Rex Ryan - A Perspective

I posted something similar to this last year and sparked a lot of discussion around the viewpoints of long time Jets fans who were very passionate about wanting to win a Super Bowl now. Having the mind set that we are a "win now" team and that they are tired of waiting. Discussions around how it has been over 40 years since we stepped foot in the big game and that is unacceptable. Hype around Rex Ryan and his brash statements amping us all up that we were going to make it to the Super Bowl the last three years only to come up a game short the last two years and completely empty this season.

I'd like to bring this topic to light once again and see where the viewpoints stand a year later now that we had an even worse season than last year. So I pose this question to you all fellow Jets fans. How good or bad has Rex Ryan really been for this franchise so far? Do you feel that this last season far outweighs what he has accomplished the last two seasons? I've seen some posts actually calling for his head on a plate already. I've read a lot of articles, naturally, stating that it's time for him to finally keep his mouth quiet. Articles all three years stating he's too vocal, too brash, takes too much on his shoulders, brings too much attention to the team. All this turmoil this year that he should have quashed as a head coach, how much of an active approach as a coach he should have taken. When to be fair, when to be firm. All these ups and downs. Where do you stand?

More perspective after the jump...

I for one am elated we have Rex Ryan as a head coach. I feel he's the best this team has had and seen since the Parcells era and I'm not just looking at records for that. Although I might point out that this is the first time in club history that we have ended 2nd in the division 3 straight seasons (keeping in mind2 of those seasons did take us to the Championship games) . Winning our division is extremely tough. It always has been. In 48 years we've taken that crown 4 times?

I find Rex has an aura about him. One that has sparked life into the brand of this team. His brash mouth, his style, his abbrassivness has definately brought the name of the New York Jets back into the NFL. I'm the type of person who will look at a schedule and just see the team name and say... that'll be a tough game or that should be an easy win. Not even really thinking about who is on the roster. Just thinking about the last year or so of how they played. Obviously things change from season to season and you can go from a 1-15 team to a 9-7 team as we did back in the late 90s but typically you can tell a bump in the road team fairly easily. The Jets (in my humble opinion) have often been known to be one of those "bump in the road teams" a team that could be considered a "trap game" but not a game where other teams feel threatened. Not a team that other teams fan bases actually have to worry about. I feel that every team goes through this but not as long and often as I feel we do and have. I feel Rex has changed that mentality in the NFL about the Jets.

I'm not saying teams fear us. And yes, maybe teamsand fanbase really dislike us. Some of you even hate Rex's mouth. I for one Love it. He has made me so excited to be a Jets fan again. He's sparked so much life into being a fan. Even in a season where we had, what seemed like more downs than ups, I believed until the last minute we had a chance and that we were a good team. Even now I am confident we're going to have a good off season. (little concerned that Hunters not gone yet though). But I do believe Rex is a good leader. I believe people love to play for him. I think he did lose control this season which is very easy to do when you're his type of leader.

He is what you call a "situational leader". Someone who tries to balance being a leader and being a friend. He tries to be fair but firm. Which in my opinion is the best kinda a leader to be but the hardest kind of leader to master because its so easy to fail at. The problem came when he became too trusting. Too trusting in Schotty. Too trusting in his captains. In his QB. In his "leaders". He lost control. We'll see how he responds to that next season but don't be suprised if he comes out guns blazing. The Jet team is his baby and he's building it. He will take this failure more personally than not reaching the super bowl the last 2 years. I believe we will see more of a firm approach this year with his guys and they will respect him more for it because he will learn to balance that with his "fairness".

Filling the holes in the off season is paramount but it's not just giving Sanchez the weapons he needs to be successful... it's giving Rex the arsenal he needs to win his war and get us our much needed trophy.

Have you lost faith in Rex even though we have actually been extremely successful with him because of this last season or do you still think he can turn things around? Do you agree that he's a situational leader? Do you really think he was the big problem and should have changed his coaching style to something he just isn't to put his players in place and would it have worked? Was 8-8 this year that terrible given 9-7 might have been enough? Do you take it season by season or do you look at 40+ years as now is the time and enough is enough we must win now?