Gary Myers' 5 steps to fix the Jets

[Sexi Rexi]

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/fo...icle-1.1207491
Woody Johnson spent $635 million for the Jets in 2000 and, according to Forbes, they are now worth $1.284 billion. That means he has doubled his money. Good for him. But the Jets still are ringless for more than 40 years and their meltdown against the Patriots has brought back memories of the Kotite Years. The Jets need a new game plan to get this mess resolved going into 2013.

So, it I were Woody Johnson I would implement this five-point plan:

RELATED: AFTER TURKEY DAY DEBACLE, JETS MUST WIN OUT

1. Not Fire Rex Ryan
Johnson can take the easy way out and fire Ryan and start over with his fifth coach since he bought the Jets, but blowing up the franchise’s infrastructure by getting rid of Ryan would be a panic move.

What the Jets need in the head coach’s office right now is continuity, not another startup project.

It’s been an ugly 12 months for Ryan, that’s for sure, with the Jets losing their last three games in 2011 to finish 8-8 and not make the playoffs, and going 4-7 this year, meaning they have won only four of their last 14 games. The only positive for the Jets: their last five games are against the Cardinals, Jaguars, Titans, Chargers and Bills, who are a combined 17-33. As bad as those teams are, all but the Jaguars have better records than the Jets.

This is Ryan’s first disaster season in his four years with the Jets. If he had not made the AFC Championship Game his first two years and had the Jets in contention last year, then Johnson would be justified firing Ryan after what looks like an irrelevant December with lots of empty seats coming up. In fact, he would have been justified getting rid of him after the 49-19 beatdown put on them by the Patriots on Thanksgiving Night in front of a national television audience with the season on the line. Johnson had to be humiliated.

The Giants came close to firing Tom Coughlin after his third season in 2006, and he only kept his job when he promised to treat players with compassion and not as nameless and faceless numbers. He was also forced to outline a plan how he was going to get Eli Manning straightened out. The decision by the Maras and Tisches to keep Coughlin worked out well. He has won two Super Bowls in the last five seasons. Back in the Cowboys’ early years when fans were demanding Tom Landry be fired, owner Clint Murchison gave him a 10-year contract extension.

Of course, I’m not suggesting Johnson give Ryan an extension. He did that after his first season in 2009. He just needs to give him the 2013 season before making a decision to fire or extend him. Coaches rarely go into the last year of their contracts. Ryan’s contract runs through 2014 and he makes about $3 million a year. There’s no way Johnson is going to write Ryan checks for $6 million for not coaching his team when the Jets restructured guard Matt Slauson’s contract in the summer just to save $258,000.

Ryan’s locker room has not revolted against him as Coughlin’s did in 2006. The players love playing for him. The problem is the quality of the personnel has deteriorated since Ryan arrived and he certainly shares in the blame. But he deserves the chance to come back next year.

2. Hire A Personnel Expert With Final Say
Johnson is comfortable with GM Mike Tannenbaum running the football operations. Tannenbaum is a smart guy: He went to law school and has a complete understanding of the salary cap. His strength is negotiating contracts and being extremely organized. He has surrounded himself with a personnel staff that he trusts, but too many decisions have not worked out. The Jets need to hire a personnel whiz who can do for Tannenbaum what Jerry Reese did for Ernie Accorsi with the Giants before Reese was promoted to GM. Tannenbaum needs to relinquish final say on personnel — that’s often semantics because most decisions are made by consensus — while retaining his other responsibilities. But something must change: The Jets selected Stephen Hill in the second round this year and he can’t catch. That’s not a good thing for a wide receiver.

3. Find Real Competition For Mark Sanchez
Once the coaches saw Tim Tebow in practice, and he’s well known as being an awful practice player, Sanchez’s job was never in jeopardy. The Jets need to create an open competition in training camp next summer by signing a veteran free agent, making a trade or drafting a quarterback. The only starting quality QB who will be a free agent is Joe Flacco and the Ravens will surely franchise him if they can’t work out a deal. Philly’s Michael Vick is somebody to at least think about a bit. He’s due to make $16 million in 2013 and it’s hard to imagine Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie paying that kind of money. And with Andy Reid surely getting fired, Lurie may elect to start over at quarterback, too. Even when he’s healthy, Vick has not played well this season. The Jets may be able to get him at severely reduced dollars, but he may not be worth creating another distraction at quarterback.

