Rex Ryan's act wearing thin...

[THE ILK]

This guy needs to shut up and coach

Rex Ryan talks a big game as Jets head coach. But his loud act is growing tired, Alex Marvez says ... especially without a Super Bowl to back it up.

Rex Ryan’s antics remind me of how much I once loved watching "Seinfeld."

No disrespect to Jerry, Elaine, George and Kramer. But every episode grows progressively less funny after watching reruns again and again — and again — in syndication.

Ryan, too, has become another New York City-flavored comedy act that has worn thin.

He was a hoot after being named Jets’ head coach in January 2009. Ryan poked fun at other head coaches (New England’s Bill Belichick), other players (Miami linebacker Channing Crowder) and even himself in a fashion that would make Kenny Bania envious. Ryan brashly trumpeted New York’s Super Bowl aspirations. He was Jerry Glanville, Sam Wyche and Buddy Ryan (Rex’s dad) all rolled into one oversized body with a mouth to match.

But, now, a coach who was a breath of fresh air compared to his stodgy peers has become a flat-out blowhard.

Stumbling into Saturday night’s first-round playoff game at Indianapolis with two victories in the past five games — including a meaningless Week 17 exhibition-style victory over Buffalo — should have prompted Ryan to tone down the hyperbole. Nope. Ryan spewed once again after beating the Bills.

“I thought we’d win (the Super Bowl) last year,” Ryan said. “I think we're going to win it this year . . . We think we’re better than any team out there. We’ve got to go prove it, though.”

The Jets should have done that first before Ryan’s gums resumed flapping.

Ryan used the same bold shtick before last season’s playoffs. It was fresh then. And to their credit, Jets players backed his words with an improbable run to the AFC Championship Game.

Ryan’s latest proclamations carry less weight than the pounds he dropped after offseason lap-band surgery.

A 45-3 blowout loss at New England in early December should have humbled Ryan at least a little bit. A 38-34 road loss to Chicago three weeks later wasn’t as embarrassing as, say, the public discovery of your wife’s foot-fetish videos on the Internet or an assistant coach tripping an opposing player on the sideline. But both games reinforced that this Jets defense — the Ryan-constructed unit that has given him the confidence to boast — isn’t playing nearly as well as at the end of the 2009 regular season.

While finishing third in the NFL rankings, the 2010 Jets surrendered an average of 40 more yards and four more points per game than their predecessors. An injury-plagued pass defense is struggling. Opponents have connected on 48 throws of 20-plus yards compared to 31 in 2009. The average opposing quarterback rating has jumped from 58.8 to 77.1.

And, now, the Jets have to face the brilliant passer who butchered a better New York defense for 377 yards and three touchdowns without an interception in last season’s AFC title game.

Ryan was effusive this week in his praise of Colts quarterback Peyton Manning. But in typical Ryan style, he couldn’t resist taking a shot at Tom Brady in the process. Ryan said New England’s quarterback falsely believes he studies as much as Manning and the Patriots coaching staff provides more help than the latter receives.

Yes, the same Tom Brady who completed 72.4 percent of his passes for 326 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions in the aforementioned rout of the Jets.

This is an example of how Ryan has changed from interesting to irritable. The swipe at Brady didn’t just come across like sour grapes, let alone unnecessary since it gives fresh bulletin-board material to a potential playoff opponent. It reeked of ignorance, especially after the manner in which Brady and the AFC East champion Patriots (14-2) dismantled Ryan’s defense.

You’d figure the Jets would have clinched the division title a long time ago after all the preseason braggadocio emanating from "Hard Knocks." New York (11-5) instead enters the postseason as a No. 6 seed.

This makes Ryan’s public praising of his inconsistent squad sound cliché. It’s as if Ryan were programmed to react this way whether he truly believes it or not. The more insincere or inane the comments, the less credible and amusing Ryan becomes. It undermines when he does make a good point or fires off an amusing quip. Should the Jets have a losing season under Ryan’s watch, players will begin tuning out like the media and fans.

People start laughing at you rather than with you.

