Rex Ryan - The Right Guy !

Woody Johnson mentioned things like “straightforward”, “expertise” and “instincts”. He could have added honest, aggressive, confident, smart and tough. Rex Ryan! I’m impressed! After Ryan’s hard-hitting opening press conference in beautiful Florham Park this morning, I’m ready for some football. And so is he!

What a difference from Mangini! Rex imparted more information in ten minutes than you’d extract from Mangini in a year. That’s for openers. Anybody interested in following the team and the league has to be happy about that alone. Ryan didn’t say “process” once. What he said was “full speed”, “aggressive”. “team”, “physical”, “run the football”, “opportunity”, “challenge”, and “take a swipe at one of ours, we’ll take a swipe at two of yours”.

Oh BABY!!

But he’s not an animal either. He showed his style and class. He opened his remarks with a reference to maybe meeting the new President, breaking the ice nicely, then showed some humility by expressing his thanks to the ownership and management. Best of all, he thanked his wife and cracked everyone up with his observation that there are only two kinds of coaches wives, ex-wives and great wives. Then he totally ad-libbed that he had probably “outkicked his coverage”.

The overwhelming feeling I get is that he’s Buddy Ryan’s son, but he’s a little more conscious of style, those rough edges honed down to glass. Everything he said made sense, and he used words that painted pictures in your mind. Much as a teacher would.

He laid out his immediate plans, emphasizing that he’d first surround himself with good people. Before he does anything else, he’s going to decide on a coaching staff. He mentioned Callahan and Mike Pettine, who’s joining the team from the Ravens.

Then he talked about providing his players with all the tools they’d need for success, and “KILL” or keep it likeable and learnable. He stressed that everything would be full speed, that they’d be aggressive and they’d play as a team.

He talked about the importance of preparation, and how it all starts on the practice field; they’d play “physical” and hit things head on. They’d let opponents know “The Jets are comin’” . His team would have pride and all three units would be involved.

But he likes Favre. Rex was very impressed by a thrashing Favre had given his Ravens back in 2001, and wouldn’t mind having him back at all. But when asked when he’ll talk with Brett, he said he’d be talking to all his players, and that “when we get around to the “f’s”, I’ll talk with Brett”.

When asked specifically about the 2 TD’s and 9 interceptions Favre produced to end 2008, he said he hadn’t reviewed the tapes of those games, and after he did, he and his coaches would take appropriate action then.

If his team does show pride, it’ll be a reflection of the coach. Rex is justifiably proud of his “consistent” personal coaching record and laid out the success he has had all along the way, in Cincinnati, then in Oklahoma for a year before he moved along to Baltimore, where his defense finished 1st or 2nd every year for about ten years. What could say it better than his parting shot on that topic, “you got the right guy”!

On the subject of Brian Schottenheimer, Ryan once again showed his humanity by empathizing with the Jets existing offensive coordinator, relating his feelings last year when he was bypassed by John Harbaugh for the Ravens top job, saying he “knows the sting”. But he “got over himself” and recognized it as an opportunity to become better prepared for the head coaching job himself.

Upon being asked about the “same old Jets”, he stressed that he’s taking over a good football team that had won nine games. But the style of play will be different, with an emphasis on defense, and that “that read and react stuff is for somebody else”. His players would play through the whistle.

If he likes his style, he seems to honestly like his content too, mentioning his “edge rushers”, guy in the middle, his linebackers and his “best cornerback in football” (Revis).
On Jets #1 pick Vernon Gholston, he related that situation to that of his Ravens Terrell Suggs, and how he changed perceptions from being a bust to being Rookie of the Year.

Ryan was sure to mention the fans too, and how he can’t wait for those home games with those great Jets fans out there, and that it’d be “rough on people”. And he’s legitimately proud that his Ravens hadn’t allowed more than 13 points in any home game all of last year.

He seemed a little Parcells-like when replying to a question about Mangini and the possibility that he’d irritate players with a ‘gee, I hope I don’t irritate ‘em’ kind of response, but then softened it by saying he wouldn’t last long if he irritated his players.

For a guy who maintains he doesn’t have a silver tongue, he surely did a nice job of parrying the questions he got this morning, and they weren’t softballs either. He honestly and intelligently handled all the questions on Favre, Schottenheimer, Mangini and the “say” he’d have in the organization with aplomb, saying not too much or too little. He honestly appreciates his new job and team and appreciates the limits of his place in it.

Ryan did make it clear that personnel is Tannenbaum’s job but that that function too would be a joint effort among coaches and scouts, but that he has never had pressure from above to hire a coach and that any speculation to that effect was not true.

Woody Johnson by all accounts wanted somebody who could fire guys up. He would seem to, as Ryan says, “have the right guy”. I know I’m fired up already, waddaya kiddin’ me? A fiery guy with a good record, a guy with brains, a guy who’ll answer your questions? What’s not to like?