This one comes, possibly, from the Happy Father’s Day, Mutherf--ker file.
Jets coach Rex Ryan, whose past boasts regarding his team’s potential mastery of the Patriots disappeared right about the time Mark Sanchez slammed into the backside of Brandon, has cranked up the rhetoric a bit regarding a pair of second-round picks who didn’t make it in New England before landing with the Jets.
“I don’t believe the one guy up in New England’s got all the answers,” Ryan told Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News. “I worry about ourselves, what we think of a player and how we evaluate a player. Do I respect the hell out of Bill [Belichick]? Absolutely. But if we think a player can help us, we don’t care how we get him.”
The players in question entered the league as the 53rd overall pick in 2010 (linebacker Jermaine Cunningham) and as the 33rd overall selection in 2011 (cornerback Ras-I Dowling). They didn’t last with the Patriots due in large part to injuries and inconsistent performances. With only 53 roster spots, guys who can’t play well and/or can’t play at all won’t be on the roster for very long, no matter their draft pedigree.
Still, Ryan is banking on the possibility that Belichick screwed the proverbial pooch in letting both guys go.
“Sometimes what might not be good for you looks good for somebody else,” Ryan said. “You know what? Guys make mistakes.”
Despite the endless optimism of the draft process, with every prospect being in the eyes of some the best . . . player . . . ever and little discussion prior to or during the draft about the large percentage of picks who become busts, the truth is that every team makes mistakes.
The Patriots have. The Jets have. Everyone has.
The wisdom comes from admitting the mistake and moving on. Keeping a guy to justify his draft status only makes the mistake worse. For Belichick, having a trio of pelts on the wall gives him the freedom to admit his mistakes without fear of consequence.
So when it comes to the degree of job security that Ryan hasn’t earned and possibly never will, maybe Belichick really does have all the answers.