Rex Ryan: “We’ve Got a Lot of Work to Do..”

Sep 29, 2013; Nashville, TN, USA; New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan on the sideline against theTennessee Titans during the second half at LP Field. Tennessee won 38-13. Mandatory Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports

The Jets were pretty badly exposed the other night in Nashville. They still have issues with penalties. The quarterback has issues with taking sacks, and protecting the football. They may be 2-2, but that doesn’t mean they are ready to content for the Lombardi trophy just yet.

That was not lost on head coach Rex Ryan, who talked about how his team is doing, in his eyes, at the end of the first quarter of the season:

Well, we’ve got a lot of work to do. There’s no question. We have to get better. You mentioned the protection. That has to get better. We have to catch the football better. We have to make better decisions. We have to quit turning the ball over. That’s killing us right now. It wasn’t obvious until this past game. The reason it wasn’t obvious because we played a really good red zone defense. That wasn’t the case yesterday. We gave up 28 points off of turnovers. That wasn’t case and that’s not what happened in this game. That has to get better. On defense, being consistent, we’ve got to play better in the back-end and we’ve got to start creating some turnovers. I think that’s the big thing. Obviously, it’s going to be a humongous challenge in front of us playing against a Falcon team that has a ton of weapons. That’s going to be a major challenge for us. We do have to attack the football down the field more on defense and we have to start creating some turnovers.

He believes Geno can do a better job, but acknowledges that he needs to start seeing it:

Absolutely, I do believe it. But I think sometimes it’s something that you have to see. I’m reminded of the time we threw the six interceptions against Buffalo (in 2009). We ran for 320 yards (and) lost the game because we threw six picks. Again, it has to get better. We talked about it. We have to see it. Now, I will say this, the young man (Smith), when you look at his college background, I think he threw six picks all season. I believe it’s going to get better. I don’t think there’s any doubt it’s going to get better.

Rex is right. There is no doubting Geno’s potential. But potential has to turn into output at some point. He has done some great things so far, things that are very encouraging. However, some of it has not been so encouraging, and needs to get better.