Rex Ryan has drawn criticism for the way he dealt with Tom Coughlin leading up to Week 16. (US Presswire)
One NFL assistant coach on the Jets' Rex Ryan: "Very smart guy ... good coach but he is quickly becoming a caricature of himself."
And another: "You can see how smart he is by what happens on film. He does some innovative stuff but there's no question he's starting to take things too far."
One more assistant: "I like him but it's hard to defend him sometimes."
And, finally, this from a head coach: "The way he treated Coughlin was just flat wrong."
Ryan might be the most talked about coach in football right now and maybe the last few years. No coach generates more discussion -- particularly true within his own community. A handful of coaches were asked their thoughts on Ryan and in a profession where there often is no consensus on anything, there was on Ryan.
The unanimous opinion seems to be the following: Ryan is bright, still well liked and respected but he's rapidly losing some of that respect because, these coaches believe, his attacks are beginning to become more numerous and personal.
One coach put it this way. Ryan has allowed his rhetoric to get so out of control that each quote must be more extreme. This, he said, is a highly dangerous trap.
Where some coaches say Ryan went too far was in his dealings with Tom Coughlin last week before the Jets played the Giants. Indeed, that seems to be the line of demarcation for some in the profession.
When Ryan bragged how the Jets weren't the Giants' little brothers, the Jets were the better of the two franchises and all but stated he'd beat Coughlin, it put increased pressure on the Giants coach. Now, to most people, they don't care if Ryan's bragging put more pressure on Coughlin. This is the big time. So what if Coughlin has to deal with Ryan's mouth.
But in the coaching community Coughlin is highly respected. In that world, outside of the staff firings that are done out of necessity because of performance, you don't mess with another coach's job. You certainly don't use the media in a way that can cause harm. Everyone in the sport knows Coughlin is fighting for his job.
"Did you see Coughlin that week say a word about Rex Ryan until Rex said something about him?" asked an assistant coach.
It should be noted the coaches respect Ryan (as do I) but believe Ryan is irreparably damaging his image and can't possibly live up to his constant bragging.
Should Ryan change? It's almost a moot point because he won't.
"When I leave this job, 10 or 15 years from now, I'm going to be true to myself," Ryan said this week according to the New York Daily News. "And you know maybe it's not the traditional way of doing things or whatever, but for me this is who I am, this is how I believe. I made the statements and like I said before, I'll stand by everything I said."
Ryan won't change and neither will the opinions of his fellow coaches.
2. The San Francisco 49ers released wide receiver Braylon Edwards. Few receivers in such a short time had the kind of rapid decline in skills as Edwards. Dropped balls didn't help, either. Edwards had 15 catches for the 49ers. The price tag: $1.6 million.
3. John Elway may have given his vote of confidence to Tim Tebow too soon. That's called premature confidation.
4. ESPN said its love everyone/love everything analyst Jon Gruden plans to stay at Monday Night Football. They cite his contract. Remember: the contract Gruden signed in no way prevents him from returning to coaching, according to a person familiar with the contract's language. He could depart tomorrow with no penalty. The language in the contract is more about preventing Gruden from leaving for competing networks. The prevailing belief among league officials remains that Gruden will end up coaching next season in San Diego or St. Louis. I also would not rule out Jacksonville. The new owner of the Jaguars is prepared to pay top money for a coach.
5. Even if the Cowboys lose to the Giants, many in football don't expect Jerry Jones to fire Jason Garrett. They do, however, expect Jones to do something otherwise humiliating to Garrett like force the coach to fire several members of his staff.
6a. Champ of the week: Jim Schwartz. Got a joke of a franchise into the playoffs. Finally, the wreck, the curse, the plague that was Matt Millen is dead.
6b. Chump of the week: Jeff Triplette. Easily the worst game official in all of sports. Again, during the Monday night game, he showed why with a rash of unnecessary, inconsistent and wrong penalty calls.
6c Tweet of the week: "I'm convinced the only guy who may be able cover NFL TE's, the Gronk, Graham and Finely is @RajonRondo." -- Boomer Esiason
7. Pro Bowl voting results are out. Yawn.
8. There remains very little interest in Donovan McNabb, who is a free agent. Ironically, McNabb's one-time nemesis, Terrell Owens, has drawn even less interest. The careers of both men might be over.
9. One reason why the Chargers are struggling. The team let Drew Brees walk. Well, that happens. Great players go to other teams. But the Chargers haven't done a good job of restocking their talent. A good example is Clemson linebacker Anthony Waters, a third round pick While Brees honed his skills and developed into a Hall of Fame thrower, Waters struggled. He missed all of his rookie year in 2007, had just three tackles in 2008 and was waived by the Chargers in 2009.
10. From Packers blogger Aaron Nagler: quarterback Aaron Rodgers' six interceptions are a record low for a quarterback with more than 4,000 yards passing in a season. That's pretty damn impressive. Brees threw for over 5,000 yards and had 13 picks. That's not terrible either.
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