We’ll Miss You, Rex (No, Really)

It’s been real, Rex.

Six years ago, lame-duck New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan stormed his way into the Meadowlands, and into the hearts of New England Patriots fans, portraying a caricature of blustery bravado that straddled the line of playing well in a desperate fan base in New York, and entertaining the dismissive masses 200 miles to the north.

Now it’s all but over for Ryan, the 52-year-old defensive whiz who is 45-49 as a head coach, heading into this weekend’s showdown against the Patriots. A 3-11 record this season, as well as personnel decisions even more damning, figure to cost Ryan his job in New York, where he hasn’t led the Jets to a record above .500 since 2010. General manager John Idzik also may be on the chopping block, as the Jets try and clean house in the offseason in order to keep pace in an improved AFC East, which has seen resurgent seasons from division siblings in Miami and Buffalo.

At his best, Ryan was able to take the Jets to back-to-back AFC Championship games in 2009 and 2010, even taking down the Patriots along the way in a 28-21 playoff victory at Gillette Stadium on Jan. 16, 2011.

At his worst, well, you’re seeing it unfold in 2014.

Ryan’s inability to develop a franchise quarterback has resulted in literally making former signal-caller Mark Sanchez the butt of all jokes and putting errant trust in the overmatched Geno Smith. Idzik’s moves, from abhorrent drafting to failing to reciprocate Darrelle Revis’ interest in returning to his roots last summer, have returned the Jets franchise to the depth of incompetence, an NFL bottom-feeder once again with no clear direction and rumors of a shakeup on the way.

“Well, anything that is swirling around inside our team, I’m proud of this team,” Ryan said this week. “This team is tight. Our record is the only thing that stinks. We have a great group of guys that care, that prepare, practice hard and it is just unfortunate that our record is what it is, but it has nothing to do with the type of character in this room.”

It’s a character that has deflated in recent years, despite Ryan’s overwhelming injection of his own into the team since he was hired prior to the 2009 season, after the Jets fired old friend Eric Mangini. Ryan’s bluster, the same employed by his father and longtime head coach Buddy Ryan as well as his brother Rob, defensive coordinator with the New Orleans Saints, was on display from Day One. Within months, he was building what would become his defining obsession, a public needling of the superiority of New York’s primary AFC East foe, the same one who employed a future Hall of Fame coach who once left the Jets franchise with scribbling on a cocktail napkin.

“I never came here to kiss Bill Belichick’s, you know, rings,” Ryan said. “I came to win. Let’s just put it that way. So we’ll see what happens. I’m certainly not intimidated by New England or anybody else. . . .”

In the Jets’ first five meetings against Belichick and the Patriots with Ryan at the helm, New York went 3-2, including the playoff victory, which came on the heels of a New England demolition (45-3) one month earlier on the same turf. The Jets came within five points of heading to the Super Bowl that postseason, losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers, 24-19, in the AFC title game. But if it seemed that would be the genesis of something big in the Meadowlands, it’s been nothing but misguided bravado ever since.

Ryan is only 25-37 over his last four years with the Jets, 1-6 against the Patriots, the lone victory being a 30-27 win in overtime last season at MetLife Stadium. And yet besides a 49-19 Patriots blowout in 2012, four of the last five meetings between the two teams have been decided by three points or fewer, including the first meeting of this season, a 27-25 win secured by New England when defensive tackle Chris Jones blocked a last-second field goal attempt by Nick Folk.

But on Sunday, while the rivalry between the Pats and Jets won’t necessarily come to an end, it will forever change. The 11-3 Patriots need a win to stay ahead of Denver in the chase for home-field advantage, while the Jets are playing for nothing. Literally. Nothing.

In beating the Tennessee Titans last weekend, the team essentially took itself out of the running for the No. 1 pick in next spring’s NFL Draft, meaning Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota will likely be playing next season in a Bay area, whether that be in Tampa or Oakland.

“We all know what is getting ready to happen in this game,” Ryan said. “We know that both teams give their maximum effort against each other. I don’t think either team particularly likes each other, but it is on. Regardless of what the record is, we could be playing for first place or whatever. It is the same effort always. It is usually a close game and it is usually a physical game.”

It will be the final time Ryan and Belichick go head-to-head on the gridiron, though one would assume Ryan’s fascination with the Patriots head coach would continue in his expected, future role as an NFL TV analyst.

“You like to be, as a competitor, you like facing the best, and that’s what he is,” he said. ”Obviously, I like doing that just as any competitor would. So it’s not different. Obviously, I wish I had more success against him, but they do a tremendous job in all phases of the game.”

Belichick has, naturally, always tended to dismiss the rivalry between him and Ryan, focused on the football field in lieu of the comedy act that Ryan’s aura has brought with him in New York. They are complete opposites in their approaches to the game, which makes the dynamic a mostly-fascinating one, a chunk of the rivalry that will always be remembered even if the likes of Jim Harbaugh is able to rectify the embers of Ryan’s building blocks and turn the franchise into something respectable once again.

“It’s a competitive situation,” Belichick said. “It’s the same thing I said when I was the head coach at Cleveland and Bill Cowher was at Pittsburgh. Once that changed then our relationship changed…I respect Rex, I respect the job and I respect their team.”

Mostly, it was just damned enjoyable having Rex Ryan around, whether it was the threat of him, or the knowledge his Jets were there as an entertaining doormat for the Patriots.

Kissing Belichick’s rings. The Butt Fumble. The voicemail message to Jets season-ticket holders. Fireman Ed’s languishing in shame and denouncing his fandom. The Sanchez tattoo.

Feet.

It all ends on Sunday, against the team he purported to hate as soon as he traded in his Baltimore Ravens colors for Gang Green, in his last game against the Patriots, his final home game as head coach of the New York Jets.

“I respect the heck out of them,” Ryan said, referring to this weekend’s opponent. “It is six years in a row that they have won the division. I am a little envious I guess, but it is what it is. They’re the ones that you chase and things like that. We respect them a great deal.”

Call him a buffoon, a clown, an incompetent boob.

It still won’t be the same without Rex Ryan to both respect and ridicule from afar.

Clearly, the AFC East is about to get a whole lot less fun.