Of course, the joke might be on me and other Ryan critics. The New York Post reports that Ryan has toned down the hyperbole internally this week, which is where it matters most. Unlike last year, Ryan hasn’t given his team a Super Bowl itinerary for the future as a motivational tactic. Ryan also has adopted a maniacal focus on Indianapolis to the point that he called beating Manning a “personal” incentive.

“He’s been so honed in on Indy and the details of what we need to do,” Jets right tackle Damien Woody told the Post. “That’s a big change from last year where we had the itinerary to the Super Bowl (and) all that type of stuff . . . Maybe it’s part of his growth as a head coach.”

Maybe. But if the Jets don’t deliver Saturday night, Ryan should spend his offseason trying to grow up before becoming even more of a punch line himself.

[Iceman88]

I agree with the article. Rex's talk is getting old he just says stupid sh*t that puts a bigger bulls eye on our team.

[Bugg]

If he wins tomorrow night(and beyond), WGAF.

And I still like "Seinfeld".

"MASH" and "Cheers" haven't aged as well.

[4HCrew]

I agree with the article. Rex's talk is getting old he just says stupid sh*t that puts a bigger bulls eye on our team.

+1 he writes checks the team cannot cash...it is time to shut up and play ball..let your actions speak for your team

[THE ILK]

If he wins tomorrow night(and beyond), WGAF.

And I still like "Seinfeld".

"MASH" and "Cheers" haven't aged as well.

Win and Rex will be more like the Honeymooners.

Lose and he'll be just another bus driver.

[T0mShane]

Honestly, I think 90% of Jets fans are embarrassed by it now. NY football fans are the ultimate put up or shut up crowd. This jawing sucks without a title. Especially his sniping at the Pats. Mofo, please. And, let's be honest, if Rex was the coach of the Dolphins and he was running this shtick, every Jets fan in the world would be screaming about what a tool this guy is.

[aec4]

I agree with the article. Rex's talk is getting old he just says stupid sh*t that puts a bigger bulls eye on our team.

You believe in this bullseye crap?

If someone needs to use the words of the other team as motivation in the playoffs, and can't get up on their own, then they already lost.

[Iceman88]

Honestly, I think 90% of Jets fans are embarrassed by it now. NY football fans are the ultimate put up or shut up crowd. This jawing sucks without a title. Especially his sniping at the Pats. Mofo, please. And, let's be honest, if Rex was the coach of the Dolphins and he was running this shtick, every Jets fan in the world would be screaming about what a tool this guy is.

Yup, I hate how the only possible response to opposing fans is that you're just jealous your coach isn't entertaining and cocky cause it seriously sucks. It has led to pretty much every other fan base want to see us lose and just made us look like a joke. I think Rex is a good coach but his bravado is really just shameful.

If he was a regular guy he would just be some extremely cocky a$$hole who you just wait to say the wrong thing to the wrong guy some day and get their a$$ kicked and humbled. The problem with Rex is he won't ever be humbled, even when he has been put in situations where he should be.

[Maxman]

This is the only thing about Rex that would ever be described with the words wearing thin.

[THE ILK]

You believe in this bullseye crap?

If someone needs to use the words of the other team as motivation in the playoffs, and can't get up on their own, then they already lost.

True, and guys fall asleep at the wheel all of the time.

With Rex, there is no chance of that happening.

[aec4]

True, and guys fall asleep at the wheel all of the time.

With Rex, there is no chance of that happening.

If a team isn't fully focused for the playoffs, there is nothing Rex Ryan can say to wake them up

[THE ILK]

If a team isn't fully focused for the playoffs, there is nothing Rex Ryan can say to wake them up

You are missing the point.

There is little chance we will ever play a team that's not fully focused, because of what Rex says.

[aec4]

You are missing the point.

There is little chance we will ever play a team that's not fully focused, because of what Rex says.

No, you're missing my point.

if the team is not fully focused, playing the Jets and Rex Ryan's mouth won't make them fully focused.

Being "motivated" by what someone said and did, when the prize at stake is 10000X larger, is just crap. If the prize isn't enough, then you already lost.

[DMaynard]

I have been listening to traditional coachspeak for 45 years.

