Joe Namath made a lot of news the other day when he said about Rex Ryan’s Jets –
“It’s rather alarming. It starts at the top. Coach Rex Ryan, he’s been doing a great job, getting us to two conference championship games, but there’s one thing about the athlete: You keep telling him how good he is, he’s going to start believing it to the point that he may not be preparing quite the way he should. He may be losing some respect for the other team.”
The part he was right about was regarding the defense. Rex keeps talking how great his defense is, and they aren’t a great defense. They are good, not great. You saw that in Oakland and against Dallas.
For Ryan to defer, after winning the coin toss in Oakland, is a perfect example of him overrating his defense.
So when it comes to the defense, Namath’s is right – “You keep telling him how good he is, he’s going to start believing it.”
I will get to where he was wrong in a bit.
Namath was right and wrong
