Rex Ryan says Jets don't want Peyton Manning

Who needs Favre Watch? Let Manning Watch begin.

Rumors have been swirling around the Jets training center for weeks that the club might be a possible destination for Colts superstar quarterback Peyton Manning if the future Hall of Famer were made available this spring. Back in late November, coach Rex Ryan shot the idea down after Mark Sanchez completed 40 percent of his passes in a victory over the Bills; now he is trying to extinguish the rumors again.

Remember: where there is smoke there is fire.

Ryan defended both Sanchez and offensive coordinator Brian Schottenhiemer on the Jets awful performance against the New York Giants Saturday, saying:

"I have a huge amount of confidence in both guys; there is no doubt. I have stated it over and over, my feelings about Mark Sanchez. It wasn’t Mark’s best day by any stretch of the imagination, but we know he’s done it, and he's been doing it, and we have great confidence in him, and I I have great confidence in him.

"And as far as Brian Schottenheimer is concerned, shoot, we’ll just keep working side by side, shoulder by shoulder, and we’re trying to find a way to beat Miami. So I have confidence in him, all our coaches. We have to find a way to get it done."

This season has been a nightmare for this offense. They are ranked 21st in the NFL in passing and Sanchez dropped back to pass 59 times, completing only 30 passes for a measly 225 yards. This season, Sanchez has completed only 10 passes of 20 yards or more and was 4-for-24 when attempting deep passes to both Plaxico Burress and Santonio Holmes. Visually, Sanchez holds the ball way too long, and even takes terrible sacks that puts the team in one huge hole after another. He under-throws and over-throws his receivers consistently, and when he does go deep, he is prone to an interception, including those that end up as touchdowns for the opposition.

Moreover, he has not improved in key categories, like completion percentage (55 percent), quarterback rating (73 percent), and thrown picks (15 interceptions) than all of last year.

While the Jets offensive line can be blamed for part of this, Sanchez has been under siege a lot because of the poor play from Matt Slausen, Vlad Duccasse, and Wayne Hunter; facts are facts and Sanchez is not getting it done.

Keep in mind that Sanchez is Ryan's guy. He is tied to him whether the coach truly likes it or not. Ryan has consistently defended Sanchez. Even in his book, "Play Like You Mean It," Ryan spends a lot of time defending the organization's decision to target Sanchez. In fact, Ryan said one thing that attracted him to Sanchez was his vibrant personality which was on display by the number of teammates that came out to support him during his rookie workout at USC. Ryan chose to overlook that it was USC, a.k.a. Party-town USA.

The Jets are more likely to fire Schottenheimer whose hideous play-calling was on full display, Saturday. Even though the Jets gave him a contract extension through 2013, it doesn't mean the Jets won't make a move.

But, as one looks at the future of this franchise and reads into the Mike Florio report from NBC on Christmas day, Sanchez is on watch as well. The most likely scenario: the Jets will sign a veteran like Kyle Orton in the off-season who can compete for the starting job in training camp. The Jets are paying Sanchez $8 million a year over the next two years, which weighs into this decision.

But as Rich Cimini wrote on ESPN.com, the Jets always do something big in the off-season, especially the past four years.

After a 4-12 campaign in 2007, the Jets decided they had enough of the Chad Pennington experience. Pennington had seven mediocre years in New York, with his first season in 2002 his only solid season. Other than that, Pennington battled injuries and poor arm strength, so, by 2007, he looked washed up.

The Jets made a deal that landed them Brett Favre who changed his mind about retirement in 2008. Reports at the time called the Jets a potential landing spot along with the Vikings, Bucs and Ravens, but Mike Tannenbaum and the Jets front office consistently denied reports, and, at one point, said they had no interest in Favre. Then, all of a sudden, in the middle of the night on August 10, Favre was traded from the Packers to the Jets.

Now in 2011, the Jets are finding themselves in similar talks for Peyton Manning. Rumors everywhere say that the Jets would make the most sense for Manning since they are the only team that can win right away. Other teams in the rumor mix include the Redskins, 49ers, Titans, Seahawks, Chiefs, and Cardinals.

Ryan always professed that Manning was the best quarterback in the NFL, and for as much as Ryan wants to back up Sanchez by asserting he will be the quarterback of the Jets for 15 years, won't mean much when it comes time for him and Tannenbaum to make a decision. While Rex would like to help Sanchez, he has to help himself first, and if a healthy Manning gets him to that Super Bowl title he desperatly wants, don't think for a minute he wouldn't hesitate to do it.


That being said, Ryan continues to state that the Jets have zero interest in Manning.