"we have to be focused"

"we have been very competitive"

"that is a great team we are playing this week"

"we had a great week of practice"

"our offense has to establish a rhythm"

"we have to cut down on penalties"

"you play to win the game"

"... consistency"

"... get into a flow"

"we have to win the turnover battle"

Rex doesn't bother me.

[freestater]

Rex better listen up. After all, this is Alex F***ing Marvez setting him straight.

[BP]

No, you're missing my point.

if the team is not fully focused, playing the Jets and Rex Ryan's mouth won't make them fully focused.

Being "motivated" by what someone said and did, when the prize at stake is 10000X larger, is just crap. If the prize isn't enough, then you already lost.

How many teams HC's have talked like Rex without winning a super bowl? do any talk like that that do have a super bowl? why doesnt everybody do it if it doesnt matter?

Im seriously past the point of caring what he says anymore. I dont think anybody really listens anymore. he says it ALL the time. so I really dont see any shock value anymore anyways. it's just Rex being Rex like Manny being Manny.

[visajets]

The NYJETS are 11-5 and the AFC Wild Card team. Can we just leave Rex Ryan the hell alone on the eve of the big playoff game.

[aec4]

How many teams HC's have talked like Rex without winning a super bowl? do any talk like that that do have a super bowl? why doesnt everybody do it if it doesnt matter?

Im seriously past the point of caring what he says anymore. I dont think anybody really listens anymore. he says it ALL the time. so I really dont see any shock value anymore anyways. it's just Rex being Rex like Manny being Manny.

EXACTLY. I agree. It's Rex being Rex. Who cares? It's his style, it's different, and it's refreshing.

Would we rather listen to a 30 minute interview where the coach says absolutely nothing.

[T0mShane]

No, you're missing my point.

if the team is not fully focused, playing the Jets and Rex Ryan's mouth won't make them fully focused.

Being "motivated" by what someone said and did, when the prize at stake is 10000X larger, is just crap. If the prize isn't enough, then you already lost.

IMO, there are different ways to get players motivated. There's the old "Be the best you can be" tack, there's the old "Backs against the wall" tack. And, the old "This is the biggest game of your life" tack. But, you would think, the easiest motivational ploy to tap into would be the old "Embarrass the yappy A-hole opponent" tack.

[THE ILK]

No, you're missing my point.

if the team is not fully focused, playing the Jets and Rex Ryan's mouth won't make them fully focused.

Being "motivated" by what someone said and did, when the prize at stake is 10000X larger, is just crap. If the prize isn't enough, then you already lost.

No you are missing the point.

The fact that you are saying "if the team is not fully focused" is evidence that with the right approach, there are times when you can catch a team sleeping.

With Rex, there is no chance of that ever happening.

I am not saying that he is motivating them by what he says or does, but since you can hear him coming from miles away, there is no chance you will not be ready for him when he gets there.

There are times life is the prize, and still death can catch one off guard, because it does not announce itself.

[SenorGato]

While I prefer the jerk/strict mofo act from Belichick, Coughlin, the Harbaughs, the Steelers' coaches including Wisenhunt in Arizona, I no longer am annoyed by Rex's act. I for one liked his wife's feet. You can tell she takes care of them.

[PatriotReign37]

Just shut it: Ryan's bold words put Jets in position to fail

By Vic Carucci NFL.com

Senior Columnist

Updated: Jan. 7, 2011 at 11:04 a.m.

Rex Ryan had little to say after the Colts beat his Jets for the AFC title last year. Will that change Saturday?

For those of us who make our living writing and talking about the NFL, Rex Ryan is a godsend.

Calling him "good copy" doesn't begin to do justice to his capacity for providing what we all crave: Quotable material. In the world of the NFL, that can be extremely hard to come by, especially with the reveal-as-little-as-possible protocol that most coaches follow and preach to their players and staff.

We love Rex because he helps us do our job. He doesn't sound or act like your typical coach who recites the company line because it's the safest way to go about (and, in many cases, try to protect) his job.

We love Rex because he says what is on his mind with no filter, no fear, and no apology.

