Tag: New York Jets (Page 8 of 59)

Rex Ryan’s new book upsets Giants

May 9, 2011 / Anthony Stalter

Not everyone is a fan of Rex Ryan’s brash behavior. In fact, most non-Jet fans are tired of his act and probably wish he’d shut up already.

As Gary Myers of the New York Daily News writes, this includes Pat Hanlon, the Giants vice president of communications.

Rex Ryan was relentless on two points on the book tour that just wouldn’t end: The Jets are going to win the Super Bowl; and that he basically considers the Giants and their three Super Bowl championships – the last one just three years ago – a whole bunch of yesterday’s news. Pat Hanlon, the Giants vice president of communications, took several shots at Ryan on Twitter, including, “Tom Coughlin wrote a book, too. It was about a team and an HC that won a Super Bowl.”

I don’t mind Rex Ryan in the least. I understand why people are tired of hearing about him and I don’t bemoan anyone for taking on the opinion that he should shut his mouth until he’s won something. But while I don’t know him personally, I get why he says the things that he does. It’s not so much that he’s intentionally trying to piss everyone off; I think he’s an intelligent person and all of his moves are calculated.

That’s not to suggest that he doesn’t believe in what he says. On the contrary: I think he very much believes that the Jets are going to win the Super Bowl every year under his command. And you know what? You need to have that fire and attitude in sports. Nice guys don’t always finish last (look at the Spurs’ dynasty in the NBA over the past decade). But at some point teams need to have that killer instinct and swagger if they’re ever going to raise their game to another level. Ryan’s teams do that thanks in large part to how he treats his players and how he instills confidence in them with what he says.

Granted, Hanlon’s response to Ryan’s book was excellent. The Giants don’t have to take a backseat to anything that Ryan says: They won a Super Bowl in the past five years while the Jets have come up short the past two seasons. Gang Green has had some success under Ryan but Coughlin and Co. has the hardware (which does all of their talking for them).

At some point Ryan needs to win a Super Bowl so his words don’t become just a bunch of hot air (if they haven’t already). But in the meantime, his brash bravado is still intriguing.

External Sports, NFL

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The reason why Josh Freeman isn’t a Jet

May 9, 2011 / Anthony Stalter

In his latest edition of “Monday Morning Quarterback,” SI.com’s Peter King has an interesting tidbit about how Rex Ryan and the Jets wound up choosing Mark Sanchez over Josh Freeman in the 2009 NFL Draft.

Ryan tells an interesting story in the book about pursuing a franchise quarterback once he got the Jets job. The choice came down to USC’s Mark Sanchez and Kansas State’s Josh Freeman. “We sent both of them a mini-playbook and asked them to learn what they could from it before they met with us,” Ryan told me. “They both blew the doors off us when we got them in a room. We’d ask about out formations and bam-bam-bam, they knew it all quick. Both very, very sharp guys.”
But in telling the story in the book, Ryan says one of the factors that swayed the Jets was how Sanchez was regarded by his peers. He said 24 high school and college mates showed up to catch balls for Sanchez. When they’d been to Kansas State to work out Freeman, two of his receivers showed up. “Honestly,” Ryan told me, “that might have been what separated them — the immense respect we sensed from the people who played with Mark and knew him so well.”

While some still have their doubts about Sanchez’s overall abilities, the Jets’ decision worked out for not only them, but the Bucs as well. In two seasons, Sanchez has led Gang Green to back-to-back AFC title game appearances and Freeman has the Bucs on the cusp of making the playoffs as well. It’s not a stretch to think that both teams are happy with the way the situation turned out.

It’s always interesting to hear how teams go about scouting prospects and inevitably how they decide on a player. It may sound rather obtuse for Ryan to make a decision on a franchise quarterback based on how many people showed up to the prospect’s workout, but sometimes that’s what it comes down to. Atlanta GM Thomas Dimitroff ultimately made the final decision to choose Matt Ryan over defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey because Ryan blew him away in the interview room – not on film. Granted, Ryan’s on-field abilities also factored heavily into the decision. But Dimitroff trusted his gut after interviewing the former Boston College product and while some in Atlanta wanted Dorsey, obviously the GM made the right decision in the end to go with Ryan.

This isn’t to suggest that an interview with a prospective player is something to be overlooked. But sometimes for teams it comes down to the simplest of factors when it comes to deciding on a prospect.