"I've said from Day One I thought he was the best quarterback in the National Football League, I even put him over Tom Brady, so of course I recognize Peyton Manning is an unbelievable quarterback," Ryan said on ESPN 1050 Radio today, in an interview with Stephen A. Smith. "But do I think it’s even a consideration for us? No. I'm going to say this, I’m going to tell you there is no way we are looking to replace Mark Sanchez, there's no doubt," Ryan said.


"If they were both out there and you were starting a draft, would you take Peyton Manning? Yeah, I’d take Peyton Manning over anybody, I'm not saying that. Of course, I'm not telling that lie; of course I would take him. But right now, when you are looking at our football team and our franchise, we feel great about our quarterback situation. He’s young. Is he going to get better? He absolutely is. Is he perfect? Not by any stretch of the imagination right now, and (none of us) are. But, we think he has the ability to be special."


You can read this quote two different ways. 1) Take it for what it is. The Jets have no interest in Manning, and are committed the Mark Sanchez at quarterback and from a financial standpoint. It makes some sense; he's young, and the Jets want to see him break out one of these years before moving on.

Peyton Manning & Rex Ryan together? Rex says don't bet on it.

Or, (2) read between the lines and see this: For the Jets to move on from Sanchez, it would take a Peyton Manning-type quarterback to make that happen. The Jets are intrigued by Manning, but, like they did with Favre, will stay mute on the subject until something happens. If Manning is healthy, having him as a Jet for two or three years makes too much sense. The team has the talent level to make the club successful, and to combine Manning's offensive expertise with Ryan's defensive prowess is enough to make fans' mouths water.

Obtaining Manning might be tricky though. He has a huge contract with $28 million a year coming to him, and any team willing to trade draft picks for him would inherit a contract of a quarterback who is coming back from a career-threatening neck injury.

The Colts have said as much that they will not trade Manning and would be willing to keep him if healthy. The Colts have also expressed continued interest in drafting Stanford's Andrew Luck, who is considered by many to be the best quarterback in the draft. Having those two on the roster might ruffle a lot of feathers, which puts Indianapolis in a position to move Manning.

They might be saying they won't trade him, with knowledge that no team would be willing to take his contract, which means releasing Manning and making him a free agent is possible. If he goes free agent, a whole bunch of teams would go after him, and don't think for a minute that Woody Johnson wouldn't ask Tannenbaum to at least explore it. Johnson has always said that he wants to have a top quarterback on his team so he can continue to sell off PSL's in the still-fairly new MetLife Stadium.

Sanchez was supposed to be that star quarterback who would fill seats, but after Saturday, and after this season, would Johnson and the Jets seriously reconsider? It will be the drama of the off-season for sure.

Giants blow past blow-hard Jets

GIANTS 29

JETS 14

The New York Giants got exactly what they wanted for Christmas, while the Jets suffered a nightmare before Christmas.

I'll get to the Giants in a bit because they have everything in their control once again.

But this game was more about how badly Mark Sanchez performed, how badly Brian Schottenheimer's play calling functioned, and how Coach Rex Ryan was forced to eat his own words. The Jets not only lost a game, they completely bobbled their chance at making the playoffs. They now have to beat the Dolphins and hope that the Bengal, Raiders and Titans lose next week in order for them to make the playoffs. Trust me; the Dolphins would love to TKO the Jets next week.

Furthermore, if you need more evidence that Sanchez is not a true NFL franchise quarterback, look no further than today's game against the Giants; in sum, Sanchez was inaccurate, easily rattled, and made one bone-headed play after another. He threw two costly interceptions, fumbled a ball at the Giants one-yard line, and threw a series of dreary incompletions, including a half-dozen near interceptions. He was pathetic!

Like he did against the 32nd ranked Patriots defense, Sanchez made a 29th ranked Giants pass defense (the same Giants defense that got carved up by REX GROSSMAN the week before) look like the 2000 Ravens! That being said, what were the Jets thinking having Sanchez drop back 64 times to throw the ball 59 times?!?!?! Hello?

This is a team that is built to run the football, and when they ran, they actually ran it pretty well, but, and this is a big BUT, they never committed to the run. Brian Schottenheimer was awful once again with his play-calling. He was too aggressive when he needed to get the game back under control and focus on ball control when things were breaking down around the Jets offense.

Hence, this is where Rex Ryan needs to get critcized. As head coach, he has to take control of the reins of everything, even the offense when things are not going well. It is established knowledge that Ryan is a defensive coordinator; offense is not his forte, but, still, he must get into Schottenheimer's ear and tell him to stop throwing the ball on every down.

