(WFAN/WGR Sports Radio 550) - We’ve seen "bridge quarterbacks" in the NFL – even in New York when Kurt Warner came in to start the Eli Manning era – so why not a bridge head coach to get things moving in the right direction before installing the "real" new regime?
This past Thursday saw former New York Jets and Buffalo Bills head coach Rex Ryan join ESPN Radio in New York, where he expressed interest in returning to the team he coached for six seasons from 2009-14.
Perhaps it's a wild idea, but to Chris McMonigle, a.k.a "C-Mac", why not marry the two ideas and have Ryan and quarterback Aaron Rodgers lead the team through this period of revamping to get the Jets to a better spot to rebuild?
"We’ve seen Rex as the head coach of the Jets and the success that came with it – he was able to get to back-to-back AFC Championship Games, and that’s the last time we've seen this Jet team in the postseason, the longest streak in professional sports," McMonigle said. "After reading the article in The Athletic about the owner and where the state of the team is and everything, I was starting to lose faith in my original opinion that the Jets would be better off running it back. I think next year this team should be talented enough, and Aaron Rodgers has played at least some level of football that should be better, and the team should be better than what they are, and I was wavering on that opinion…and I want to thank Rex Ryan, because he pretty much said what I think, and now I'm back on board with it."
Whether it’s Ryan or some other "stopgap", why not?
"If I were Woody Johnson, I’d do a lot of things differently, but Rex said if he were the coach, he’d make no other guarantees than this team would play a hell of a lot harder than they did this year, and I still believe that there’s enough talent on this team," McMonigle said. "I’m off Super Bowl contender, but you have legitimately talented players on this team, and if you can get a competent head coach in here, bring these guys back and move forward next year with this team, I think they can be a successful team and break the streak of not making the playoffs. I don’t know if we could ever get back to that where I'm picking them to get to an AFC Championship Game, but I do believe, and wonder if there is a situation, considering the short-term nature of this team, could you bring a Rex Ryan in on a one or two-year contract and see if you can turn this current roster around?"
Perhaps that includes taking the interim tag off Phil Savage, who has been a general manager in the league and is in that role right now after Joe Douglas’ firing, and maybe Ryan finding an offensive coordinator who can have total control over the offense while he focuses on the whole team and the defense. But the fact that Ryan is who he is may be one of McMonigle’s biggest upsides.
"Could you figure out a way in the short-term to at least make the best of the situation and have a somewhat successful group and a winning team here moving forward, and then see where you go from there?" he asked. "I don't think that's the craziest idea for the New York Jets. As opposed to hiring the next young coach you believe is gonna be here for 10 years, bring in a motivator the way Rex Ryan was for this team, figure out to get this defense tough again – because that's where their failings are – and get this team to buy in, because whatever the reason is, they fired the coach and lost all buy-in."
McMonigle s is "not really one for reconciliation and trying it again with the old flame," but maybe this time?
"He’s the last coach to make the playoffs… could you imagine if they hire Rex Ryan and, in the gap in between, they haven't made the playoffs?" McMonigle laughed. "I don’t think it's the craziest idea to get Rex Ryan, or a Rex Ryan type, a pure motivator, in here to get this team playing better in the short term, and go at it one more time with this group?"