How an ex-Jets great helped Buddy Ryan launch his coaching career

[Gas2No99]

How an ex-Jets great helped Buddy Ryan launch his coaching career

Defensive end Gerry Philbin (pictured) once suggested that then-Jets head coach Weeb Ewbank hire a young college assistant named Buddy Ryan. The rest is history. (AP photo)

By Dom Cosentino | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

In 2009, on the day Rex Ryan was hired by owner Woody Johnson to coach the Jets, Ryan's father, Buddy, had a simple message for him.

"Don't mess this up," Buddy told Rex that day, according to the New York Times. "That's my team."

The Jets? Buddy Ryan's team? Oh, but it's true. The mid-80s Bears were a leviathan because of Buddy. The late-80s Eagles were the most entertaining show in sports because of Buddy. Kevin Gilbride might own two Super Bowl rings, but his lengthy NFL coaching career is often reduced to a YouTube clip because of Buddy.

Buddy Ryan was a larger-than-life former NFL coach who died Tuesday at the age of 85. But nearly 50 years ago, he might have remained just another itinerant, no-name college assistant had it not been for one of the greatest players in Jets history.

In 1968, then-Jets head coach Weeb Ewbank was looking for a new defensive line coach. According to Dave Anderson of the Times, the name that kept coming up as he talked to people was Buddy Ryan's. Well, it just so happened that defensive end Gerry Philbin, a future Jets Ring of Honor member who was already an established AFL talent, had played for Buddy at the University at Buffalo.

Philbin, as the story goes, had recommended Buddy to Ewbank. In a phone interview with NJ Advance Media, Philbin said that's only partly true. Bill Mazer, the late New York City sports talk pioneer, had also put in a word. Mazer had been a broadcaster in Buffalo in the early '60s, when Philbin played for Buddy there.

"The man just jumped out at me," Mazer told Sports Illustrated in 1994. "He was so energetic, dedicated, devoted, dynamic!"

"We were both very friendly with Buddy," Philbin told NJ Advance Media, referring to Mazer. "We recommended him very highly, and with our recommendations, they hired him. They took a shot [with] Buddy. We won the Super Bowl the same year."

Jets 16, Colts 7 in Super Bowl III is rightly remembered for many reasons. But it is often overlooked that the heavily favored Colts were overmatched from the start, and that Buddy Ryan had a big hand in making that happen.

Most NFL defenses in the late '60s played a straight 4-3 with some blitz packages, Philbin said. But with Buddy Ryan and Walt Michaels—the Jets' defensive coordinator, and future head coach—working in tandem, the Jets were already showing a variety of defensive looks, including what Philbin called a "5-1-under," or 5-1-5. The AFL is often remembered for its wide open, pass-heavy offenses. But Philbin said the league's defensive schematics were well ahead of their time, too.

(*Personal Note: That was the "crazy" unorthodox looks I wished & called for LAST YEAR back in Aug' putting the best players on the field: DE - MoWIlk, DT-Q. Coples, NG-Harrison, DT-Richardson, DE-Leonard Williams, ILB-Harris/Davis, SpurLB-Pryor, CB1-Revis CB2-Cro, Nickel-Skrine, FS- Gilchrist)

"They had us in all kinds of formations," said Philbin, who is credited with 19 sacks in '68, when sacks were still an unofficial stat. "Odd-man fronts, and 3-4, and all-out blitzes. They threw the kitchen sink at a lot of teams."

The more Philbin talked, the easier it was to trace the evolution of NFL defenses, from Ryan's famed 46 scheme with the Bears to the varied looks and blitz-heavy packages utilized today by Ryan's son Rex (who now coaches the Bills) and current Jets head coach Todd Bowles. 

Buddy Ryan always had the ability—even during his University at Buffalo days—to motivate players, Philbin said. Ryan did this by breaking players down, and by demanding an aggression that bordered on animalism. It was a tactic developed during Ryan's time as a master sergeant during the Korean War. But here, too, we can see the roots of the modern incarnation of football-coach-as-control-freak, an approach that has often proved to be more destructive than successful.

Ryan's sledgehammer style wasn't for everybody, Philbin acknowledged. But it tended to work on the players Ryan was trying to reach, and to root out the ones Ryan felt were never going to buy in.

"He was really [like] a psychologist," Philbin told NJ Advance Media. "He knew how to press everybody's buttons the right way. And that's a pretty good trait to have as a coach."

