Sunday an elimination game?
Mathematically Sunday’s game between the Bills and Jets is being viewed by outside observers as an elimination game in terms of playoff contention. What do those directly involved in the game think?
With both teams at 5-5 and neither likely to catch the Patriots for the division title, it’s about the Wild Card race for the Jets and Bills. Here’s what Jets head coach Rex Ryan thinks.
“I don’t know if its win or go home, but it’s about as close as you can get to that,” he said. ”Both teams know it, obviously Buffalo knows that and we know that. So no team is going to deny that fact.”
Bills vet Chris Kelsay also knows whichever team drops this one is going to make themselves a supreme long shot for the postseason.
“There are a handful of teams competing for the last Wild Cart spot and we’re two of them,” said Kelsay. ”So obviously if you get beat by these guys, one they’ve swept us and two it looks like our chances for the playoffs are pretty slim. So it’s a huge game for us.”
Jets Greene looking good for Sun.
Jets RB Shonn Greene left their last game in Denver with a rib injury, but has practiced each of the last two days giving New York head coach Rex Ryan confidence that he’ll be playing against the Bills on Sunday.
“I think Shonn will play this week and we’re excited to get him back in the lineup,” said Ryan. ”I think he got hurt on the second possession of the game and did not return, and obviously we had LT out. So hopefully we’ll have both of those guys back this week, that’s what we’re hopeful of.”
LaDainian Tomlinson however, is not practicing again today as he missed practices by the Jets on Monday and Tuesday as well. The Jets were practicing early in the week because they played last Thursday night. If L.T. can’t go it means Joe McKnight is the complementary back to Greene.
Bills to get same looks?
With the Cowboys employing the brother of Jets head coach Rex Ryan as their defensive coordinator, it’s anticipated that the Bills offense will see a lot of similar looks Sunday against Dallas.
Buffalo’s coaching staff is convinced that the Ryans swap playbook material all the time to help one another out with opponents that both of their teams face, and in this case in consecutive weeks.
When asked about whether such conversations took place between the Ryans, Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett didn’t deny it.
“I know they’re very close, so I’m sure they speak a lot week in and week out. I don’t know any specifics regarding this game, but they do speak and do stay in touch,” said Garrett.
Dallas much like the Jets are likely to play a good amount of quarters coverage, but not as much man from start to finish knowing they don’t have the same talent on the boundaries at cornerback as the Jets.
But with pass rushers like DeMarcus Ware and Anthony Spencer man coverage is an option they can go to knowing they usually get help up front with pressure on the opposing QB.
Dwan is ‘Big Wiggle’
Jets head coach Rex Ryan was Dwan Edwards defensive line coach and later his defensive coordinator in Baltimore before the defensive lineman came to the Bills. Ryan referred to Edwards by the nickname he had with the Ravens in his conference call with the WNY media.
Ryan showed his knowledge of football history in comparing his former player and Marcell Dareus to an old defensive line tandem from Buffalo’s storied AFL past.
“I know Dareus, the way he’s playing and the way Big Wiggle as I used to call him is playing, Edwards, they remind me of Ron McDole and that Tom Sestak, that No. 70 that used to play in the AFL days,” said Ryan.
Edwards admitted that ‘Big Wiggle’ was a nickname given to him as a rookie, but that another teammate gave it to him, not Ryan. In any event it stuck while he was with the Ravens. And during his time there he knows Ryan taught him a lot about the game.
“I loved him, I still have a lot for respect for the guy,” said Edwards. ”Definitely want to beat him on Sunday. He was my defensive line coach coming in so I learned a lot from him. He’s a competitive guy, he wants to win. He wants his team to believe they’re the best team in the world regardless if they are or aren’t.”
More run for Maybin?
Jets OLB Aaron Maybin has been a spot player for New York thus far this season getting about 10-12 plays a game. But according to Jets head coach Rex Ryan his snap count could be increasing this week.
“Yeah that’s a real possibility because Buffalo does spread you out,” said Ryan. ”But it’s not like the old spread where you throw out of it. Buffalo spreads you out to run it as well. We understand what their philosophy is and we’ll adjust accordingly.”
It sounds like Ryan is a bit conflicted in terms of whether to play a heavier lineup to defend the run, which would take Maybin off the field, or play a quicker lineup to keep up with Buffalo’s array of receiving threats, which would put Maybin on the field.
Either way Ryan likes what they’ve gotten out of Maybin.
