New York Jets: Rex Taking Bullets for Two

Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

After the New York Jets’ ignominious 31-0 loss in San Diego on Sunday, Rex Ryan did what he had to do. He took responsibility–too much responsibility for the Jets’ struggles. But that’s because he isn’t allowed to throw his culpable general manager under the bus.

Like the players’ coach he is, Ryan stood at the podium after the game and took the entirety of the blame for the dumpster fire we witnessed for three hours. It was a “whoopin’” as Ryan put it; domination from the opening kickoff. The Jets didn’t belong on an NFL field in Week 5. It didn’t matter the media question—it was on Rex, nobody else. The coach insisted he was the one who got his butt kicked.

The hefty chunk of blame on Ryan is well-deserved. After all, he is the leader of the group and needs to be accountable for his part. On Sunday, his team went into the contest with a flawed game plan and inept, seemingly incomplete preparation. Overall, Rex has led a continuously undisciplined team and a struggling defense—the one thing Ryan has always been able to hang his hat on.

Still, we know it obviously isn’t all on Ryan. His team failed to even get off the plane and looked like a group that lacked pride and dare I say it—the heart to compete.

The storm surrounding Rex most recently also stems from his failure to discipline Geno Smith and several other players who were inexcusably late to a team meeting earlier this week. Is it the biggest deal in the world? No, but it’s obviously a bad look and the wrong thing to do. There had to be an obligatory example set of some kind; a display to the team that everybody is held accountable.

The most troubling bit of information is the statement from linebacker Demario Davis, obtained by ESPN New York. “Right now, we’re not practicing like a championship football team,” Davis said. “I don’t see a lot of guys putting in a lot of effort into film study,” he later added.

This could be proof that Ryan has lost the players a bit and he isn’t able to motivate them in the film room and practice like he used to. If so, it clearly translated to San Diego where it appeared the team gave up on their coach against the Chargers.

As the week goes on, Ryan will surely have to answer more inquiries about these things; some of them are rightfully why he is probably out the door. New York is a 1-4 ballclub that is only gaining velocity in its downhill plunge. The bleeding doesn’t look like it’s going to stop and in that case, Ryan is a dead coach walking.

The coach can be labeled accountable for any transgressions and issues stemming from football and the games themselves. The funny thing to me is the lack of accountability from those above Ryan, namely general manager. John Idzik, in my opinion, is the real culprit of this mess.

Ryan was forced to lie to all of our faces in his presser when asked about the construction of the Jets roster.

Not one person believes that for a minute, Rex.

The GM now has a reason to fire Ryan, who will in all likelihood fail to reach the postseason for the fourth straight season. Idzik didn’t have to face the music on Sunday in California. He watched comfortably in the shadows as his head coach deflected the blame off of his GM and onto himself.

It would’ve been nice to see the general manager show some accountability. Let’s get Idzik on the podium under some truth serum and find out if he took enough action improving this team. Idzik is the one who starved Ryan’s roster of talent on both sides of the ball, resulting in the Jets being $20 million dollars under the salary cap. Then he told us there were “no regrets” and that Dimitri Patterson was a professional cornerback.

To this point, Idzik has operated with either negligence or ignorance…or both. He’s either incompetent as a general manager or is sabotaging Ryan in time to get his own coach for 2015. Idzik appeased Woody Johnson, who loves Ryan. He gave him the extension for another year and put on a show in the locker room. Then proceeded to fail miserably in acquiring free agent assets on both sides of the ball. The talent pool shrunk while all Idzik talked about was the need to not spend money for the sake of it.

John, how about for the sake of assembling the best football team possible?

Gang green’s flaws start at the top. From Johnson’s support of Idzik on down. Not if, but when the head coach is kicked out of the door—Idzik needs to follow. That’s how you truly blow it up and start over. Otherwise, the Jet brass’ plan to fail will end up working out for their general manager.

Until then, it looks as though the next eleven weeks will consist of Rex taking the fall for the man that’s just going to end up letting him go.