Football By Isaac

The Jets were a team in shambles this past year and they’re a team that will go into 2012 in just as much shambles. This is a team that is on the cusp of a complete breakdown and there’s little that can be done to stop it. But I will give it my best.

The first thing that needs to be done is Rex Ryan needs to man up. He is on the verge of being like his father, Buddy Ryan, considered an excellent coordinator but an awful head coach. Rex needs to quit being bluster and sound bytes and he needs to actually start getting on his team’s asses.

If you think about it, he wants to be the guy that everyone likes and doesn’t appear to want to make his players uncomfortable. You can see this from a couple years ago when he was doing nothing but inflating the ego of star, elite corner Darrelle Revis when he was holding out. But then this year shows that he wants to be everyone’s buddy. Their locker room is in turmoil and he doesn’t have the balls to squash it other than say “It’s all my fault” to the media. Rex needs to prove that he can be a head coach and lay down the hammer.

That’s the main reason why the Jets sucked last year. The team wasn’t being held accountable by their main authority figure. The players got comfortable being able to do whatever they wanted and because Rex let them and it lead to rifts, fights and a feeling that no one liked each other. No more mister nice guy, Rex. The bluster you give your opponents needs to be felt by the knuckleheads on your squad.

After that, they need to get rid of some dead cap. Unfortunately, some prime candidates for removal (e.g. Bart Scott and Santonio Holmes) are already guaranteed too much money by the Jets. The first thing that the Jets could do would be to get players like Mark Sanchez (due $14+ million this year), Bart Scott ($5.9 million), David Harris ($12 million), Cromartie ($8.25 million) and D’Brickashaw Ferguson ($4.45 million) to restructure or reduce their contracts. This is going to be paramount. Or they’ll have to find a trade partner for some of these players.

Third, they need to quit castrating Mark Sanchez. I mean two things by this. First, they need to demand that he step up and be a leader. He’s doing all of these photo shoots and public appearances and allowing him to be the official J-E-T-S-JETS-JETS-JETS face of the franchise, but they’re not expecting him to step up and lead. They need to demand that he has balls in the locker room. Along these lines, they need Sanchez to man up to his poor play and say what he plans on doing to improve.

The second part is they need to shut up about who they could bring in to take over for Sanchez. Put your faith in him, don’t speculate on what’s out there. But make it very clear that you want him to improve and you expect him to answer the tough questions.

Lastly, they need to get the Sanchize some help. His running backs are awful. His top receiver is a mess and there’s a huge drop off after him. For the RB, they need a home run. This means they need to bring in Marshawn Lynch, a tall task. Peyton Hillis will look nice, but he will only bring a host of locker room issues. If they want to go low name with high potential, they could always go Michael Bush or Jackie Battle.

For receivers, they would do well to bring back Braylon Edwards for a very cheap price. But they need to bring in some Santonio insurance. There are some nice free agents out there, they won’t be very cost effective for them. The Jets will more than likely take one in the draft and hope for the best. At pick #16 in the first round, they’ll have some options.

From there, if they can reestablish their gritty toughness, they’ll surprise some teams. However, they need Rex to play sheriff instead of the best bud and tighten up that locker room. That’s where it’ll start.