You seem pretty confident. Let's put some money on the game.
Nope, just messing around...in fact, quite the opposite, I'm not remotely confident! Been telling my buddies all week we're gonna lose. Hence my plan is to start drinking immediately after work to where I'm not remotely upset when the clock hits 00:00. Thankfully, my Bills fan buddy who is coming over for the game is not the type to gloat (which is nice).
Upon returning home from a season-ending win in Miami last December, Rex Ryan stopped by one of his favorite New Jersey haunts, a Mexican restaurant in Union called the Red Cadillac. He ordered his favorites, beef tacos and a Royal Chrome margarita. He stayed past closing, talking with friend and owner Joseph Montes.
It was his last supper as coach of the New York Jets. The team finished 4-12, missing the playoffs for the fourth straight year, and Ryan knew he'd be fired the next morning.
"He saw it coming," Montes said Wednesday. "He was ready to move on. He talked about putting his house up for sale and he already had his eye on some head-coaching jobs."
Two weeks after sipping tequila in New Jersey, Ryan was serving Kool-Aid in Western New York, brainwashing the success-starved fans of that region into thinking he'd change everything as the new coach of the Buffalo Bills. It hasn't been easy -- the team is 4-4 -- but the first defining moment of Ryan's tenure will occur Thursday night.
He's back in Jersey, facing his old team -- a matchup that has more sizzle than a skillet of steak fajitas (another Ryan fave).
"If he goes in there and beats the Jets -- if he shuts them down -- wow, he'd swell up bigger than one of those Macy's floats in the Thanksgiving parade," said retired special teams coach Mike Westhoff, who worked on Ryan's staff from 2009-12.
A former Ryan associate said: "This game means the world to him. It's the way he's wired."
Coaches return to face their former teams all the time in the transient world of sports, but this is different because Ryan was more than a coach. He was a larger-than-life presence for six years on the New York landscape, a polarizing figure who owned the back pages.
Ryan was fun. He energized the Jets and their fan base, both of which needed a whiff of smelling salts after three seasons of Eric Mangini's tedium.
Rex Ryan brings his 4-4 Bills to MetLife Stadium Thursday night. Brett Carlsen/Getty Images
Whether he was guaranteeing Super Bowls or dropping F-bombs on "Hard Knocks" or appearing in an Adam Sandler comedy, Ryan raised the profile of the franchise. Sometimes you wanted to curse at him, not with him, but it was Rex being Rex. He was like the party dude from your old fraternity house who turns up 30 years later as the CEO of a corporation -- and damn near gets it to the top.
Laughing and talking trash the entire time, of course.
The record book says Ryan was a losing coach for the Jets (46-50), but he won more playoff games (four) than any coach in their star-crossed history. His predecessors dreamed about the Super Bowl; he talked about it. Almost made it, too. Twice.
The good times were washed away by four consecutive non-winning seasons, a toxic relationship with his last general manager (John Idzik) and, just this week, the controversial decision to name IK Enemkpali -- the Geno Smith jawbreaker -- a game captain. One of Ryan's former Jets, safety Calvin Pryor, called it "disrespectful."
That clinched it: The old coach returns a villain.
Ryan, who wore a Clemson helmet to his Tuesday news conference, joked that he might need that helmet to protect him from the fans at MetLife Stadium.
"The Rex haters will be out in force," said Jim Ryan, Rex's older brother.
The Ryans grew up in football, and they saw how their father, Buddy, was treated by the fans when he returned to Chicago in 1986 as the coach of the Philadelphia Eagles. Buddy was the defensive coordinator of '85 Bears, Super Bowl champions. He was the architect of perhaps the greatest defense in history.
"He was a hero, but the media made it out to be, 'Buddy left us, Buddy abandoned us,'" Jim recalled. "They booed the living crap out of him."
Rex Ryan didn't abandon the Jets -- he was kicked out -- but the stain of 4-12 overshadowed the particulars of his ouster. It was one of the worst years in franchise history and the Jets have had some doozies.
Ryan accepted his fate before he received the pink slip; what irked him was that he felt he was undercut by Idzik, who refused to spend big money on free agents. Ryan believes he'd still be the coach if Idzik had retained Antonio Cromartie and re-signed Darrelle Revis, athletic cornerbacks who fit perfectly into his system. Instead, Ryan's successor, Todd Bowles, is reaping the benefits.
