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New York Jets' worst move of 2012? Not firing Rex Ryan


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ouch. never knew tanny wanted henne to back up sanchez. although not like rex would've yanked sanchez anyway until the season was lost.

New York Jets' worst move of 2012? Not firing Rex Ryan

  • By Adam Schein
  • Published: Jan. 1, 2013 at 11:58 a.m.
  • Updated: Jan. 1, 2013 at 12:56 p.m.

The New York Jets made former general manager Mike Tannenbaum the fall guy for their bumbling, grotesque, laughable 6-10 season of underachievement. They fired Tannenbaum on "Black Monday" via a statement from owner Woody Johnson, which included the explanation that coach Rex Ryan would return because of "the passion, the talent and the drive to successfully lead our team" that Ryan possesses.

Apparently, Johnson didn't watch the Jets this season, or he doesn't understand how his football operations worked.

In a year that included the

Tim Tebow insanity, Mark Sanchez's gruesome underachievement, and the expression "butt fumble" becoming forever a part of the football lexicon, Monday's decision to keep Ryan and fire Tannenbaum was theJets' worst moment of 2012.

Hey -- happy New Year.

The

Jets had two choices: Take a deep breath and retain both Ryan and Tannenbaum -- a duo that won more games than they lost in their four years together -- or fire both.

The one thing they shouldn't have done was attack the issue piecemeal.

The decision was very simple, but the

Jets messed it up in "butt fumble" fashion.

You can make the case that Tannenbaum deserved to lose his job because of

the extension given to Sanchez last offseason, guaranteeing the quarterback more than $8 million for 2013. It was basically money to pump up the confidence-deficient signal-caller coming off a shaky 2011. One could also cite other bad player contracts in making a case against Tannenbaum.

But Ryan and Tannenbaum should've been attached at the hip.

Ryan worked hand-in-hand with Tannenbaum on shaping the

Jets. He had more power than most head coaches.

Ryan was convinced Sanchez had the talent and personality (which is laughable to think now, after Sanchez's postgame press conferences this year) to handle New York and thrive. He wanted to draft Sanchez. He pushed for Tannenbaum to give him that contract after speculation arose that the

Jets wanted Peyton Manning.

Ryan wanted Tebow. He wanted to run the ball and get back to "ground and pound," and he envisioned Tebow as a threat in the red zone, in short-yardage situations and in the Wildcat.

Remember the toxic

Jets locker room in 2011 and all the finger pointing that was part of that season's collapse? Ryan thought Tebow could help the locker room. That's a fact.

Yes, Tannenbaum was on board with the trade. But Ryan, who shares an agent with Tebow, drove the bus.

Tannenbaum wanted to sign Chad Henne to be Sanchez's backup. The Jets did, in fact, sign Drew Stanton before the Tebow trade. After the Tebow trade, Tannenbaum did right by Stanton, dealing him to the Indianapolis Colts. As it turned out, Stanton would've been the best quarterback on the Jets' roster this year.

Ryan hand-picked Tony Sparano as his offensive coordinator to run the ball. As Ryan told me, "I wanted to find the mirror image of me." It was an unmitigated disaster. The Jets' offensive line was the worst it had been in years. Ryan wanted Dave DeGuglielmo as his line coach. Ryan told me on SiriusXM this summer that he knew DeGuglielmo was his guy when he saw him kick over a garbage can, showing fight. Garbage, as it turned out, was the ideal metaphor.

It's easy to say that Tannenbaum put together a poor roster, and it's a valid criticism. However, I'd argue that the bigger issue was giving Ryan so much say, listening to him when he claimed he could coach up the likes of Aaron Maybin and Wayne Hunter and turn them into signature players.

In a related story,

both Maybin and Hunter are now ex-Jets.

The collaboration between Ryan and Tannenbaum sometimes worked, as it did when it came to

Muhammad Wilkerson,Antonio Cromartie or LaRon Landry. But don't get confused. These are Rex's Jets, from Chaz Schilens to Bart Scott. Ryan told me that, when Tannenbaum told him Santonio Holmes was available via trade, he ran down to

Tannenbaum's office faster than he ever had in his life.

Nobody had a worse 2012 for the

Jets than Rex.