External Sports, NFL

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Jemele Hill and Skip Bayless react to Jenn Sterger interview [video]

April 13, 2011 / John Paulsen

I broke down the first part of her interview yesterday, and generally speaking, I think Hill is missing the point. Sterger wants to answer charges that she’s a gold-digger, and apparently she’s not. She hasn’t profited from this situation at all. Good for her. But she also wants to answer charges that she’s a home-wrecker, and those accusations are not so easily dismissed since she did engage in some sort of interaction through text message with Favre for a period of time.

If she wasn’t interested in what he had to say, then she never should have responded to him. Ignore his texts and voicemails and he’ll eventually go away. But she didn’t do that. She admitted to texting him but couldn’t recall what her texts were about, claiming that she was just trying to figure out who it was. So something doesn’t add up.

Regardless, I think we’re all ready for this story to finally go away. But let’s not leave this thinking that Sterger is some sort of victim. Had she not interacted with Favre via text or shared those texts/voicemails with friends, this story never would have seen the light of day. Favre is mostly responsible for the interaction/incident, but she was complicit by responding to those texts. And due to her poor choice in confidants, she was mostly responsible for this story becoming public.

External Sports, Fantasy Football, NFL, Video

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Erik Ainge: “I would’ve made Charlie Sheen look like Miss Daisy.”

March 29, 2011 / Anthony Stalter

Jets’ quarterback Erik Ainge recently opened up about a drug problem that he has apparently had since he was 11. In an exclusive interview with ESPN’s Rich Cimini, Ainge admitted that he needed to get help before his addiction killed him.

Ainge says that he was addicted to the hardest of drugs – heroin, cocaine and alcohol – and said that at the height of his problems he “would’ve made Charlie Sheen look like Miss Daisy.” (Apparently Miss Daisy wasn’t doing crack and heroin in the back of that car? Not sure if that reference applies, but I’ll cut Ainge some slack and move on.)

Ainge isn’t the only human being to suffer from drug problems and he certainly won’t be the last. If he stays sober, then good for him. He knew he needed help and he sought it. There are many people who never reach out and they wind up six feet under, so hopefully Ainge won’t be among those who have suffered a fatal ending.

As he said in the video, maybe him going public with his issue will help those who suffer from similar addictions.

External Sports, NFL

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Rex Ryan guarantees the Jets will win the Super Bowl next year

February 24, 2011 / Anthony Stalter

Pardon the cliché but there are three things we can all count on in life: Death, taxes and Rex Ryan making a bold statement when he has a microphone in front of his face.

At his press conference on Thursday from the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis, Ryan told the media: “I thought we were going to win the Super Bowl the first two years. I guarantee we’ll win it this year.”

Ah, whatever. Wake me when Mike Smith, Lovie Smith or another one of the more conservative coaches guarantees a Super Bowl victory for their team. Ryan could show the media the most intricate details about how he’s going to rob a bank tomorrow and I would just shrug my shoulders and say, “Oh that crazy Rex Ryan. Always talking.”

Still, I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: I think Rex Ryan is good for the NFL. The stuffy MLB doesn’t want to let Mark Cuban anywhere near the game of baseball, which I think is a shame. I take my sports as seriously as the next guy, but in the end it’s just entertainment. While they can get on people’s nerves at times, guys like Ryan and Cuban entertain people, which is good.

I’d rather listen to Ryan guarantee Super Bowl victories, watch him dress up like his brother Rob or even talk about his recent appearance on CSI then be fed the same cookie-cutter responses from the other 31 head coaches. What did Ron Rivera say on Thursday that anyone didn’t expect him to? “We are exploring a quarterback (at No. 1).” No sh*t, even though you have Jimmy Clausen atop your depth chart right now?

By no means is that a knock on Rivera, I’m just pointing out that I like a little spice with my meal. I like that Ryan just went Broadway Joe Namath on everybody, even though the act will probably eventually get tired.

External Sports, NFL

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Tag: New York Jets (Page 8 of 59)

Rex Ryan’s new book upsets Giants

The reason why Josh Freeman isn’t a Jet

Jemele Hill and Skip Bayless react to Jenn Sterger interview [video]

Erik Ainge: “I would’ve made Charlie Sheen look like Miss Daisy.”

Rex Ryan guarantees the Jets will win the Super Bowl next year

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