Ryan and Sanchez Remain Joined at the Hip

October 21, 2012; Foxboro, MA USA; New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan during the third quarter against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-US PRESSWIRE

No matter what you think of Rex Ryan, one thing he is, maybe to a fault, is loyal. He is loyal to his older defensive players, like Bart Scott, and Calvin Pace. He is also, undeniably loyal to his quarterback, Mark Sanchez. They are joined at the hip, come hell or high water. Some wonder if he is nervous about creating a controversy if he pulls Mark. Here is what Rex had to say on that:

I believe in all our players, but again, if there’s any player in particular that we feel could help our football team, then we’ll look at that. Maybe it’s a (certain) role, when we put Tim in, we know it’s because he can help. There are some things that we thought that we could do with Tim back there that would give us the opportunity to be successful. That’s why we put him in several times in that game. It’s not just to run it, but there are some opportunities that maybe it presents from a coverage standpoint that will help you. That’s why we look each week at how we can utilize our roster to help us win. Obviously, we’re 3-6. It hasn’t been as effective as we want (it to be), but we’ll continue to look that way and try to put our players in a position to be successful.

Does coach think that changing quarterbacks can spark the offense:

It’s easy to say, ‘Look guys, if it’s just one position, than that’s what the entire focus would be,’ but there are a lot of things. Is it getting separation on our routes? Are we catching the football on a consistent basis? How about the protection? There are a lot of things that go into evaluating a quarterback. If it was just one guy, than that’s easy to do. You just focus on this, but collectively we have to get better. There were some times our offensive line in this game was about as physical as (it has) been. We were knocking some guys off the ball. We were efficient in the running game. Stat-wise, it was 3.8 (yards) a carry, but when you look at it, an efficient play in the red zone may be half the yardage. There are some things I’m encouraged about, but there are also some things I know we have to get better at. The self-inflicted wounds, those are the things that are really driving me crazy. Those are the things that we can’t emphasize more. It’s just like we emphasize forcing fumbles. We are working, working and working at that and we hope it pays off for us. The same thing on the self-inflicted (wounds), you can’t address it more than we’ve been addressing it. The frustrating part is (that) we had three false starts. We know how loud it is there. We just have to keep working at it. Whatever it takes, I know one thing, we’re going to get this done or die trying and that’s how we’ll approach it.

Coach Ryan clearly doesn’t want to focus on this issue, and he is right. The quarterback is far from the only problem with this offense. But, with who is involved, the question will not go away, until either Mark plays better, or the change is made. This is what we are stuck with, folks.