Furhtermore, for an entire season the majority of criticism against this Jets team has been focused squarely on the shoulders of Sanchez and Schottenheimer, but it high time to place blame on Rex Ryan. Ryan, who spent the better part of three years throwing the Giants under the bus; he even wrote a chapter in his book about how much his Jets would kick the butt of the Giants, and he continued to echo those words this week.

He is eating major crow right now. Ryan should have never ripped the Giants publicly the way he did. He has written way too many blank checks for this football team that consistently comes up small.

The bloom is clearly off the rose of the Rex Ryan bandwagon. He changed the culture after the dour Eric Mangini tenure, but, let's face it, the guy is proving to be more hot air than solid coaching decisions. Ryan is not on the hot seat, but he is definately on notice. What he does to change this offense, and it needs changing, has to start with getting rid of Schottenehimer which will go a long way to reveal what happens to him in 2012.

Finally, let me throw Nick Folk off the bus as well. Here is a kicker who has developed a reputation of being inconsistent from any distance. In fact, this was a guy who only averaged 65 % of his kicks during his career in Dallas and was dreadful last year for the Jets. With the Jets down 10-7 and in position to kick a field goal to tie the game before the half, Folk missed a forty yard kick wide right, killing any momentum for the Jets. Instead of going into the locker room tied, they went down three.

Then, in the fourth quarter, after Sanchez was sacked for a safety to give the Giants a 22-14 lead, Folk botched an on-side kick on the safety punt that didn't go 10 yards; it ended up in the hands of the Giants. What next? Ahmad Bradshaw chugged into the end zone for the touchdown to ice it at 29-14.

As for the Giants, they came up huge. When they needed a big time team effort with all of the chips down, they got it. Granted, the Giants made their mistakes: having 12 men on the field in the opening series on defense that allowed Mark Sanchez and the Jets to score the opening touchdown, and in Eli Manning's interception in the fourth quarter to set up a Jets score.

However, for the most part, when the Giants needed a big play, they got it. Speaking of which, someone tell Darrelle Revis who Victor Cruz is. Earlier during the week, Revis said that Cruz was a pre-season player, and claimed he didn't know who he was. Well, Revis probably knows who he is now. Cruz broke this game wide open when he caught a desperate Manning pass at the 20, broke a tackle and was gone down the sideline for a 99 yard touchdown giving the Giants a 10-7 lead.

After that the game became a slug fest as neither team's offense could muster much momentum at all, but the Giants defense came up huge. They harassed Sanchez all afternoon, forcing hit to throw off his back foot, forcing some bad incompletions and several near turnovers. It was imperative for both Jason Pierre-Paul and Justin Tuck to have a big afternoon, and the duo did just that. Pierre-Paul enjoyed two sacks and three quarterback hits, including a forced fumble, while Tuck accumulated a sack and a two pass blocked in the ball game. Even David Tollefson got into the fray with a Sanchez sack.

Then late in third quarter, Manning threw another huge completion, this time to Cruz again for 36 yards to the Jets 42. Brandon Jacobs then bulled his way down the sideline for 28 yards to the Jets 14; Bradshaw took it in unmolested for the touchdown.

The Giants then received a huge gift on the Jets next possession when Sanchez threw his first interception of the afternoon that led to a Giants field goal to make it 20-7.

Things got really interesting in the fourth. The Giants had the Jets dead to rights when Mark Sanchez was stripped sacked, but the Jets challenged the ruling and got the play reversed, forcing an already tired Giants defense back onto the field. Thankfully for Big Blue, Mark Sanchez was the opposing quarterback since he then proceeded to fumble the snap on third and one at the Giants 1, giving Big Blue the ball back.

Finally with 2:24 left in the game, and the Jets needing to score a touchdown to win the game, Giants special teams came up huge. A brilliant punt by ex-Jet Sam Weatherford spotted the ball at the Jets eight yard line, and the defense did the rest. Chris Canty came hard on the blitz and Sanchez didn't know what to do, throwing a desperate pass out of the end zone to an ineligible receiver, D'Brickshaw Ferguson. The ruling was a safety, pretty much putting a kibosh on the Jets hopes.

For Big Blue, no one can say their defense is soft anymore. They came up big when they needed to. Their quarterback, Eli Manning, while not having a great day, made the big throws when he needed to, and the running game was there when it mattered.

