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New York City – Rex Ryan was answering a question about expectations, and asked in the answer, “I have to make (the playoffs)? I don’t know.” . . .
Does Rex Ryan need to make the playoffs this year?
“So, heck, do I have to make (the playoffs)? I don’t know. All I know is I have to make them for my own,” Rex Ryan said to Manish Mehta last week.
After three year out of the playoffs, if I were the owner, he better damn well make the playoffs in 2014.
But when an owner says after the season finale to the team, “I would have been proud of you guys if you had won or lost,” you have to wonder.
Look, I know Woody meant well, but I just don’t like that statement in an NFL locker room.
This isn’t T-Ball.
Woody was probably being nice. His next sentence was that Rex was returning as head coach, so he was trying to highlight that he liked the effort of the team this year.
Johnson knows darn well this team better make the playoff this year after three years on the outside looking in. His customers (the fans) are fed up, after three years on the outside.
Rex could be right back on the hot seat if next year heads south.
Honestly, there is very little difference between this year and last. Rex essentially got a one-year extension, even though the contract is theoretically longer than that. And last season, Rex was in the second to last year of his contract. So its basically the same scenario.
So yes Rex, you need to make the playoffs this year.
And that is why the Jets better come up with a really good Geno Smith insurance plan – a veteran backup. Maybe Mark Sanchez, maybe David Gerrard, maybe a Kirk Cousins trade.
While it’s fine and dandy to draft a quarterback (I’d take a flyer on Georgia’s Aaron Murray late in the draft who is rehabbing a knee – he’s going to slip because of the injury, but he’s a very good prospect).
Even if they picked Johnny Manziel at 18, a rookie quarterback isn’t what I’m talking about.
That isn’t quality Geno Smith insurance in 2014.
They need somebody who has been around the block, and knows the why’s and wherefore’s of playing NFL quarterback.
There is no messing around in 2014.
No more wholesale development of players on the job to the point where it impacts results.
Yes Rex, you need to make the playoffs.
There is no gray area here . . .
I was at a fascinating press briefing today with the people from The Sports Legacy Institute,” a group led by former Harvard football player, and WWE Wrestler Chris Nowinski.
He was joined by doctors and scientists on the podium.
By the way, one thing I learned from this seminar is that soccer has a major concussion issue as well.
What they have come up with is something called a “hit count.”
They have come up with an electronic device that can be put in a helmet, that measure how many major hits that head takes. It only measures hits of a certain magnitude.
Ted Johnson was there. The former New England Patriots linebacker has been through a living hell following his career that ended in 2005.
He has post-concussion syndrome, and developed a serious drug problem. He became addicted to amphetamines.
The reason he was taking them was he was so groggy and couldn’t think clearly, so he figured if he used uppers it would speed up his thought process.
He became addicted. He got up to 300 pounds, and never left his apartment.
He’s doing much better now, and working with Nowinski on this project.
He calls concussions, “the invisible injury,” because people always said to him, “you look okay.”
You have to give Nowinski and company credit. They spend every day trying to get to the bottom of this concussion issue.
But it’s not easy.
As Dr. Gerald Gioia said today, “The brain is the complex organ in the body.”
January 27, 2014
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