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CLEVELAND — Good thing Woody Johnson has been doing those penalty pushups all week. He’s going to need his strength. This is a huge game for the Jets owner and for his coach Rex Ryan.
In so many ways this is the “I Told You So Bowl” today between the Browns and the Jets at Cleveland Browns Stadium.
Woody wanted the colorful coach and he has that in Rex. He didn’t want the dry Eric Mangini, even though now we are finally beginning to see that Mangini really does have a personality.
Make no mistake, Ryan wants this win badly for so many reasons, not only for the Jets owner and his 6-2 team, but for bragging rights in the Ryan household since he is taking on his twin brother Rob, the Browns defensive coordinator.
You just know the House of Ryan is the House of Trash Talk 365 days a year.
No matter how this game turns out, though, Johnson made the right choice. Rex is right for him. In fact, no coach is as right for a franchise as Ryan is for the Jets. He’s loud, brash and funny. And most of all, he gets the players to go “all in” on the way he runs the show. He needs the players to go all out for him today.
It’s all about the decal on the side of the helmet, as Ryan is fond of saying. On Friday, he jokingly pointed out the Browns have no decal on their old-school helmets.
Wide receiver Santonio Holmes explained what Ryan is all about and how that plays to the benefit of the Jets.
“Coach Ryan is a player’s coach,” explained the former Ohio State star, who is expecting to have a big homecoming game. “Whatever the players need, anything possible, he is going to try to make sure the players get what they want, but at the same time, do what they are supposed to do to get what they want.”
That is essential; the players have to earn their rewards under Ryan. It’s not just given to them. Life doesn’t work that way. That’s why today is a big day, too for Braylon Edwards, who gets the chance to tell the Browns, “I told you so.”
“You’re ready to make a statement,” Edwards said of his mindset heading into the game. He does not want to see his old team play their style of game and said the Jets must put points on the board early. “They will milk the clock,” he said of Mangini’s Browns. “They’ll hand it off to [Peyton] Hillis 40 times a game. We have to score fast and we have to score touchdowns.”
For quarterback Mark Sanchez, he’ll have to show he can be successful in something other than a two-minute offense, to click when he has time to think. It would help, too, if his receivers don’t get stripped of the ball after a completion.
“There are a lot of emotions going into a game like this for Coach Ryan and for Braylon,” Sanchez explained. “Any time you play your brother, you want to win whether you’re shooting hoops in the backyard or you’re coaching two NFL teams.”
That is essentially the genius of Ryan. He collects players who are extremely competitive in everything they do. Get enough of those guys around and even when you don’t play well as a team, you boast a 6-2 record. Of course, the next step is to prove that 6-2 mark is not a fluke. You play up that angle to your team.
That’s what’s at stake today. The Jets have to prove they deserve to be 7-2. They must show that the owner made the right call firing Mangini and hiring Ryan. Edwards can prove the Browns made a mistake letting him get away. LaDainian Tomlinson can show he is not wearing down as the season progresses.
For the Jets, it’s all about coming away with a win and saying, “I told you so.”