On Tuesday, nine days after the Jets finished a 6-10 season, Jets owner Woody Johnson and head coach Rex Ryan finally sat down for their end of season press conference. It was the last of all the teams (that have been eliminated) to take place. Here are some of the highlights from it (along with comments from the peanut gallery).
- On former general manager Mike Tannenbaum, fired on Black Monday:
Rex: "I'd like to thank Mike for... all the blood, sweat and tears he poured into it for the four years."
Blood, sweat and tears? Are we talking about Jack Bauer or the Jets' GM?
Rex: "We made a ton of decisions together and they were always Jets decisions."
'We made a ton of decisions together,' so why is he gone and you still here?
Rex: "I know that I don't know who the general manager is, but I promise you, he wants to win as bad as I do."
Again, who is he?
- On Rex Ryan as the head coach
Woody: "I fervently believe that [Rex Ryan] has a rare ability on defense and… also on offense and special teams because he has had to fight against those, so he’s learned a lot and has great instinct."
Also on offense? Do you have evidence to support this? As for 'great instinct,' the only thing he has shown is "I believe Mark Sanchez gives us the best chance to win."
As for special teams, the Jets had the best special teams coach in the league and they still allowed two blocked punts (without blocking any themselves), three blocked field goals, fumbled the ball a lot, and gave up more touchdown returns than they scored.
Woody: "One of the things that impresses me about Rex as a leader is that he knows where he wants to improve and he’s committed to do that and I trust him because I’ve seen him lead this team."
Coming into the season, everybody knew the Jets had serious deficiencies on the offensive side of the football and Rex did absolutely NOTHING to improve it.
Woody: "I think he took us two years to a very high level."
Since when did winning the divisional round become the pinnacle of success? Marv Levy and Jim Kelly won four straight AFC Championships. Who cares??
Woody: "I have the ultimate confidence in Rex as a head coach, as a leader, as a motivator, as a play caller."
His team quit on him two years in a row.
Woody: [The potential general managers] know that Rex is a good coach and you can't always say that."
Who?
Woody: "No, I never considered [firing Coach Ryan] because of my confidence in him as a coach. Having been in business and in football for quite a while now, you can recognize talent when you see it. I hate to make excuses, but there are some extenuating circumstances that I think we can improve and get better."
Did he just make an excuse? When is it okay for a business to make an excuse? And would those extenuating circumstances include a lack of talent?
Woody: "I'm totally happy with Rex as head coach."
And, obviously, he is totally happy with 8-8 and 6-10 and missing the playoffs consecutive years.
Rex: "I think in many ways, I'm in much better shape than some [other head coaches] are."
Yeah, you can suck and not only keep your job, but get praise poured on you.
Rex: "I have an owner that's committed to winning, that has a passion for winning."
And is sitting right next to you. And has never seen winning.
- About the offense
Rex: "Last night, after thinking about it for a long time, I decided to make a change at the offensive coordinator spot by letting Tony Sparano go... I understand the circumstances that Tony was being dealt... I'm not saying Tony didn't do a good job because he did a tremendous job."
Define 'a tremendous job'
Rex: "Santonio Holmes was on pace to have a monster year, 1,200 yards receiving and 90 catches."
Um, Holmes finished with 272 yards and 20 catches.
Rex: "That’s why I’m so encouraged. You look at our offensive line."
You mean the one that allowed Greg McElroy to get sacked 11 times three weeks ago?
(question about having the offense he desires with Mark Sanchez as the starting quarterback) Rex: Let’s get the general manager and the offensive coordinator in place before we answer any questions specifically about players.
Quarterback is the most important position in football. You just admitted you don't know who your quarterback is. Where is your confidence coming from?
(question about not making what he wants to happen on offense after four years) Rex: "I think I have failed in that area."
Why are you still a head coach?
Rex: This has to get done, it's not a question will it get done. It has to get done. I've failed to this point..."
...therefore...
Rex: "When I mentioned the ground-and-pound, I think that carried over for years and years, but that was more based on really what was best for our team and the best way for our team to win at that time."
What about when you said it last summer? Were you basing that on the 2009 team or the 2012 team?
Rex: "I think before, maybe I misjudged the thing about I just want to ground-and-pound. Maybe I bought into that more than maybe I should have. But we have to have it. We have to have that kind of mentality.
Wait wait, we have to have the ground-and-pound? Or we have to have the mentality of ground-and-pound?
Rex: "I think back then I spoke about running the football and those types of things, I think they were really based on our personnel."
Yeah, and your personnel was not conducive to running the football.
- Rex Ryan rhetoric
Rex: “I can tell you this: as I look at it, we are going to be a dangerous football team. I can promise you that… You’re not going to want to play the New York Jets because I know the mentally that we’re going to take."
I think I've heard this before. Still waiting for results.
Rex: "We’re going to have a team and we’re not going to get bullied. … We’re going to be the team that you don’t want to play, that we are a dangerous football team, we’re going to attack you from the minute that whistle blows."
Just to make sure, Jets lost six games by more than 17 points this year.
Rex: "I have a group of core players that I think can be outstanding.”
I'm glad you think that. So do the Jaguars and Chiefs.
Rex: "There's no shortage of effort."
Is this the NFL or tee-ball?
Rex: I feel very, very good about the direction of the New York Jets and where we're going to go from this point forward."
You've gone from 11 wins to 8 wins to 6 wins.
(question, is there enough talent to go to the Super Bowl next year?) Rex: "Obviously there are a lot of things that we have to improve on. I think we just have to take little positive steps."
Little positive steps. They were eight wins away from winning the Super Bowl. Eight.
- Woody Johnson rhetoric
Woody: "I have ultimate confidence in this organization to be able to put a consistently winning team on the field. If you surround yourself with smart people, and people who are smart in a particular area, we’re talking football here, you’re going to get a good product."
Please define 'a consistently winning team.' Who have you been surrounding yourself with? Who are you surrounded by now? You don't have a general manager, offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, special teams coach or quarterback coach.
Woody: "I think everything I said in that statement that I released last week came from me."
Can you repeat that, please?
Woody: "Jets fans are going to have a great product. They’re going to be proud of their team and they’re going to see a very well-run organization that makes very good decisions."
Which decisions are those, hiring Mike Tannenbaum, trading up to draft Mark Sanchez, or trading for Tim Tebow? In the words of Trent Dilfer: "The Jets are dysfunction at its highest level in the National Football League."
Woody: "We’re going to try to get better, but our fans will stick with us because our fans love their team and we work for the fans.”
So will the writers.
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