“I think what everybody sees is a guy that has some pass rush ability, and that’s why we picked him up,” Ryan said. ”He flashed that in the preseason. But when we had an opportunity through an injury we were able to bring Aaron back and that’s kind of the role he’s taken over, is that of a pass rusher for us, and he’s done a tremendous job for us.”
Jets underrated DT back?
According to one report Jets underrated DT Mike DeVito could be back in New York’s defensive lineup on Sunday.
Rex Ryan’s guarantee
Jets head coach Rex Ryan is talking big again. He just laid out a Super Bowl guarantee.
In his opening statement before even taking questions he said he knows he thought his team could win a Super Bowl in each of his first two seasons, but today at the NFL combine he guaranteed that they will win the Super Bowl in 2011.
“I believe this is the year we’re going to win Super Bowl,” Ryan said. ”I guarantee we’ll win it this year.”
“I’m putting myself out there because I believe,” said Ryan. ”And I’m not afraid to stand up here and say that we’re going to get it done.”
He did say the key is getting some home playoff games. The Jets have advanced to the AFC Championship game playing on the road in the playoffs each of the past two seasons.
Rex Ryan’s Pro Bowl card
Jets head coach Rex Ryan had some bouquets to throw at the Bills regarding the Pro Bowl.
Ryan didn’t check the whole Pro Bowl list for the AFC in terms of who made it and who did not, but he did feel that Kyle Williams was worthy.
“I love Kyle Williams,” said Ryan. ”I haven’t really studied the Pro Bowl list, but if he never made it there’s something wrong because that guy plays his tail off.”
Ryan also said he voted for Ryan Fitzpatrick for the Pro Bowl.
“I’ve gone against him several times now,” said Ryan. “He’s a good quarterback. I voted him into the Pro Bowl on my list. Besides the obvious guys, the big three (Manning, Brady, Rivers). He was my fourth guy on the list.”
Ryan changes mind on Sanchez
After initially learning his team was in the playoffs after the Jets’ loss to Chicago last Sunday, Jets head coach Rex Ryan said he’d probably rest QB Mark Sanchez and his sore throwing shoulder in their season finale against the Bills. Now after further thought, he’s leaning toward playing him.
On a conference call Monday, Ryan explained his thinking.
“Here’s what I’m looking at: Obviously, his health is the No. 1 priority, [but] the fact that he is in such a groove right now . . . we have to look at it as the week goes on. It’s kind of a fine line because he’s hot right now,” Ryan added. “We can’t afford for him to take a dip. We need him to stay at this level. Those are things we’ll definitely consider. I don’t want to say 100 percent he’s out or he’s in, to be honest with you. That’s what I’m weighing right now.”
Ryan also left the door open to only play him a part of the game, as he wouldn’t specify if it would be a quarter or a half or more. What he did make clear is that having lost three of their last four, the Jets do want to win on Sunday even though they’ve clinched a Wild Card playoff berth.
“I want to win this game,” said Ryan. “I think it can really help us. Winning 11 games in the regular season would be an outstanding regular season for us. That’s the goal. You want to go in [to the playoffs] with a win. That’s really what we want to do. I want to win this game.”
Ryan knows Maybin well
Jets head coach Rex Ryan knows Aaron Maybin a bit more than the average NFL head coach that doesn’t have him on their roster.
That’s because Ryan’s kids went to the same high school as Maybin in Baltimore when he was the Ravens’ defensive coordinator.
“When he came out of high school I thought he was the real deal,” said Ryan. “Even at Penn State I think he does have pass rush skills. He’s got an outstanding get-off, he can turn the edge on you. The production isn’t there initially, but you’ve got to be patient with the guy and Chan knows that. It’s probably just a matter of time before that kid turns the corner.
“Vernon Gholston has really turned the corner for us. A guy like Dwan Edwards, who I had in Baltimore struggled initially and then he became an outstanding player. I think you just have to patient. I think this young man will be an outstanding pass rusher. I just hope it’s not this week.”
Jets’ Pace a possibility
The Jets have played their first three games without some of their most talented defenders. They lost DT Kris Jenkins to a torn ACL in the opener, lost Revis the next week and have been without top pass rusher Calvin Pace. But Rex Ryan has his fingers crossed that he’ll have Pace for passing downs at the very least on Sunday.
