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Before the season, Rex Ryan had no qualms about talking smack. It was pretty obvious what the Jets were getting: a defense-minded, hard-nosed and cocky head coach. "I never came here to kiss Bill Belichick's, you know, rings," Ryan announced on June. He made it apparent, before he had ever notched one victory, that he was putting the division rival Patriots on blast.It was a welcome departure from Eric Mangini's style and made Jets fans feel they had a leader with some ... cojones.
But words only get you so far. And then you have to actually, ya know, keep winning.
It started off like paradise for the Jets -- three straight victories to open the season, including a 16-9, chest thumping win over New England. Everything after that, though, has been pretty much a free fall for Ryan's crew.
Rookie QB Mark Sanchez has delivered in some games and brain-farted in others, including a dreadful five-interception performance against Buffalo that the Jets should have won easily. (Seriously, when was the last time you saw an NFL team rush for 318 yards, only score 13 points and lose?)
Just-demoted safety Kerry Rhodes, who was expected to be one of the standouts in Ryan's new defense, has been very tentative in his approach, to put it nicely. So yeah, that comparison to Ed Reed seems awfully premature in hindsight.
Overall, New York is sliding further and further from expectations, the most recent disappointment a 31-14 payback beating from New England. The Jets have now lost six out of their last seven games heading into a matchup with Carolina.
It's been a tough pill to swallow, but even tougher when you see Ryan continuing to talk with no results to back him up.
The latest barb came after the Patriots attempted a long pass to Randy Moss with 30 seconds left. That seemingly rub-it-in move didn't sit well with Ryan.
"We need to stop them anyway, so it's no biggie, but I was surprised, and I did feel a little bit disrespected," Ryan said.
"That's why I called the timeout at the end of the game [with five seconds left], to give the other team another chance."
Respect doesn't come easily in the NFL, especially for a first-year head coach in the middle of a rivalry against Belichick and his three Super Bowl rings. Belichick doesn't owe him anything, frankly.
Even if the deep pass was intentional, complaining about it after getting blown out doesn't make Ryan or the Jets look any better here. The only remedy is turning that record around, starting with the Panthers and moving on to the Bills and Bucs -- three winnable games.
Now that Ryan has finally vowed to become more involved in the offense and bail out Sanchez a bit, perhaps the Jets can salvage a respectable season. But as Josh Alper noted in depth here, that kind of initiative should have come much earlier in the season.
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