Here is what Rex Ryan said Monday ...
"To me, it just shows also that the greatest player in the game has a hell of a lot bigger impact than the greatest coach in the game."
We get it, Rex. Geno Smith was your quarterback.
This has been a constant theme for Ryan, suggesting he would be the one with all those Lombardis if he had Tom Brady as his quarterback. He wouldn't have been fired. And he wouldn't be relegated to making a living trying to feed the hot-take media machine.
And now, with the uncomfortable lot in life Belichick finds himself with without Brady, this is a straight ball right down the middle for Rex.
OK. But he has to be smarter than this.
Has the 50-50 carving up of the credit pie might be viewed a different these days thanks to Tom Brady's best life? Yup. But Ryan has to take deep breath, eat a sandwich and rethink that one sentence.
In football, it just simply isn't the case.
Baseball? Maybe. I've always said the most important part of a manager's job is everything that takes place outside Innings 1-9.
Basketball? Absolutely there's a case to be made. Isolations are a powerful and valued thing in that sport. But Michael Jordan couldn't win with Doug Collins. That's just one reminder.
Hockey? This one might be the second-best case that can be made for the value of a coach when lifting a superstar to a championship level.
But it is football that is the most reliant on coaching. Sure, the quarterback position might be the most impactful spot in sports. But there is a laundry list of the NFL's best player -- usually a quarterback -- not sniffing the end-of-season confetti-covered podium.
Do you know the last time the NFL MVP won the Super Bowl? That would be 1999 when Marshall Faulk's Rams finished as champs.
Point. Set. Match.
Can a great player keep a team viable and competitive without the same level of coaching. Sure. But at the end of the day, the system -- on both sides of the ball -- is the thing that is non-negotiable. And you know who puts in the system? That would be the head coach.
Nice try, Rex.