Rex Ryan makes case to return to the Jets

Earlier this week, we posed the question of whether Jets owner Woody Johnson would bring back Rex Ryan to coach the team.

While whether Woody would do it isnt known, the other half of the equation is.

Rex would come back in a heartbeat.

During his weekly appearance on ESPN New Yorks Bart & Hahn , Ryan brought up his desire to coach the team again without a question on the topic.

Instead, Ryan was talking about Dan Campbells impact on the Lions as the face of the franchise, in cooperation with the rest of the front office, when he pivoted to his not-so-secret ambitions.

I had a vision for the team and we werent gonna take any shit, Ryan said.

And thats exactly how Dan Campbell is.

And thats what I think, the other thing is, too, get a guy that connects with the fan base and all that.

Thats why I want to be the next coach of the Jets.

Ryan added that he hasnt spoken to Johnson about the returning, that Johnson wont commence the search until after the season ends.

Eventually, the discussion turned to the balance between keeping the nucleus of the current roster in place versus blowing this whole thing up.

I look at it this way, Ryan said.

Blow it up? Were gonna blow the opponents up.

Theres way too much talent on this team to play the way weve been playing.

Period.

Period.

And how hard can you get a guy to play? .

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.

Thats the thing.

Like, nobodys seen a team gonna play the way as hard as this teams going to play in the future, trust me.

If Im the guy.

Trust me.

And thats gonna be it.

Thats what gonna separate me from all these other guys youre gonna bring in.

Your [Jon] Grudens, your whoever, whatever.

Give me a break.

They aint fu they aint New York Jets.

Im all about the Jets.

.

.

.

.And the great thing is heres the great thing.

Yeah, you get a second chance at it and that doesnt happen very often.

Well, when it does its usually special.

And so well find out if I get that chance or not.

If not, I hope they have one hell of a guy in place cause I still wanna be a fan of the Jets.

I still wanna be, but you know when I look around I know nobodys better than me.

So well see.

Well see what happens.

Before making his fairly subtle and nuanced pitch to return, Ryan provided a full-throated defense of Johnson, explaining that he gives the front office and coaching staff whatever they want in order to win and that his involvement in football decisions is no different than the involvement by other owners with other teams.

Woody Johnson was awesome, Ryan said.

I can just tell you firsthand from my perspective, he was fantastic.

You know what hes guilty of? Hes guilty of giving you what you want.

And thats exactly what happened with this group.

He gave them exactly what they wanted.

Youre convincing him that all you need is a quarterback? Well, he gave you a quarterback.

The one that you picked.

He gave you everything that you asked for.

This man wants to win in the worst way.

Thats what I can tell you about Woody.

.

.

.

From my perspective, he was fantastic.

Fantastic.

.

.

.

He wasnt the one [who] told you to go get Aaron Rodgers.

You told him to go get Aaron Rodgers.

And so thats what he did.

And it never worked out.

But at least he fired his gun.

Why? Because he wants a championship.

Rex also made a strong case for interim G.M.

Phil Savage to be the General Manager going forward.

Ryan coached the Jets for six years, leading them to their most recent playoff appearances, in 2009 and 2010.

They went to back-to-back AFC Championship games, and they havent been back to the playoffs since then.

Could they do better that Rex? Given the current state of the team and Johnsons reputation as an owner who is influenced more by outside voices than sound football principles, maybe not.

Could they do worse? They pretty much have in the decade since Rex was fired.

Again, it all might trace to Johnson.

It could be that Rex was able to manage Johnson better than other coaches have managed him.

Whatever the reason(s) for the teams struggles since Rex left, the reality is that Rex wants to come back.

Will Woody welcome him?.

This article has been shared from the original article on nbcsports, here is the link to the original article.