After the New York Jets 20-7 win against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, Owner Woody Johnson scheduled a last minute postgame press conference to discuss the future of the New York Jets. Specifically, head coach Rex Ryan.
“We will retain Rex Ryan as head coach. My mind was made up before the final two games.” Woody said. “We were ascending the last couple of weeks and it’s because of Rex.
When Woody was asked when did Rex find out that he would be returning to the team, Woody responded, “I told him before the game.”
Rex was asked a similar question after Johnson’s conference on when did he find out that he would be coming back, he answered the same way as Woody (knew before the game) but as he said all week; his main focus was on Miami.
“I love being the head coach of the New York Jets, plain and simple.” Rex said. “You put everything you got into it, I never want to go through another loosing season, we didn’t go to the playoffs for three straight years and that bothers me, no question. But we came here (Miami) with that purpose, we wanted to win this game and the guys I’m super proud of.”
When Woody Johnson entered the locker room, players surrounded him and were waiting to hear the news on their beloved head coach. When Johnson told the players that they will keep Rex as a coach, the locker room was ecstatic as you can hear from the press room in Sun Life Stadium.
“You’d thought we won the Super Bowl.” QB Geno Smith said.
LB Calvin Pace compared those reactions to when the Jets made the playoffs two straight years in 2009 and 2010.
John Idzik addressed the media after Woody and Rex made their statements and mentioned on how good of a coach Rex is.
“He’s been tremendous to work with. He’s a leader, he’s a motivator, he’s a teacher and he’s a heck of a coach.” (NY Times) Idzik said. “I know that there has been speculation throughout the season but we still worked together as an organization.”
Weeks ago there were reports that Rex Ryan told the team in a meeting that he was going to get fired at the end of the season and that Idzik and Woody were already looking for his replacement. New York Jets players, particularly WR David Nelson must have used Rex’s message as motivation to help Rex keep his job.
After Rex told the players, Nelson over the past two games has had a total of 99 yards and 2TDs.
“We figured that the best way to keep Rex was to play well and win.” Nelson said. “Rex never gave up and we never gave up on him.”
Per Ian Rapoport from NFLN, rumor has it that Rex Ryan currently wants a long-term contract extension. Ryan is currently under contract and is due $3.3M next year. Rapoport also noted that Idzik appointed Rex to take a look at the defensive staff to determine any future changes. As expected, Rex didn’t really talk much on that situation.
“Organizationally were not going to talk about my contract, right now were not going to talk about it.” Rex said. “Im just happy to get this win, that was the purpose.” Rex went on. “Everything that I was doing was geared to playing in Miami. I never thought about it, it was never about me and that’s the truth. We’re here on a purpose to beat these dudes and thats exactly what we did.”
“I have a pretty good control over the makeup of my coaching staff.” Rex said. “But it will be an organizational decision.”
It is currently uncertain right now on Rex Ryan’s contract, but the good news for most Jets fans and players is that Rex will be returning in 2014.