“I hope so,” said Ryan. “He’s probably our best pass rusher. You have Jason Taylor and him, that would be a pretty good combination on the outside for us. Quite honestly we’re struggling a little bit in our pass defense and we’re not getting the heat on the quarterback that we’d like to get. That would definitely be a shot in the arm if we could get Calvin back.”
Pace sustained a foot injury in the preseason and has not played yet in the regular season.
Ryan not ruling out Revis
Jets head coach Rex Ryan is not sure about the availability of Darrelle Revis for Sunday’s game against the Bills, but at this point he’s not ruling him out either.
“I’m not so sure about Darrelle,” said Ryan. “His hamstring is coming along. He’s doing a great job of getting treatment, getting about 12 hours a day worth, but unless he’s 100 percent I really don’t want to put him out there. I’d love to have him play this week, but I’m not so sure right now.”
When asked point blank if he’s ruling Revis out for the game here on Wednesday, Ryan said he was not.
“No, I never said that,” said Ryan. “I only make that statement when I know it to be true. Right now I can’t say that. We haven’t even had practice yet today.”
Rex wanted re-con from Trent
The New York Jets were the one other team that put a waiver claim in on Trent Edwards Tuesday, along with the Jaguars who were awarded the former Bills QB. But Ryan’s intentions were decidedly different than that of Jacksonville and he wasn’t afraid to admit it.
“I think we’re just trying to fill our team with a lot of good football players, and the fact that he could’ve helped us is also a truth,” said Ryan chuckling. “We think it would’ve helped us to get an idea of this Buffalo offense. That would have been a little plus.”
Though the Jaguars are having far more production problems at quarterback than the Jets, you wonder if Jacksonville had the same idea knowing they’d be facing Buffalo in a week and a half.
Trap game for Jets?
Tags: Rex Ryan
The New York media is billing this Sunday’s game between the Jets and Bills as a classic trap game for Rex Ryan’s team. After a hard fought road win at Miami Sunday night, the Jets will face Minnesota the week after playing Buffalo for the much anticipated Brett Favre reunion game.
Call it whatever you want, but it didn’t sound like Rex Ryan lacked any respect for the Bills, who called them a “tough and determined team.”
Ryan also remembered the loss the Bills handed the Jets in their building last season when they forced six turnovers including five interceptions by Mark Sanchez to win 16-13 in overtime despite over 300 yards rushing by New York.
“We rushed for (318) yards and lose the game,” Ryan said Monday. “I don’t think that’s probably ever happened in this league.”
Buffalo is aiming to tighten up their run defense after surrendering 200 yards on the ground last week to New England. New York meanwhile is focused on locking down their pass defense after Chad Henne threw for 363 yards last week. Knowing they could be without Darrelle Revis again this week, their approach to the Buffalo pass game will be interesting.
And if a good portion of the Jets roster wants to look past Buffalo and think about Favre and the Vikings that’ll be fine too.
Rex’s comment very telling
Jets head coach Rex Ryan has hinted before about his belief that at some point he’ll lose offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer to a head coaching job. But after the win over the Bengals he was the most telling he has ever been on the subject.
When asked about Schottenheimer’s play calling performance in the Wild Card win over Cincinnati last weekend, Ryan not only praised his coordinator, but explained how he has pretty much resigned himself to the fact that Schottenheimer will be gone after the Jets’ playoff run comes to an end. Here was his comment to Jets reporters after the game.
“I really don’t want to be honest what I think, because I want him here,” said Ryan of Schottenheimer. ”He did a great job of mixing in the run and the pass and he called the game like a head coach. We could have called some more passes or some different plays, but we wanted to control the clock. Before the two-minute, he took a lot of time off the clock and just doing a tremendous job. I realize we’re only going to have him for as long as we’re in this tournament, but we enjoy having him right now.”
You’ve got to wonder if Ryan knows something that nobody else knows, or if he’s just talking up Schottenheimer in an effort to get him interviewed. I suspect the latter. Ryan and Schottenheimer share a lot in common. Both grew up under fathers that coached in the league, and Ryan waited a long time to get a head coaching job. He clearly believes Schottenheimer is worthy of a head coaching role and is doing what he can to put his name out there.
Ryan on his brash talk
Tags: Rex Ryan
As most NFL fans know, Jets head coach Rex Ryan doesn’t mince words. Some people call it arrogance. Ryan apparently doesn’t care.
