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Was Rex Ryan a “sacrificial lamb” this year? You could make a strong argument that was the case. Let’s take a closer look . . .
On Sunday, Jay Glazer, a good friend of Rex Ryan, who works with Fox Sports, said that the coach has viewed himself as a “sacrificial lamb” all season.
I agree.
And I will tell you why.
The Jets are starting five players from John Idzik’s first draft class. Four weren’t ready for prime-time.
Two other draft picks, offensive linemen Oday Aboushi and Will Campbell, took up roster spots the entire year and were never active, along with waiver wire claim, Ben Ijalana, another offensive lineman. These three roster spots could have perhaps helped the Jets on special teams (maybe help the wedge), outside linebacker or maybe wide receiver.
It almost seemed like Ryan’s charge this year was to develop players for the next coach.
It was almost like winning was secondary this year, and developing Idzik’s first class was the top priority. If they won along that way, that would be gravy.
Because when you run the ball was as well at the Jets, and you have a Front Seven as good as Gang Green, if you had a veteran game-manager at quarterback, who avoids turnovers, this is probably a wildcard team.
The Jets didn’t have a hard schedule.
I think they wasted a chance this year to make the playoffs, and playoff shots don’t happen every year.
Ask the Houston Texans or the Atlanta Falcons.
That foolish decision to put Mark Sanchez in the fourth quarter of the Giants preseason game, behind a backup line, hurt the Jets this year. That was a terrible decision.
I’m not putting Sanchez in Canton, but I think he would have done well under Marty Mornhinweg, who does nice job calling plays to the strength of the quarterback, and dialing up much better first reads than the previous two coordinators.
I think Greg McElroy would have be a perfect game-manager type quarterback who would avoid turnovers – the type of guy who could have held the fort until Geno Smith was truly ready.
Geno Smith starting from the get-go really hurt Rex’s case.
“Geno Smith had a brutal seven-game stretch,” said Marv Albert during the Jets-Cleveland game.
How do you overcome a “brutal seven game stretch” by the quarterback in a quarterback driven league?
Very hard to do.
And some of the other rookie starters impacted some of the results this year as well.
But they got much-needed experience that should help them in the future.
You saw some nice flashes from Brian Winters, Geno Smith and Dee Milliner against Cleveland.
And that should help the Jets next year.
But that doesn’t help Rex’s job security now.
Perhaps the next coach (who might be Seattle Seahawks defensive coordinator Dan Quinn) will benefit from the maturation process of all the young players learning on the job this year, which contributed to the 2013 roller-coaster.
So you can understand why Ryan felt like a “sacrificial lamb,” this year.
December 24, 2013
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