Sparano lost faith in Tebow early on because of bad practice and Tebow's weight gain. Last summer, Tebow was behind both

Kyle Orton and Brady Quinn on the Denver Broncos' depth chart before leading the team to the playoffs. If you get in bed with Tebow, you don't judge on practice.

Ryan is a sub-par in-game coach. His usage of timeouts and challenges is laughable.

He consistently had the wrong quarterbacks active down the stretch. He went into

the Thanksgiving game against the New England Patriots with Tebow as the backup quarterback, even though Tebow was hurt. After Greg McElroy saved the Jets in the offensively challenged matchup with the Arizona Cardinals, Ryan had him inactive for the next two weeks. That included the ill-fated Week 15 loss to the Tennessee Titans, during which Mark Sanchez turned the ball over five times. Would have been nice for Jets fans if Ryan had been able to go to McElroy in that one.

Ryan coaches his team like a glorified defensive coordinator.

He looks especially bad when one considers how the

San Diego Chargers and Buffalo Bills closed out their seasons. Like the Jets, the Chargers and Bills were merely playing out the string over the final few weeks, but unlike the Jets, theChargers and the Bills kept fighting. In Week 16, San Diego had to travel to the East Coast to face the Jets for an early start; the Bolts easily could have quit. Instead, they sacked McElroy 11 times in a 27-17 win. However, both theChargers and Bills fired head coaches Norv Turner and Chan Gailey, respectively.

Ryan, meanwhile, got to keep his job, even though he can't coach, manage, or properly evaluate players or coaches.

What legit general manager candidate would take this job and inherit Rex?

Think about the dynamic for next season. The

Jets aren't close to competing with the New England Patriots and winning the AFC East. This offseason calls for the Jets to be re-shaped while the cap ramifications of Tannenbaum's bad deals are handled. The new GM should want to stockpile talent and build the team smartly. Ryan, on the other hand, will be coaching for his job; he'll favor band-aid-type solutions, even though surgery is what the Jets need.

Historically, things don't work out when the new brass keeps the old coach. Look at

Chicago Bears GM Phil Emery and former coach Lovie Smith. Analyze what happened when Mike Holmgren joined the Cleveland Browns without jettisoning Eric Mangini. Such moves simply delay the inevitable.

The

Jets either needed to keep both Mike and Rex, or they needed to start over.

Keeping Ryan for another year with a new GM just ensures more wackiness -- and that I'll be penning a "

Rex Ryan has been fired" column 365 days from now.

Woody Johnson should really reconsider.

I feel terrible for the diehard, long-suffering

Jets fan, who deserved a better and clearer direction for the team to go.

Follow Adam Schein on Twitter

@AdamSchein.

http://www.nfl.com/n...firing-rex-ryan

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giving ryan so much say is tannenbaum's fault. bottomline. ryan wasn't hired to be the assistant GM. He's the head coach. The GM's job is to NOT listen to him. To make his own decisions.

rex ryan crafted genius game plans to defeat peytoin manning and tom brady in the freaking playoffs. let's get off the "ryan is an imbecile" thing. this is very short sighted.

the franchise missed on Sanchez. missed bad. as soon as the reigns loosened on Sanchez, the team fell apart. You can't play on a team with QB play that is that bad. I mean....look at Sanchez's stats. He's one of the worst QBs ever.

EVER.

Gailey and Turner didnt get to keep their jobs bc they didn't coach teams handicapped at QB to consecutive AFCCGs. With a vastly superior roster on both sides of the ball (multiple HOFers), and one of the elite teams in the NFL over the past 8 years, Turner actually lost to the Jets in the playoffs. While he did beat Payton Manning, he never beat Tom Brady, and never made the SB when he SHOULD have.

In fact he was terrible in the playoffs when his owner and GM had every business expecting superbowls. (The only teams to beat the Chargers in the playoffs since 2000 are the Steelers, Jets and Patriots.)

here is Norv's career losing record: Regular season 112–122–1 Postseason 4–4 Career record 116–126–1

Rex Ryan had NO business being in the playoffs or expecting anything great there twice. And twice he made it to the AFCCG, beating Manning and Brady.