There was a dark side to Ryan in this respect, however. The late Dave Duerson once told Deadspin that Ryan wasn't above resorting to flat-out racism when playing mind games with his players. And while Philbin told NJ Advance Media that Ryan "didn't push it to where he'd break you," he also once conceded to Sports Illustrated that Ryan's ways could be "mean, cruel."

"If you didn't hit as hard as he wanted," Philbin told SI, "he'd humiliate you in front of everyone."

Buddy Ryan was notorious for treating offenses—and quarterbacks in particular—as the "enemy," as Philbin put it. Philbin said this attitude even manifested itself in practices, with Ryan encouraging his defenses to go all-out against the offense, which frequently created an atmosphere of tension and animosity.

"That's the way he wanted it," Philbin said. "It worked out best for both sides."

That last point is no doubt debatable in Philadelphia, where Ryan's lack of attention to the offense worked to undermine a wildly talented roster that never won a playoff game. Like father, like son, it's likewise easy to blame Rex's eventual failures with the Jets—he was fired after six seasons—to a similar inability to develop offenses.

The flip side to all this? Buddy Ryan's decision to discourage his Eagles players from crossing the picket line during the 1987 NFLPA strike. Ryan may have been an unforgiving authoritarian as a coach, but as a person he ultimately showed himself to be in tune with what was in his players' best interests.

Gerry Philbin last saw Buddy Ryan at a University at Buffalo reunion in 2008. Ryan was given a jersey that day with the No. 46 on it—a nod to his Bears defense, his most noteworthy creation. But according to the Wall Street Journal, Ryan's '68 Jets gave up fewer yards per play (4.1 to 4.4) and fewer yards per rush (3.2 to 3.7) than even the '85 Bears. That Jets defense just rarely gets anything close to the same recognition.

"We were the No. 1 defense [in the AFL] against the rush, against the pass," Philbin said. "The rest was history, what he went on to do."

Dom Cosentino may be reached at dcosentino@njadvancemedia.com.

 

[ljr]

Great read ... Much appreciated !!!

[Jetdawgg]

A great AFL story. While playing Madden one day about 20 years ago, I noticed how tough the SB Jets Defense was. I spoke to my cousin about that and he made mention of Buddy Ryan and how those Jets were the start of that famous Bears Defense of 85.

Ryan, Namath and those 69 Jets really have left an imprint of the game we enjoy today. 

[FlaJetsFan]

RIP Buddy.  In terms of football coaching, you were one of the truly great ones.  Your sons, not so much.  But Philbin's comments (I can't believe I clearly remember Bill Mazer, man I must be getting old!) serve to remind me how the NY Jets, despite their almost tragic ineptitude post 1969, are arguably the most technically influential team in the history of the NF on both sides of the line.  I feel lucky to have watched them then, as well as the Yankees of Reggie/Catfish era, the Knicks when they won it twice, the Amazins, the Ali Frazier fight, and the Islanders in their prime.  Great great memories for a young New Yorker to have growing up when there was no question whatsoever that the title of undisputed heavyweight sports city of the world belonged to us (okay so the Isles were on LI but we'll give them an honorary membership pass) and no none else came even close.

[Bugg]

Respect his success, innovative defenses and above all his courageous service to this country in the Korean War. 

I'll leave it at that. 

[Jet Nut]

On July 2, 2016 at 3:59 AM, Jetdawgg said:

A great AFL story. While playing Madden one day about 20 years ago, I noticed how tough the SB Jets Defense was. I spoke to my cousin about that and he made mention of Buddy Ryan and how those Jets were the start of that famous Bears Defense of 85.

Ryan, Namath and those 69 Jets really have left an imprint of the game we enjoy today. 

Its not as popular a read as Namath, Maynard, etc etc but the Jets had the AFLs number 1 defense along with that offense.

Even more reason Namath was pissed that they were disrespected by being 18.5 point underdogs and given no chance of winning the game.

[Savage69]

11 minutes ago, Jet Nut said:

Its not as popular a read as Namath, Maynard, etc etc but the Jets had the AFLs number 1 defense along with that offense.

Even more reason Namath was pissed that they were disrespected by being 18.5 point underdogs and given no chance of winning the game.

Too bad sacks weren't a stat back then Philbin and Elliot would have put up some impressive numbers..