Rex Ryan needs to quickly pipe down about his former team, the New York Jets, while Gregg Williams goes out his way.
Imagine arriving on the scene at the perfect time. Imagine being handed one of the best rosters in the NFL. Imagine getting so close that you could taste it.
Then imagine everything coming rapidly coming apart. Imagine how you, the new guy, took the NFL’s (arguably) best roster (sans quarterback) and proceeded to shred it to pieces over the next several seasons. Imagine yourself then hammering the very same employer who gave you a chance.
Only Rex Ryan could bring that sort of ego to the party.
The former New York Jets head coach hopped on ESPN’s “Get Up” recently to completely hammer Gregg Williams and his former organization after one of the more improbable regular-season losses in recent memory.
Look, I get it; Ryan is a bona fide part of the media. Therefore, he must give his opinion on all things football—including the Jets. But the level for which he decides to reach is something that, again, only Rex can do.
“Dumbest call I’ve ever seen,” Ryan said. “I’ve been around the game for 58 years, 38 years as a coach, (and) that was the dumbest call ever. There’s no other way of putting it.”
Ryan then decided to label the Jets as a laughingstock.
“Not only was it the stupidest call ever, (but) they don’t even know how to run a dang Cover 0 blitz,” Ryan added. “And you wonder why they give up 400 yards a game, you wonder why this team hasn’t won a game, and the thing I feel bad about is for every one of those kids that have been a laughingstock of the league—the Jets have been the laughingstock of this league. And for you to put those kids in that situation, to take the moment away from them, a win, and after all of their hard work, that’s just ridiculous.”
Pipe down, Rex.
There’s no question the Jets deserve 2020 laughingstock status. The question is, “How did they get here?”
A decade of horrendous drafting started under Ryan. Mike Tannenbaum’s financial background allowed Ryan to immediately slide right into the personnel department and start shaking things up. He once boasted about how Tannenbaum oftentimes throws him a pick in the draft—one he used on fullback John Conner in the 2010 NFL draft.
Little by little, the core of that rough and tumble team began to disintegrate. First, Brian Schottenheimer was scapegoated following the 2011 season. You know, the very same man who’s doing wonderful things in Seattle.
Then, Ryan decided to bring in the next Bill Walsh as his offensive coordinator. He tabbed Tony Sparano as Mark Sanchez‘s next play-caller. Imagine ripping Gregg Williams after you tabbed a clear non-Xs and Os guy in Sparano the OC for a full 16 games.
Oh yeah, he was also completely OK with the trade that brought Tim Tebow to town. The thought that a backup quarterback whose fame would hurt Sanchez must have never crossed Ryan’s genius football mind.
John Idzik came and went quickly, but again, he was another financial-background-type general manager. There’s no question that Ryan still heavily influenced personnel.
By the time it was all over, the Jets had very little following the 2014 season. The likes of washed-up big names such as Michael Vick, Chris Johnson and Percy Harvin headlined a downtrodden football team. It prompted Mike Maccagnan to make a crucial mistake with his aggressive rebuild, and the team hasn’t been right since.
Mike Greenberg uses former Jets on a regular basis. Not only does Rex join the show, but so does Tannenbaum from time to time. This is the same Greenberg who floated the idea that Trevor Lawrence should think about staying at Clemson for a senior season considering the Jets were poised to snag him at No. 1.
Rex Ryan should always garner the respect of Jets fans for his defensive mind and head coaching motivation tactics. But to pretend he currently doesn’t symbolize the beginning of the end for this organization over the last decade or so is to not live in reality. It’s those folks who probably also believe Gregg Williams intentionally tanked the Jets.
Provide your opinion, by all means, but don’t speak on something you contributed to with that much venom.
Additionally, we get into how Gregg Williams went out on his terms, a quick recap of the Jets-Raiders game and Trevor Lawrence’s “it” factor on Sabo Radio 72.