Coaches deserve to get fired when you have the roster that Norv had and no playoff success. RR? he deserves to be somewhere else. and he can definitely win in this league (winning record reg season and POs with absolute crap at QB).

Give Rex a decent QB, and decent staff, and he wins championships.

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Agree - a GM's job is to supply the players that fits the coach's philosophy. It is the GMs job to make those decisions whether the coach agrees with them or not. Likewise, If Rex Ryan wants a player the GM either agrees or not. A good HC will accept the GMs role. Either way it's the GMs call and he lives and takes the resposibilty with player personnel decisions. Tannebaum made all those decisions - it was his responsibility whether Ryan pushed for them or not.

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giving ryan so much say is tannenbaum's fault. bottomline. ryan wasn't hired to be the assistant GM. He's the head coach. The GM's job is to NOT listen to him. To make his own decisions.

Exactly. The Jets' management structure has basically lacked any clear definition and limits for the respective positions. Tanny not being Rex's boss and not really having GM authority, Rex making personnel decisions, Woody involved in personnel and on-field decisions -- that's why I have been calling them the Three Amigos all season. It is like they are al velcro'd at the hip. And even more troubling is Woody's seemingly going the way of Jerry Jones, being the de facto GM. And people wonder why this organization is a comical rats nest.

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DV, that was the inherent problem of Tannenbaum not having a personnel background. He had no choice but to rely heavily on Rex. The Jets are looking at guys with heavy personnel backgrounds so Rex wont be relied on with new GM.

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New York Jets best move of 2012? Not firing Rex Ryan.

How do you explain losing to 2 teams down the stretch who knew their coaches were getting fired? To say nothing of his indifference to the offense and hostility to the forward pass?

Your posts in favor of Ryan are approaching a parody. I'm starting to think you are effing with us to get a reaction.

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How do you explain losing to 2 teams down the stretch who knew their coaches were getting fired?

Seriously? That's easy: Mark Sanchez.

Your posts in favor of Ryan are approaching a parody. I'm starting to think you are effing with us to get a reaction.

Yeah, OK, because I'm the only person in the world that thinks Rex is a good coach with a potential to achieve greatness. I'm sure I'm the only one.

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Tannenbaum lost a fight with Rex to bring in a back-up QB who might OMIGOD threaten Mark Sanchez and people still hold out hope that Rex is a good coach.

It's easy to argue that he's had the league's worst QB play over this 4 year stretch. The fact that he made 2 deep playoff runs and the team's overall record is still above .500 in that stretch is quite impressive.

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Seriously? That's easy: Mark Sanchez.

Yeah, OK, because I'm the only person in the world that thinks Rex is a good coach with a potential to achieve greatness. I'm sure I'm the only one.

Mark Sanchez managed to infilitrate the lockerroom ahd drug Rex Ryan in starting him. Also, used mind control on Ryan to get him to say "Mark Sanchez gives us the best chnace to win".

I think that Ryan does have some good attrbiutes on the defensiive side of the ball. ANd unlike Herman Edwards and Eric Mangini, he can be a a big personality, But he really is lost at sea when it comes to offense.

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It's easy to argue that he's had the league's worst QB play over this 4 year stretch. The fact that he made 2 deep playoff runs and the team's overall record is still above .500 in that stretch is quite impressive.

No denying that getting to the AFCCG twice with bad QB play was impressive, but he's also the one who never even tried to fix the position. It's myopia, and judging by Sanchez's exit interview, it sounds like Rex hasn't figured out that botching the offense was his problem to solve. In short, Rex is out of his mind.

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Mark Sanchez managed to infilitrate the lockerroom ahd drug Rex Ryan in starting him. Also, used mind control on Ryan to get him to say "Mark Sanchez gives us the best chnace to win".

I think that Ryan does have some good attrbiutes on the defensiive side of the ball. ANd unlike Herman Edwards and Eric Mangini, he can be a a big personality, But he really is lost at sea when it comes to offense.

He's not a leader, he's a cheerleader. The team imploded down the stretch two years in a row. He's 9-15 in his last 24 games. Enough.

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Mark Sanchez managed to infilitrate the lockerroom ahd drug Rex Ryan in starting him. Also, used mind control on Ryan to get him to say "Mark Sanchez gives us the best chnace to win".

