know what, we have enough money in the bank to cash these checks.’ ”
No one should understand that better than Namath.
Line must prevent Sanchez beatdowns
Mark Sanchez looked as if he had just lost a fight after Sunday’s loss to the Raiders. He had a red welt under his right eye and his nose was a little swollen.
It was a fitting look for Sanchez’s season so far. The third-year quarterback is taking a beating.
The Raiders sacked him four times in the second half, and Kamerion Wimbley broke Sanchez’s nose on one of them. This comes one week after he injured his arm on Matt Roth’s helmet and two weeks after the Cowboys sent him for concussion tests.
Protecting the quarterback has become a major problem for the Jets, who have allowed nine sacks, eighth most in the NFL.
Whether you think Sanchez is a franchise quarterback or a fraud, the Jets cannot afford to lose him. Not unless you want to see Mark Brunell, who turned 41 two weeks ago, under center.
The offensive line has taken a step back with the retirement of Damien Woody, and it could be a costly one. If Sanchez is going to throw 43 times a game, like he did Sunday, the Jets have to keep him upright.
Taylor not Fin-ished tweaking
Jason Taylor is officially a Dolphin again, and back taking shots at the Jets.
Taylor, who spent last season with the Jets, told NBC in Miami that Mark Sanchez is not as physically talented as Dolphins quarterback Chad Henne.
“We need to grow and we need to continue to change, and I think Chad has grown immensely since I left here a year-and-a-half ago,” Taylor said. “Chad has all the talent to do it, and he’s developing that demeanor and that swagger you need to play that position.
“I saw a kid in New York, Mark Sanchez, that is young, I don’t think he’s as talented as Chad Henne, physically. But he has that demeanor, he has that little swagger, he understands the position that he’s in and he has a good team around him.”
Because the two quarterbacks play in the AFC East and were drafted a year apart, they often have been compared. But Sanchez has a clear edge in the most important category — winning.
He is 25-15 as a starter with the Jets, including four playoff wins. Henne is 13-17 as a starter and was on the bench for the only playoff game of his career.
Taylor said kind things about the Jets and Rex Ryan, but he was known early in his career for tweaking the Jets. It will be interesting to hear what he has to say leading up to the team’s Monday Night meeting on Oct. 17.