And that's why it pains me so much to offer this unsolicited advice to the man who has just completed his second regular season at the helm of the New York Jets: Please do yourself and your team a huge favor, and shut up!

I don't mean entirely, of course. I just mean that it's time to be a little more selective with your daily offerings from the podium, to give all of the boasting and bombast a rest.

The playoffs are here, Rex. Your team has made it for the second year in row, which, by itself, should be viewed as a tremendous accomplishment. Unfortunately for you and for your team, its significance is somewhat diminished by your insistence on raising the ante.

You've repeatedly declared that yours is a Super Bowl team and that you were on board to deliver multiple Super Bowl victories. Now, your players have to cash those checks. And the bank tellers are in places that don't give your words a whole lot of credence. One is Indianapolis, site of your wild-card game Saturday night. Other potential branches will be in the unfriendly confines of Foxborough, Mass., and Pittsburgh.

For some reason, Rex, you thought it was a good idea to discuss how "personal" it is for you, as a man who specializes in defense, to win your chess match against Peyton Manning, who took you to school in last year's AFC Championship Game. For some reason, you felt the need to mention, while praising Manning's study habits, that Tom Brady "thinks he does" work at the same pace as his Colts counterpart and "there's probably a little more help from (Bill) Belichick with Brady than there is with Peyton Manning."

Is it really necessary to crank up the heat that much higher on you and your players? Didn't you learn from that Monday night debacle in New England, which left you virtually speechless, that everything you say before a game can and will be used against you and your team?

Sure, it's fun and entertaining and certainly gives a more human quality to what all too often is so boring and robotic. But here's a sad bit of reality that folks in my business will grudgingly admit: Boring and robotic tend to be associated with far more NFL success than outlandish and irreverent.

You know who and what I'm talking about, Rex. The guy in the hoodie with the team that owns all of those silver trophies and is well positioned to win another. The guy whose Super Bowl rings you felt compelled to publicly vow to not kiss after you took over the Jets. The guy who represents the gold standard of your division, your conference, and the entire league.

Bill Belichick is the master of boring and robotic as they apply to NFL coaching. By his standard, giving up little is giving up too much. It's the "Patriot Way," in which the greatest amount of attention goes to a system rather than individuals.

And because of this approach, Belichick's players operate with a clear sense of focus and direction. The only pressure they feel is what Belichick applies with his expectation for excellence and that everyone, including himself, follows the "Patriot Way."

The emphasis is on coaching and playing rather than talking.

Not so with the Jets. These guys have no choice but to be all about Ryan's bold predictions and other incendiary diatribe. They have to face two opponents: The other team and what the coach says to rile up the opposition and everyone else who doesn't root for Gang Green.

That would be difficult if the Jets were a consistently dominant team. They aren't.

The Colts have Manning. The Patriots have Brady. The Steelers have Ben Roethlisberger. The Jets? They have Mark Sanchez, who has a sore shoulder and is at least three playoff victories shy of being recognized as more than an ordinary quarterback -- if he's that. Remember, it was Ryan, in one of his many moments of candor, who revealed that he had considered the possibility of yanking Sanchez from a game before deciding against it.

Overall, the Jets do look like a better team than they were in the AFC title game, but how much better remains to be seen. They still don't seem to have what it takes to get past Manning or any of the other major obstacles they will likely find on the way to trying to fulfill the coach's promise of Super Bowl glory.

And if that's the case, everyone will have plenty to talk about. Everyone, that is, except Ryan.

[JonEJet]

You f-ing guys need to go get your tampons....lots of bitchin' going on about the best thing to happen to our Jets in at least my lifetime. Go find your balls and man up, Rex is thee man

[T0mShane]

You f-ing guys need to go get your tampons....lots of bitchin' going on about the best thing to happen to our Jets in at least my lifetime.

Parcells?

[BP]

Parcells?