Tebow and McElroy were the only guys behind Sanchez.

On the whole, if you started either of those guys 15 games, I suspect that they both would have had a (slightly) better stat-line. But not enough to make a difference.

I think it's less about blindly supporting Sanchez, and more about supporting your guy when the options behind him aren't noticeably better. Your guy is always going to get the benefit of the doubt there. It's not as if they had Colin K or Matt Flynn waiting on the bench.

I think that Ryan does have some good attrbiutes on the defensiive side of the ball. ANd unlike Herman Edwards and Eric Mangini, he can be a a big personality, But he really is lost at sea when it comes to offense.

He has to get better, but he's still young (in coach years), so I suspect that he will. Dude is a competitor. When you look at his track record thusfar and consider his youth/inexperience, as well as the crap play he got out of the most important position in the league... it's tough not to see the potential for greatness in him.

What I would do is get myself a guy like Norv Turner, make him the assistant coach/offensive coordinator and have him help Rex with the offense. The two of them would work great together.

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I did not know DWC wrote on NFL.com!

Utter garbage article.

How is it garbage? Schein is either offering facts told to him by Rex directly or citing public knowledge. Tanny deserves to be s-canned for the Sanchez extension alone - but I think the article is dead nuts on.

He didn't even mention THE TERMINATOR - who will likely be delivering your UPS Christmas packages next year. Horrible situation to try and land a quality GM when he knows he's stuck with an emotional blowhard for HC. Despite the guys skills as a DC.

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correct. wonder if rex would've been quicker to pull the trigger with henne in the chamber versus tebow? guess we'll never know.

The real question is would Rex even be allowed to pull Sanchez? Schein is obviously using Tannenbaum as his source here. Somebody needs to find out who was pulling the strings to keep running Sanchez out there every week. The lengths they went to to protect Mark were absurd.

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the article is extremely short-sighted.

Above you talk about Rex crafting "genius" game plans to defeat Tom Brady and Manning in the playoffs.

You basically make my point. He crafted effective DEFENSIVE game plans to stop great QBs. More often than not, the great QBs beat Rex. Nothing about coming up with a defensive game plan says that Rex is qualified to be a head coach.

He's a terrible head coach. He has almost no handle on identifying the talent he needs and maintaining a disciplined culture for this team. We lose, he cries and sends the message of calamity. We win and he talks trash like a coward bully. He's the cool Dad... players love him, but clearly don't respect him. Otherwise you wouldn't have the past 2 seasons of mellowdrama.

It is one thing to be a bad team. It's entirely another to be an embarrassment. Rex's teams don't act like men. They talk trash, then pout when they can't handle adversity.

On and on and on... ultimately, Rex is a good defensive coach. He's not a good head coach.

Hell, I'm not even seeing evidence that he's a good motivator.

This team gets ROLLED by good/great teams, routinely. Sure he beat some of the good ones a couple times... look what New England does to us more recently, and more regularly. Brady owns Rex. Manning owns Rex. Most of the league has figured his scheme out... which is why our defense can't hold opponents when it matters.

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As far as Rex's brilliance vs. Brady and Manning. Because he so incredible at game planning, he's....

3-6 vs. Brady. Patriots 265 Jets 166 in 9 games. (29 points per game)

1-1 vs Manning, Colts 47- Jets 33 in 2 games (24 points per game)

Plus Manning OWNED Rex when he was with the Ravens.

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How is it garbage? Schein is either offering facts told to him by Rex directly or citing public knowledge. Tanny deserves to be s-canned for the Sanchez extension alone - but I think the article is dead nuts on.

He didn't even mention THE TERMINATOR - who will likely be delivering your UPS Christmas packages next year. Horrible situation to try and land a quality GM when he knows he's stuck with an emotional blowhard for HC. Despite the guys skills as a DC.

Yep. And you know what man, it wasn't so bad...Terminator, the draft pick, as much as giving the POS JAG a starting job ONE full season and an entire training camp. Because he could break a wedge on kickoff he was obviously going to be a great fullback...i.e. Rex logic.

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The worst move was Tebow.

Telling Tebow to get fat, then not knowing how to use him in a non-QB role, and furthermore not letting him at least get 1 start when we had no QB options was more of a mistake than acquiring him.

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