“When I came in here, I wanted to make sure that ‘the same old Jets’ (credo) doesn’t sit well with me,” said Ryan. ”We came here to win. My thing is that it’s a level playing field. Every, single team in the league operates under the same budget. So for me to come in and not say that I want to win a Super Bowl. I think it’s ridiculous for me to come in and undersell and overproduce.
“All that sounds great. You can be coaching a long time if you do that. That’s for somebody else. That’s for some B.S. guy. You go .500 and all of a sudden you’re like, ‘This guy is a helluva coach’ because you’ve been telling teams, ‘Oh, I got to build and build.’ Well bull! You’ve got the same budget that everybody else does. To me, that’s unacceptable. We’re trying to win everything. We’re trying to win it all.
“If people have a tough time with that, if that’s being arrogant or whatever, then so be it. I know one thing, if I’m a fan of a football team I want my coach and my organization committed to winning.”
In his conference call with the Buffalo media, Ryan also joked about picking a fight with someone on Buffalo’s team after much was made about his war of words with Dolphins LB Channing Crowder.
“Hey, Buffalo should be no different,” said Ryan. ”It seems like nobody likes me. I’m not going to get into a verbal match with, let me see, whose their best player? T.O. ‘Ryan challenges T.O. to a fight.’ That’s kind of fun, but that’s not it at all. I respect everybody in this league.”
Ryan raves about Jim Leonhard
Former Bills safety Jim Leonhard was a guy Jets head coach Rex Ryan had his eye on for a long time.
Ryan actually wanted to sign him out of college after he went undrafted, but Buffalo obviously landed him. But when Leonhard was out there and available after Buffalo released him in 2008, Ryan, then Baltimore’s defensive coordinator did a lot to get him on his roster.
“He’s smart, he’s tough, he’s durable and just a heck of a football player,” said Ryan. “When he came to our place in Baltimore it was actually on a two-day tryout. And then when I told Ozzie [Newsome, the Ravens GM] I really liked him and how much we really needed him and I wanted him to go through training camp, we had actually just drafted two safeties.
“Of course, we had Ed Reed and Duwan Landry, so we were set at our starters when we drafted two safeties, yet I still wanted Jim Leonhard because I knew he was a heck of a football player, a special football player. Ozzie said ‘You can have him, but you’ve got to cut three players (laughing).’ So we cut those three guys and Jim’s now playing with me and the Jets and doing a great job.”
Rex Ryan talked to brother about Bills
Jets head coach Rex Ryan was up front about having conversations with his twin brother Rob Ryan, who is the defensive coordinator of the Browns.
Rob Ryan’s defense was very effective against the Bills defense last week, though Buffalo did a lot to help by way of 11 penalties among other negative plays. And the Jets head coach admitted that he talked to him this week and might do so again before the week is out.
“I will. I’ll definitely do that since he just played them. Absolutely. We’ll talk about everything. Of course, you’ve got the tape and everything else. He recommended we get a punter that can punt it inside the 5 four or five times. That’s what his recommendation was.”
Ryan is referring to Browns punter Dave Zastudil, who punted seven balls inside the Bills 20, pinning Buffalo back deep in their own territory for most of the game. Either way you wonder just what one Ryan shared with the other leading up to this weekend’s game.
Leonhard to follow Ryan to Jets?
Former Bills safety Jim Leonhard made an awful lot of plays in Baltimore’s playoff run. Now that he’s set to become a free agent there’s a chance the Bills will be facing Leonhard twice a year.
Leonhard loves playing for Rex Ryan, now the new head coach of the Jets, and for Ryan the feeling is mutual as he tried to have the Ravens sign Leonhard as an undrafted rookie free agent out of Wisconsin.
With LBs Bart Scott and Ray Lewis as well as top pass rusher Terrell Suggs all free agents as well it’s unlikely the Ravens would have the cap room to re-sign Leonhard.
Ryan would likely want to sign Leonhard pretty quickly if he hit the free agent market, and Leonhard has stated more than once that he loves playing in Ryan’s defensive system.
Jets trying to keep Schottenheimer
According to the Daily News, Jets new head coach Rex Ryan is trying to hold onto offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer. Apparently they believe it may help them in convincing Brett Favre to come back as quarterback in 2009.
You might think the Jets are crazy for wanting to bring Favre back, but if he doesn’t come back, they’ve got Kellen Clemens. Best of luck, unless they draft a QB and despite the successes of Joe Flacco and Matt Ryan this year, they’re the exception, not the rule.
