folie à plusieurs : Madness of Many!

While reading John's article about accountability, I kept having flash backs to Rex Ryan's press conferences over the last two years, we keep losing and he keeps persisting that we have a good......no, a great team! We have a great defence, we have a great quarterback, in fact he said himself that he believed the 2012 New York Jets were the best team he had ever had. Even now, sitting here at 4-7 with no shot at the play-offs, he still doesn't admit that changes need to come thick and fast.

I've watched the game against the Patriots as you all have, and I sat there watching a team that looked lost, looked weak, looked poorly coached, looked disinterested, looked a million miles adrift of the elite football teams in this league. How could this happen in under two years after going to back-to-back AFC Championship games. It made no sense, but when you look into it a little further, not only does it make sense....you had to expect that this was coming.

We tried to create a ground and pound offence and physical defence just like we had in 2009, the difference is we didn't have the line, the running back, the quarterback or the receivers to create a ground and pound offence, you can't pound the football inside when nobody respects the pass and the box is full, especially when your offensive line doesn't get a push and you under-utilise the only back who can give you a change of pace and actually keep the defence off-balance (McKnight).

My main concern is Rex's unwavering support in all his players. I don't expect him to come out and slate his team, but I do expect him to bench players who are under-performing, and I certainly expect him to force the front office to put a team on the field who are going to come out ready to play from week one. We simply did not do that this off-season, we had one recognizable wide receiver, Slauson and Howard on the line which isn't going to fill anyone with confidence. We gave one of the worst QB's in the league a contract extension to pay him elite money, we traded for another Quarterback, only to not use him properly or at all.

Should we continue? We have a defence that has two short term hired guns at the safety position, a linebacking unit with little to no pace, OLB's who rarely put pressure on the QB, the line is probably the only good point on this team. Our number one draft pick isn't doing much of anything (sound familiar), our 2nd round draft pick is coming under pressure for drops and when he is wide open in the endzone Sanchez tosses it into triple coverage....(I'm sure you all saw that GIF, if not I'll post it in the comments), one touchdown like that can boost a guys confidence, as it is he continues to struggle.

There is no easy fix with this football team, but first we need to admit where we are. We need to admit the state of the Franchise is not healthy, only when we diagnose the problem can we then look to rectify it. Scott wrote an article wanting to clear house, if it was financially possible I would empty a lot of this roster and start from scratch. Which includes sending Mike T on his way, and somehow getting Sanchez off the books. Unfortunately due to our ridiculously short-sighted contract extension, getting rid of Mark is almost impossible. How on earth one of the worst Quarterbacks in the NFL has a comfort level like he does, I'll never know.

You look at the snap counts that John posted, Quinton Coples down there at 28%, Ellis at 17%, Joe McKnight at 4%, at least we are getting Demario Davis some playing time. He's learning on the job, which is what you should be doing, especially when the season is pretty much lost.

Rex Ryan still believes in this team and I wonder if the players in the locker room share his delusion, Folie à deux is a syndrome in which delusional belief systems are transmitted from one individual to another, and folie à plusieurs literally means the madness of many, if Rex Ryan believes this is a good team and Mark Sanchez is a good quarterback, well we won't improve until he has gone. If he can admit the errors with this team, he may well be able to save his job and by default this team too.