As Jets coach Rex Ryan looks back on his tenure as the team’s head coach -- a tenure that might come to an end after Sunday’s game -- he admits that three of his five seasons haven’t been up to par.
“Well, obviously we’ve had a lot of good moments,” Ryan said. “We’ve had some down moments. I don’t like the fact we haven’t been to the playoffs for three straight years. That’s a huge thorn in my side and everybody else’s, this team’s, even in our building. The reason I say [that is because] it represents the commitment the organization has and the goals of the organization, the goal of the organization is to win championships and multiple championships and we haven’t done that. I haven’t been successful at doing that yet. I understand that. We’ve had some moments where we’ve been close but we haven’t gotten there. The biggest disappointment is the fact that we haven’t gone to the playoffs in three straight years.”
But while Ryan acknowledges that the last three years haven’t been anywhere near as good as his first two years, he believes he is a better coach now than he was then.
“I think you improve through experience,” Ryan said. “I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. I think that’s probably the greatest thing that you learn as this thing goes on.”
Regardless of whether Ryan believes he is a better coach or not, however, missing the playoffs for three years in a row usually gets NFL head coaches fired. There’s a good chance he’ll be out of a job in a week.