Sanchez is virtually guaranteed to be with the Jets in 2013. When they extended his contract as a kiss-and-make up move after they courted and were rejected by Peyton Manning, his new deal gets him $8.25 million guaranteed next season. Unless the Jets are willing to eat all of the money and cut Sanchez, or swallow a good chunk of it in a trade, then he will be back. Sanchez has been sabotaged by the worst group of skill position players in the league and that was true even before Santonio Holmes was lost for the season in the fourth game.

4. Dump Tony Sparano
He’s a bad fit as the offensive coordinator and a big mistake by Ryan. Woody should have hired Todd Haley, who came in for an interview. Haley was hired by the Steelers, instead. Sparano’s background is as an offensive line coach. When the Dolphins ran the Wildcat in 2008 in the first of Sparano’s four years as head coach, it was not his offense. It was devised by QB coach David Lee. Sparano’s play-calling is archaic. He is a ground-and-pound coach in a passing league. Three offensive coordinators in three years will not be good for Sanchez, but he has regressed in Sparano’s system.

5. Say Goodbye To Terrible Tim
The Jets have to trade or cut Tim Tebow after the season. It’s the right thing to do for the team and for him. Johnson said the decision to trade for Tebow belonged to Ryan and Tannenbaum and was not his way of selling more PSLs or hot dogs. But if the coaches wanted him, why aren’t they playing him? Just being who he is and not because of anything he has said or done, Tebow has been a huge distraction. The reward has not come close to justifying the risk. The Jets surely know that by now.

Even with all the tumult during the Ryan era, the Jets have 36 victories, including the playoffs. The Giants have 37. They’ve each won four playoff games. The difference, of course, is the Giants added another ring to their collection while the Jets keep adding more sideshows to the circus.

[Jets Things]

6. Put your dick in the box.

[SAR I]

1. Fire Rex Ryan.
2. Hire a personnel expert with final say.
3. Find real playmakers for Mark Sanchez.
4. Dump Tony Sparano
5. Sign a dominant pass rusher in free agency.

SAR I

[SAM]

Fire Rex and the rest of the coaching staff & front office, cut Sanchez, cut half the team. Use the draft picks and sign a bunch of UDFAs to replace overpaid scrubs.

[DDNYjets]

The media will stick up for Rex bc he is gold for them. Not bc they think he is a good coach.

[WestCoastOffensive]

Great article; but a solid backup qb and a great personnel guy are kinda tall orders. Good luck.

Go Jets!

[fidelioion]

1) do whatever it takes to hire Bill Cowher
2) get out of the way and let Bill Cowher do what he thinks is best for the team

[kennyo7]

Keeping Rex and Tanny ensures another losing season and another step back for the franchise. Fixing this team must begin by firing both of these jokers.

[JetsFanatic]

Great article, I pretty much agree with everything he wrote.

Firing Ryan would be wrong because this team is not talented.

Bringing in QB competition for Sanchez is a must because he has killed us with turnovers this year. He also has no clue how to read a defense, that is why he throws so many Red-zone picks. Perfect example was the interception against the Pats. While technically not a red-zone pick (from the 23), it was a killer none the-less.

[LSJF]

Agree with a lot but NO Michael vick!....bring in cowher, he will restore credibility ..Andy Reid will be available as well.

[Piper]

I didn't realize Todd Haley was in for an interview(maybe I knew but blocked it out).
And this organization chose Sparano anyway.

Jeez

[Mainejet]

1) BOTH Rex and Tanny should be given one more chance in 2013.

2)Dump Tony Sparano. Have we improved at all with Sparano? Brian Schottenheimer is a better OC than Tony is. The fact is, we got worse with Sparano.

3) Hire a personnel guy with final say OVER Mike Tannenbaum. There's been too many seasons now where the Jets have come up empty in the draft. That must change for the Jets to be successful.

4) As much as I'd like to cut Mark Sanchez, due to money concerns that would out of the picture. Instead, we must create a real live QB competition. Draft a blue chipper QB and grab a veteran QB and stage an OPEN competition. Let the chips fall where they may. This is exactly what I was calling for last offseason, and I thought having Drew Stanton would be Sanchez's downfall, unfortunately he headed off after the Jets picked up Tim Tebow.