Jon fell and hit his head a very long time ago. this is the same Jon who started the ''Backed into the playoffs pathetic'' thread after the Bears game. you remember that thread? I do

[glenn212]

Rex is an unrelenting "media whore"..I know why he would talk s**t about Brady because it will get him maximum press (which it has)

I think the "any publicity is good publicity" is in full effect with Rex and you kind of know Woody loves the attention..His need for attention

is overwhelming the fan base in my estimation,

[JonEJet]

IMO, there are different ways to get players motivated. There's the old "Be the best you can be" tack, there's the old "Backs against the wall" tack. And, the old "This is the biggest game of your life" tack. But, you would think, the easiest motivational ploy to tap into would be the old "Embarrass the yappy A-hole opponent" tack.

It's no way to live life as a miserable, gelded, glass half empty guy

It really isn't

[JonEJet]

Parcells?

Parcells was the poison pill for this organization....he leaves and alll the players rich and happy....while we get stuck in cap hell

[Buldawg]

Just another log on the fire with Rex...I find it hard to believe it motivates Manning or Brady more...I enjoy his ramblings...

[Ken Schroy]

The NYJETS are 11-5 and the AFC Wild Card team. Can we just leave Rex Ryan the hell alone on the eve of the big playoff game.

I agree. Some people just like to post.

[T0mShane]

Parcells was the poison pill for this organization....he leaves and alll the players rich and happy....while we get stuck in cap hell

The supposed "cap hell" was a myth and you know it. And he was such a poison pill that he took this franchise from the wreckage that Kotite left and delivered a shiny contender that even Herm Edwards couldn't immediately f*ck up. But that's neither here nor there. Rex can talk as long as Rex wins.

[Bugg]

I'm with Mr. Maynard on this one. After the coachspeak of Mangini, Groh, Parcells and the emptyheaded gibberish of Herman Edwards, not sure it matters one way or the other. Ryan is not going to win or a lose any games because of some press conference nonsense. And other teams, playoff teams, have no more or less reason to beat the Jets. There's something I still find refreshing in Ryan refusing to be run of the mill, but if he loses he will be gone. And he knows that better than anyone.

As to motivated or master motivators or focus, these players have a very limited career. They only play 16 real games. Only 12 of 32 teams have a shot at a championship. If they aren't motivated they will be looking for work come February. If you expect anything a coach says to his players now matter more than Xs and Os and gameplans after months of meetings, suspect yo are mistaken. The idea Herman Edwards was ever going to give a rousing halftime talk to win a game was crap only sportwriters believe.How many great halftime speeches ended with a team getting spanked anyway? We never hear about that. And all these columns about Ryan seem to fall at the end of the week when let's face it, there isn't much more to write about until after the game itself. Ryan shows one face the the press, and probably a different one to his players in meetings and at practice. And what he does there is what matters.

Bothers me much more that he hasn't quite figured out how timeouts work.

[JonEJet]

The supposed "cap hell" was a myth and you know it. And he was such a poison pill that he took this franchise from the wreckage that Kotite left and delivered a shiny contender that even Herm Edwards couldn't immediately f*ck up. But that's neither here nor there. Rex can talk as long as Rex wins.

The Jets as a whole are an organization that has to be mentioned as one of the most consistent in football these days. At least we get headlines, and with a big win tomorrow, the team could get confident enough to go all the way. It's one game at a time, and we're in it.

I'm thankful for Rex....Mangini sure as hell wasn't going to do that for us

[JustInFudge]

Parcells?

Parcells never took us to back to back playoff births. And Rex got us just as far in his first year. I'm pretty excited about what Rex is doing.

Its well documented that I love everything about Rex, so this doesnt bother me at all. What he says has no bearing on the game and I'm not embarrassed by much to begin with, so god knows I'm not going to be embarrassed by something that I have absolutely no control of or have any physical association to other than wearing a shirt on Sundays.

I really dont see what the big deal is. I mean seriously. Whats the harm?

[Vudu]

You f-ing guys need to go get your tampons....lots of bitchin' going on about the best thing to happen to our Jets in at least my lifetime. Go find your balls and man up, Rex is thee man

They can feel free to borrow one of mine!

I can't believe all the whining in here. While I agree Rex needs to tone it down and KNOW when to and when not to open up his mouth, I love him as our coach. He's a sh*t talker that has lead the Jets to 2 playoffs berths in his two years here. When was the last time the Patriots won a playoff game? 4 ****in' yrs ago.