"It's not like Rex wasn't crying for those guys the last two years," his brother said. "They were obvious football moves to everyone except that general manager."
Idzik was fired the same day as Ryan; he landed a job as a bean counter in the Jacksonville Jaguars' salary-cap department. Other Jets officials, many of whom Ryan felt had stabbed him in the back, are gone too. The owner hasn't changed, but Ryan has a genuine affinity for Woody Johnson.
So, no, this isn't a revenge game for Ryan. There's no one left to hate.
This is a pride game.
"When a team doesn't want you anymore, pride kicks in," said retired offensive lineman Damien Woody, who played for Ryan in 2009 and 2010 -- the years they reached the AFC Championship Game. "Rex wears his emotions on his sleeve, and I'm sure he'll use that to get his team fired up. He might not say it, but he'll take this personally, you better believe it."
One thing he takes personally is defense, his life's work. The Jets' defense has improved under Bowles, whose front office spent lavishly to improve the roster. Meanwhile, the Bills -- fourth in scoring defense in 2014 -- have slipped to 16th under Ryan, who inherited one of the most talented units in the league.
"It has to be in his craw, how unproductive his defense has been this year," Westhoff said. "It's the same group as last year. That has to be eating at him. Believe me, he lives and dies with that."
In his early years with the Jets, Ryan had the Midas touch, winning 24 games in his first two seasons, including the postseason. He inherited a smart, talented and experienced team, and he brought it to life with his XXL personality. He instilled confidence in an organization that cowered in the shadow of the New York Giants.
He made the Jets cool again.
By 2011, the talent started to decline, team chemistry became an issue and, suddenly, Ryan's big talk turned to hot air. He was cartoonish at times, making headlines with misplaced bravado. He was the wolf who cried like a boy seeking attention.
Despite the tough times, Ryan was beloved by his players. You could see and hear the raw emotion in the locker room that day at the end of the 2013 season, when Idzik announced Ryan would return as coach. They cheered him and mobbed him.
Thirty-four players from last year's team remain on the Jets' current roster. They're his guys. Ryan has a way with players and people. At the Red Cadillac, which he frequented once or twice a week for four years, he mingled with the customers, signed autographs, posed for pictures and bought a drink for anyone who showed up wearing Jets gear.
Ryan often sat at the bar, in the middle of the hustle and bustle. Montes, the owner, suggested a table in a quiet area of the restaurant. The coach declined.
"He said, 'If it weren't for these people, I wouldn't have a job,'" said Montes, adding that he "lost the best customer in the world" and a great tipper.
Ryan won't have time to visit the restaurant before the game, so he invited the restaurant to him. Montes will cater the Bills' postgame spread at MetLife Stadium, where he and his staff will arrive in the third quarter and begin setting up in the Buffalo locker room.
The buffet will include steak fajitas, beef tacos, barbecued pork burritos and chips and salsa. No margaritas for the coach, though.
Then again ...
"There could be a parting gift, who knows?" said Montes, laughing.
For Ryan, there's one thing that would taste better than tequila.
Victory.
Really well written and balanced article on Rex Ryan. He's either a guy you like or don't. There isn't much grey area.
Really well written and balanced article on Rex Ryan. He's either a guy you like or don't. There isn't much grey area.
I was all in on Rex when he first came to NY cuz he gave us the shot in the arm that the franchise needed and the first 2 years were magical indeed (best I've experienced as a fan since the days of Vinny then Pennington). However, things started catching up with him and unraveled quickly...bad draft picks, poor QB play, inconsistencies from week to week, poor player development, outright awful scouting, poor in-game coaching decisions, guarantees, big talk at the pressers which put a lot of undue pressure on the players and the list goes on. Year 3 was rough and at least we were competitive but you didn't have to look hard to see the act was wearing thin not only for Jets fans, but more importantly, the players. Honestly, the guy is a helluva coach, he just needs to stay on the defensive side of the ball as a DC.
Is this color rush thing basically the NFL's way to do alternate uniforms?
It's commemorating the first color broadcasts of the NFL in the 60's...but yeah, basically to cash in for the umpteenth time from the various fan bases.
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Been telling my buddies all week we're gonna lose. 
Hence my plan is to start drinking immediately after work to where I'm not remotely upset when the clock hits 00:00. 
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