5) USE Tim Tebow full time or get rid of him. I leave the option open. The Jets should use him as a full time player. He's got big play ability and the CS is only depriving themselves by sitting him down all the time.

I say use him as a FB. Tim Tebow is a Mike Alstott with big play ability. That would be a great thing for the team.

If they choose not to use him full time, then they should do him a favor and trade him once and for all.

[JetPotato]

Originally Posted by Piper

I didn't realize Todd Haley was in for an interview(maybe I knew but blocked it out).
And this organization chose Sparano anyway.

Jeez

The truth is that Haley had his choice of jobs and wanted no part of the Jets

Just like Peyton

[C Mart]

Originally Posted by DDNYjets

The media will stick up for Rex bc he is gold for them. Not bc they think he is a good coach.

This.

With his jolly ol Rex personality and dopey comments he practically writes their articles for them.

[Scoop24]

1st move this offseason should be finding a real offensive minded genius to be Off Coordinator .. my 2nd would be to replace Matt Cavanaugh with Chad Pennington.. time for a real QB as a QB coach..

[escamoter2]

1) Hire people who know and understand talent
2) Hire somebody who is as aggressive on offense as Rex is on defense.
3) Hire Bill Polian as President of football operations.
4) reimburse the fans their PSL money for being an embarrassment of a franchise.

[kennyo7]

Originally Posted by Mainejet

1) BOTH Rex and Tanny should be given one more chance in 2013.

2)Dump Tony Sparano. Have we improved at all with Sparano? Brian Schottenheimer is a better OC than Tony is. The fact is, we got worse with Sparano.

3) Hire a personnel guy with final say OVER Mike Tannenbaum. There's been too many seasons now where the Jets have come up empty in the draft. That must change for the Jets to be successful.

4) As much as I'd like to cut Mark Sanchez, due to money concerns that would out of the picture. Instead, we must create a real live QB competition. Draft a blue chipper QB and grab a veteran QB and stage an OPEN competition. Let the chips fall where they may. This is exactly what I was calling for last offseason, and I thought having Drew Stanton would be Sanchez's downfall, unfortunately he headed off after the Jets picked up Tim Tebow.

5) USE Tim Tebow full time or get rid of him. I leave the option open. The Jets should use him as a full time player. He's got big play ability and the CS is only depriving themselves by sitting him down all the time.

I say use him as a FB. Tim Tebow is a Mike Alstott with big play ability. That would be a great thing for the team.

If they choose not to use him full time, then they should do him a favor and trade him once and for all.

What has Rex and Tanny done in your mind to deserve another chance?
Has the talent of this team improved since 2009?
Has Rex improved as a head coach since 2009?
Is the young talent brought in by these two since 2009 showing improvement in their play?
What adjustments has Rex made since coming here as a HC that made him a better coach?
Is the team playing hard disciplined football or are they being held back by repeating the same mental mistakes?

Do you feel confident that these two can be part of the solution more than being part of the problem? What evidence have they shown to support this?

[kennyo7]

Originally Posted by DDNYjets

The media will stick up for Rex bc he is gold for them. Not bc they think he is a good coach.

This is why he is still HC and why Mangini wasnt given a fair chance

[32green]

Stopped reading after "not fire Rex Ryan".

"Continuity" with a know nothing blowhard who has lost any credibility with his own players is continuity........of incompetence. He doesnt get it, shows no signs of having grown in the job and continues to write checks with his mouth he cant cash...while life-long fans are stuck defending his immature, grandiose blathering.

-

[kennyo7]

Originally Posted by 32green

Stopped reading after "not fire Rex Ryan".

"Continuity" with a know nothing blowhard who has lost any credibility with his own players is continuity........of incompetence. He doesnt get it, shows no signs of having grown in the job and continues to write checks with his mouth he cant cash...while life-long fans are stuck defending his immature, grandiose blathering.

-

Exactly. Sticking with rex for continuity sake makes no sense at all. Should we have stuck with Kotite rather than hire Parcells in order to keep continuity intact?

Why werent these clowns talking about continuity when Mangini got fired? The media wants Rex here because he gives them stuff to write about. Has nothing to do with whats good for the team.