Defending Rex Ryan (ESPN Insider)

http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/trainingcamp10/insider/news/story?id=5477727

1. Let's start with Dallas linebacker Keith Brooking.

According to a recent radio interview Brooking says he's not a "big fan of all that chatter" coming from Rex. Why? Because, Brooking says, Rex and the Jets haven't really accomplished all that much.

I guess taking a team to the AFC title game with a rookie quarterback and building the No. 1 defense in the NFL and winning a Super Bowl in 2000 with the Ravens and being the D-line coach for one of the game's most dominant defenses ever doesn't qualify in Brooking's mind as big enough accomplishments. Brooking, who finished tied for 108th in sacks and 41st in solo tackles last season, said he's "more of a show-me guy."

Right. Got it. This coming from the guy who, while playing for the Cowboys last season -- a team that hadn't won a playoff game in 13 years -- would work himself into a spastic, bug-eyed, incoherent lather before kickoff while shouting stuff like "We're gonna hit 'em in the mouth! We're gonna bloody their nose! We're gonna knock 'em to the ground!"

I haven't heard this kind of hypocrisy since Bama coach Nick Saban called player agents "pimps." Both Brooking and Ryan talk a lot of junk. Nothing wrong with that. But, it seems to me, only one of them backs it up.

2. How can you hate a guy who loves M&M's Pretzels so much?

Have you tried them?

3. I'll take a loud mouth over a phony any day.

One big reason longtime coordinators who become head coaches tend to fail at such a high rate in the NFL is that when they finally get promoted they change who they are to fit some silly antiquated ideal of what they think a head coach should be. (See also: Eric Mangini.) And there is nothing players tune out quicker in the NFL than a guy they perceive as a phony. I spent a lot of time with Rex when he was the defensive coordinator in Baltimore and most of the time I went into his office two things happened: I learned something new about football and I laughed so hard my gum would fall out of my mouth. He hasn't changed a bit. That's a lot harder to do than most people think.

4. He's more than paid his dues.

Eastern Kentucky? New Mexico Highlands? (I thought that was a casino at first.) Morehead State? Cincinnati? Rex had done an amazing job as the D-line coach with the Ravens for several seasons, yet when former defensive coordinator Marvin Lewis left to take the Bengals' head coaching job Ryan was passed over for Mike Nolan, the Ravens' receivers coach. After that Rex lost weight, cut his hair and whitened his teeth and still got passed over for the head job in Baltimore, Miami and Atlanta before landing in New York.

5. He had me at 'shirt fine.'

Rex fines members of the Jets who get caught working out without a shirt. This annoying trend has long been a pet peeve of mine and, even though we probably won't be able to make it a law, I applaud Rex for doing his part to rid his small part of the world of the preening, spray-on-ab K-Fed posers of the world. Now, if only he could do something about the doughy weekend warrior bicyclers -- pssst: you're going 6 mph down a side street next to a Quiznos and a Build-A-Bear workshop, plus it's not the Tour de France! -- who dress from head-to-toe in faux sponsorship spandex.

6. You think your dad casts a long shadow?

What's the saying? All sons are either trying to make up for, or live up to, their father's legacy. Try being a defensive coach in the NFL following in Buddy Ryan's footsteps. With the 46 scheme, the guy basically reinvented defensive football with the Super Bowl champion Bears in 1985-86. Not too terribly far behind on the list of best, nastiest defenses in NFL history is Baltimore's from 2000, a unit, anchored by Rex's D-line, that set the NFL record for fewest points allowed in a season. And while Buddy never managed to win a playoff game as a head coach in Arizona or Philly, Rex leap-frogged the old man after one season in New York.

7. Rex can laugh at himself.

My favorite part of the HBO series "Hard Knocks" so far was when Rex giggled his way through the caption contest for a photo of him launching his girth all of six inches off the ground to do a chest bump at practice. I spend most of my time covering a league that fines people for wearing the wrong socks, so you can understand why I appreciate a coach who doesn't take himself too seriously.

8. When it comes to profanity, face it, Rex has a gift.

Some people use paint. Or words. Others use marble. Rex is the Picasso of profanity. Like the wedding singer in "Old School" or my buddy who is so smooth with the phrase he once dropped it into his request for more stuffing during Thanksgiving dinner, Rex is a maestro of the f-bomb. That kind of genius should be nurtured, not censored. Besides, on a serious note, I love how the NFL owes a good deal of its popularity and earnings to the way it caters to our society's insatiable cravings for uber violence, meanwhile everyone's up in arms over a few potty words.

9. He has an excellent, well-developed, selective memory.

We've all heard the swear words, but you know the one thing I haven't heard Rex say? That the only reason the Jets even made it into the playoffs last year was that both the Colts (on purpose) and the Bengals (not on purpose) tanked big time down the stretch.

10. He listens to his mom -- sort of -- and not Tony Dungy.

After dropping more f-bombs in episode one of "Hard Knocks" than in the first 20 minutes of "Hot Tub Time Machine" (rent it now, you'll thank me later), Ryan got called out by both Dungy and his mom. His response to Dungy overstepping his moral bounds was spot on: don't judge me. But I especially loved the fact that Ryan interpreted the advice from his mom as meaning he should exchange his rampant use of the f-bomb with the even more disturbing (and awesome) phrase "nuts dropped."

11. In the end, all the players -- or anyone else -- should really care about is that he's an amazing coach and teacher.

It's safe to say that, in a whole different manner, Bill Belichick severely rubs people the wrong way, too. You know why people put up with his occasionally draconian personality? Same reason they used to put up with Bill Parcells' bullying and Paul Brown's strict rules. Because, in the end, players care about only one thing: Can you, as a coach, put me in the best possible position to succeed and achieve? And no one's better at that right now than Belichick and Rex.

12. 2007

After earning Assistant Coach of the Year honors the season before, Rex's defense in Baltimore lost several Pro Bowl players to injury but still ranked second in the NFL against the rush (2.8 yards per carry allowed) while becoming the only team in the league to not allow a 100-yard rusher the entire season.

Rex's performance that year leaves me with two final thoughts:

1. The only person in the NFL who got more done in 2007 was Antonio Cromartie.

2. Thanks to Rex, the Jets might just be capable of moving on without Darrelle Revis. If the Jets can pull that off, a lot of folks are gonna owe Ryan a big 'ole apology.

Starting with Keith Brooking.


Fluff piece but it was in defense of our leader so I figured I'd post it.