The day after the Jets were officially eliminated from the playoffs, the once-boastful coach humbly stood in front of his team and tearfully told them: "We must become one again."
According to the New York Post, the Jets head coach stood in front of his players at a meeting and "pleaded" for a return of team unity and got so emotional his eyes welled with tears.
"I'm Irish," he said after the meeting. "It's hurtful. I'm extremely prideful. I want to be the best. I want to win. Sometimes it comes out like that."
Ryan had lots of reasons to let the waterworks fly.
All the high hopes the bold Ryan tried to sell his players and fans before and during the season— after making the AFC Championship game two years running— fluttered away like a Mark Sanchez pass.
The "player's head coach" lost control of his team and it came to a head when Santonio Holmes— a team captain—quit on the team during the crucial last game and sulked on the bench during the final minutes of the 19-17 loss to division rivals the Miami Dolphins.
The image of Holmes moping on the bench sums up the Jets whole season.
Ryan seemed to realize his braggadocio did little to keep the team together in the end.
"Normally, I'm a guy that really has the pulse of the team," said the now-humbled Ryan. "I don't think I had the pulse of our team the way I [have] in the past. When I met with players [yesterday] that became clear to me.
Has losing the final three games of a season with high expectations finally quieted the dysfunctional Jets?
Not if you believe the Post. According to the newspaper, Bart Scott gave their photographer the finger before storming out of the meeting uttering a stream of obscenities.
Surprisingly, the maligned Holmes showed his face and sprinted from the room too.
While Ryan has turned his boasting into contrition, it does little to explain the free fall of a group of players he called "the most talented team he has had."
The players themselves blamed team chemistry.
"We need to pull together as a team," said Matt Slauson. "There were a lot of guys just playing for themselves, because we haven't been a team all year."
Ryan said that will all change.
"In my talk to the team what I said was from the heart, and we will have that team, because that's how you win in this league," he said. "Every team has got talent. That's what separates from winning and losing is a team that truly believes in each other and cares about each other. We're going to have 53 people that believe that way."
The head coach might not be the only one in the Jets locker room to shed any tears this week.
Offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer's job is on the line and the outlook for a few players returning doesn't look good either.
No comments:
Post a Comment