Rex Ryan's Post Game Assessment Speaks Volumes About the New York Jets

We have been hearing the same thing for weeks – make that months- about how the losses are not a true indication of the talent on the New York Jets. Rex Ryan has stated time and time again in his press conferences that each and every player in the locker room has busted their respective butts in practice and on game day, regardless of how pitiful the performance on Sunday may have been.

But the Jets’ head coach may have hit the nail on the head following Sunday’s 24-10 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs when he opened with this statement:

"I’m proud of our guy’s effort because they don’t let the outside…everything out there influence how we play; how we prepare. The guys played extremely hard. The thing that’s holding us back really right now is we’re not making the critical play at the critical time."

But that last part of what Ryan said is what separates winning teams from the losing teams.

So with the team’s losing streak now at eight and counting, it will only get worse with Pittsburgh on deck. Ben Roethlisberger set a new NFL record by throwing for 12 touchdowns in the last two games and the makeshift Jets secondary must looks awfully appetizing to the Steelers’ Super Bowl-winning quarterback.

With Ryan’s admittance that the critical plays include the Chiefs’ third down efficiency being 62 percent, cashing in on three of four red zone possessions, the Jets’s inability to convert a fourth down and following up a touchdown by allowing a 70-yard return on the ensuing kickoff brings to light that all three facets (offense, defense and special teams) have been guilty in this horrendous season.

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It must be extremely difficult for Ryan, a very prideful man, to admit that his team is not doing even the basic things that need to be done to be successful in this league when he continued with:

"We’re just not closing things out and that’s what good teams do; that’s what winning teams do. And that’s what we’re going to keep working to do."

The final score was not indicative of how this game actually went, as the Chiefs dominated from the first drive on. Alex Smith mixed up a decent passing attack with some quality runs by Jamaal Charles and they never looked back once up by a single score.

Michael Vick did the best that he could to keep the Jets in the game, but the defense allowed the Chiefs to move the chains at will and it was never that close, even when the Jets were down by seven points.

And trying to call the Jets a snakebitten team that cannot get a break by pointing to the Anthony Fasano two-yard touchdown is merely an excuse to not give in to the obvious. Good teams make their own breaks and get the bounces while teams on losing streaks see these things pile up against them.

And Rex Ryan has come to the same conclusion.

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Rex Ryan’s Post Game Assessment Speaks Volumes About the New York Jets

By Joe Pietaro | Nov 3, 2014