GM? Don’t Forget About the Importance of the Coordinator Too

Jan 8, 2013; Florham Park, NJ, USA; New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan reviews the 2012 season and address changes for 2013 at the New York Jets Training Facility. Mandatory Credit: Jim O

Yes, there is a big piece of news coming, maybe as soon as today. Frankly, it’s one of the hugest pieces of news in a long time, who the Jets will sign as their new general manager. It will determine a lot about the future, the team’s, Rex’s,..etc. But, there is a move to come after this that may be just as huge. It’s big, as it will mark a departure in philosophy for coach Ryan. You know what it is, the offensive coordinator.

Rex will be working with a full team of new coordinators in 2013. However, two of them will already be familiar as they are promotions from within, Dennis Thurman to defensive coordinator, and Ben Kowitca to special teams coordinator. That will be seamless. However, the outside blood is going to come in to the most troublesome part of the Jets, the offense, and that is what makes it scary.

Rex Ryan knows nothing about offense, this much we know. I love Rex Ryan to death, but we know that he knows nothing about that side of the football. You can hear it when he talks, he is confident when talking about the issues and concerns with the defense, but when he talks about offense, he does all but stutters. He just doesn’t know. He would just repeat these mantras of “Ground and Pound” and “All-Weather Offense” because these phrases are all he knows. Even in the year ending press conference, he threw in phrases like “attack”, and “the Pistol”, but doesn’t really have any direction to what he says.

But, he DOES know that they need to score points. You can derive from what he said, that ground and pound is out the door. Yes, we all knew that already, but better late than never. So, with Rex’s limited knowledge on the subject, he has to find a coordinator that can be autonomous with the offense. This person needs to be able to be creative, push the ball down the field, and get this team to score points.

This will not only determine the direction of the team in 2013, it could be the choice that ultimately determines Rex’s fate going on after 2013. If he and the GM don’t make a good choice, it will all cave in for Rex and company. If it goes well, we will have Rex, and great success for a long time.

The work is not done with the GM choice, by a long shot.