Great moment: Granted it's never great to see a coach get injured, i.e. Sean Payton, who broke his leg earlier this year, but in the fourth quarter, Tom Coughlin injured his hamstring on the sideline, but he stayed out there. He stood on that sideline, limping around on a bad leg, pushing his players to victory. I think the Giants fed off of that because they kicked it up a notch in the game's final five minutes. Anyone who still thinks Coughlin will be fired after the season can forget it.

The Giants are in control of their playoff destiny. All they have to do is beat the Cowboys and they are NFC East champions. The Jets ... well ... better luck next year.

Nick Folk kicks Jets to New England, beats Manning & Colts

JETS 17
COLTS 16

Rex Ryan said it was personal. He wanted desperately to beat Peyton Manning in a game, playoffs or regular season, having lost to him five times.

Tonight in a game that combined some gritty play by the Jets offensive line and running game, combined with a bend but don't break play by the defense, and some really bizarre decisions by the Colts coaches, led to the Jets victory in the wild card round.

Now the Jets head back to New England where they got pasted 45-3 over a month ago.

Quarterback Mark Sanchez was not good. Even though he hit some big passes in the second half like the 18 yard pass to Braylon Edwards to set up the Nick Folk field goal with just 19 seconds to go, he played unevenly.

He overthrew his receivers, threw a huge interception in the first half that killed a potential scoring drive, and was erratic all day completing 18 of 31 for 189 yards.

Trailing the Colts 7-0, the Jets came out in the second half with a purpose to pound the football. with Shonn Greene and LaDainian Tomlinson. The Jets drove the ball on the opening drive of the half for six minutes culminating in a Tomlinson touchdown to tie it.

After the Colts got a field goal, a couple of big 11 yard passes by Sanchez to Edwards and Dustin Keller helped set up the Jets second score of the day, a five yard completion to Ben Hartsock to give the Jets the lead 14-10. The drive consumed 9:46 off the clock.

Then it got really bizarre. Peyton Manning marched the Colts down all the way the Jets 15 yard line. It appeared that the Colts were in great position to score the go-ahead score, but on a third and six at the 15, the Colts called a running play to Dominck Rhodes. Rhodes was tackled by Brodney Pool to force Indy to kick, settling for a 14-13 Jets lead.

Why did the Colts run it there? One will never know. Logic would tell you to put the ball in Manning's hands, but the Colts decided not to do it. It probably cost them dearly.

After the Jets failed to move the football, Manning got one more shot to make up for the previous drive. He hit Jacob Tamme twice for big gains, and Blair White for gains of 11 and 12 to set up Adam Vinatieri with a clutch 50 yard field goal to give the Colts a 16-14 lead.

With 53 seconds the Jets had one shot to get down field and give their own kicker, the unreliable Folk a shot to win it.

After the Jets ran the ball for no gain, the clock ticked down to 29 seconds before the Colts oddly called their final time out. Why call the timeout? Again another puzzling decision by the Colts coaching staff. The timeout gave the Jets time to think, which was a huge mistake.

On the next play, Sanchez hit Edwards for 18, before Folk won it with a field goal.

Rex Ryan Wants Jets to be like Yankees

Rex Ryan has had a lot to say this week.

First he said that he wanted to beat Peyton Manning badly, then said that Tom Brady isn't as good a student of the game as Manning is, now he is making comparisons to the Yankees.

Ryan said: "The Yankees are the most-loved team in baseball [by their fans] and the most-hated by everybody [else]. Now that would be ideal. We're short about 26 championships, but that's going to take a few years to catch up," the coach said with a chuckle.

"Now, that's what you want. ... If people love you and feel good about you and all that, they want to schedule you for homecoming because they can beat you every time. We want to be a team that is respected. You might dislike us and all that kind of stuff, but we want you to respect us."

If Ryan and the Jets want respect they better earn it. The Jets have talked a lot about how good they think they are, and how they believe they are ready to be a Super Bowl champ. Now they have to go out and prove it.

Jets talking and preping for rematch with Colts

As seen on Bleacher Report.com via Michael Cohen's Bleacher home page.

When the New York Jets got word that the Kansas City Chiefs were getting upended by the Oakland Raiders, 31-10, they couldn't be very happy.

Rex Ryan said during his press conference that the Jets had been preparing for a Saturday night game, his way of saying boastfully that the Jets were expecting the Indianapolis Colts the entire time. Sure Rex.

Ryan then added, "I think we are the best team in the playoffs."

Good luck trying to do that against the Colts, Patriots and Steelers, three teams that have been to eight Super Bowls in the last 10 years, winning six of them.

Lets face it, the Jets didn't want to face the Colts in the first round. ... To read the rest of the story Click on the LINK!