Rex Ryan Needs to Give New York Jets a History Lesson for Sunday’s Denver Gameplan

Time to move it along, forget about the unfortunate events of last Sunday in San Diego, and get ready for Denver. The Jets are 1-4, and playing as badly as they have in the Rex Ryan era. They are 1-4, and the season is on the brink of going down the tubes. Some say it has already.

It can get better. We know that Rex Ryan has always had the support of his players. They don’t quit for him. The odds are that they will find their way back, at a minimum, to respectability. Starting that assent this week is going to be difficult, with the star for the ages, Peyton Manning, on the horizon, and probably licking his chops to get at the Jets’ secondary.

So, what can Rex Ryan do to give the Jets a chance in this one? It can be done, with a good history lesson.

Read on.

PRE-SNAP MOTION, MULTIPLE LOOKS: The following shots were taken during the 2009 AFC Title game. The Jets had some success against Manning during this game, leading at halftime.

See how the players are up? The defense was moving at all times before the snap. They were giving Manning multiple looks, constantly changing the formation that Manning was looking at. He likes to call his plays from the line of scrimmage, but if the defense is never set, he has that much less time to figure out what they are doing, and call the play.

There hasn’t been a lot of that from the team lately. They have gotten into their formation and stood there. This does nothing to confuse the quarterback, and the Jets are going to have to do their best to confuse Peyton Manning to have any shot.

BLITZ FROM ALL SIDES: Has anyone else noticed that lately, when Rex Ryan sends a blitz, it seems to look like the last blitz, and the last one before that, ..etc. He seems to be sending the same blitz every time. The opponent has been ready for it, they pick it up, and burn the Jets.

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Well back then, the Jets blitzed from all sides. The above is a picture of a blitz from Manning’s left. They blitzed him from his left, his right, up the middle, and from all sides at once. The point is they showed him different blitzes. At least for the early part of the game, they got to Peyton Manning.

The Jets have an even stronger pass rush than they did at the time. They are going to have to get to Peyton, and doing it in all kinds of ways will be important.

SAFETIES ACTIVE IN PASS COVERAGE: We know how bad the pass coverage has been lately, especially last week. There is that big picture of Rex Ryan slamming a cup of water last week in San Diego, and that is probably not the only thing he did, and with good reason. It has not been good.

In the above picture, we see safety Jim Leonhard getting in on the act, knocking down a Peyton Manning pass. To win on Sunday, Calvin Pryor and his cohorts at safety are going to have to chip in with the help on pass defense. We don’t have the cover corners necessary to win many one on one battles. The Jets will have to give different looks with the coverages, and have safeties that active on the football.

The Jets can play well on Sunday. Rex Ryan can prep them to make that happen. But, it will take some magic from the past. We shall see if he can pull it off.