Rex Ryan: New Defensive Coordinator of the New York Giants?

Should he be signing a contract with the NYG at the end of this season?

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This past Sunday, 11/9, unofficially ended the New York Giants season. Even the biggest Big Blue optimist has to throw in the towel and admit that the Giants wasted another year of Eli Manning in his prime. It’s been a tough season. The future of the NYG at running back, David Wilson, had doctors tell him his career was done before Opening Kickoff weekend. Within weeks, the Giants lost starting running back Rashad Jennings and would quickly lose star wide receiver Victor Cruz for the season thereafter. To just add to the injuries, cornerback Prince Amukamara went down for the season last week as well. 

Injuries are a part of football, but the injury bug really ravaged through the Giants locker room like ebola in a Dallas hospital. However, injuries or not, the one thing the Giants have been consistent with all season is being atrocious on defense.
Someone needs to smack the smile off his face during games

The honeymoon has ended for NY Giants Defensive Coordinator Perry Fewell. Despite being part of the the 2011 Superbowl Championship team, time has run out for Fewell. The Giants lead the league in giving up first downs while the opponent is on third down. The pass defense is non-existent. This past Sunday, Russell Wilson called the same play seemingly 100 times in a span of a half and the Giants were fooled every time.  The Giants have been on the receiving end of many blowouts this season, and simply have not played competitively or at an NFL level this season on defense.

Head coach Tom Coughlin, is a relic in the NFL. While he is the oldest coach in the league, he is adapt to change. While many head coaches of yesteryear wear out their welcome by yearning for days of lore, Coughlin has changed with the times. A talk from Michael Strahan before the Giants won the Superbowl in the 2007-08 season loosed Coughlin up. Coughlin realized the league was changing and he didn’t fight it. He became part of the new league.

This year is no different for Coughlin. Coughlin agreed to changing offensive coordinators and adopting a new offensive scheme, the much talked about and ballyhooed west coast offense. I don’t know what you hear about more in NY sports – the Giants west coast offense or the Knicks triangle offense.

Make no bones about it- I’m a diehard Giants fan. I buy the apparel. I watch every game. I go to games. I support the team. My Sundays revolve around the Giants. I got more Giants shit in my house than I know what to do with. I’m loyal to the men who have won for this team. However, like Paulie in “Goodfellas”, when speaking to Henry Hill, after he found out about Henry dealing cocaine, “Perry Fewell, now I got to turn my back on you.”

The reason I have to turn my back on Perry is because I can’t stand him smiling and laughing like a damn jackass while the Giants are down by double digits. It is infuriating. I don’t care if it’s a nervous tic or if he needs to laugh to keep himself alive. Bite your lips or put a scarf over your mouth. To the fanbase that lives and dies with Big Blue football and spends their hard earned money on this team, it is a direct kick to the nut sack. The season is over for Giants fans. Another miserable year without playoffs, and we have our defensive coordinator laughing like he was watching a Rodney Dangerfield set.

The  Giants defense is a joke this year. What also is a joke this year are the Giants Metlife Stadium co-tenants, the New York Jets. 

I’ve done columns on the Jets and their woes before here on DOINOW.com. Check them out on the right hand of the site. I’m not going to rehash what I’ve said about them before and how you can fix them. I do want to point out on an aside, that if yesterday’s Jets/Steelers game wasn’t fixed like a pro wrestling match, then I know nothing about football. I say this because the Steelers put up 6 touchdowns a game the past two weeks against quality competition, while the Jets have been beaten like a drum for two months straight. All of a sudden, the Las Vegas bookies/casinos have the line with the Steelers only favored by 3!?!?!?! This game should’ve been a double digit spread easily. Something was up and someone made a lot of money on this game. This spread is a bigger conspiracy than the JFK assassination!

It is no secret that the Jets personnel from the front office to the team on the field will change from this season to next season. While fans are flying banners and demanding that GM John Idzik be fired, his one reprieve may be that he never got to pick his own coach, which may led to Rex Ryan taking the heat for this mess. This will also send the Jets into another cycle of firing GM’s & coaches, but that’s their mess that seemingly is the story of the franchise.

As a diehard Giants fan, I like Rex Ryan. I like his passion. He cares. He might not be successful with the crappy roster that he got and when you think about it, he’s never had a true quarterback without controversy either. The guy is brash. He loves his job. He wants to win. You would never see him smiling while being down by double digits. We have seen plenty of examples this season that he gets infuriated and enraged when his team is losing. That is why I think he’d be a perfect fit for the NYG, if and when, he gets fired this season by the Jets. 
Could this be the man to save Rex Ryan’s career?

I know it’s a huge long shot and I have a better chance of seeing the Jets winning a Superbowl this year but Rex would bring the passion and fury to a Giants defense that sorely needs it. In the process, Tom Coughlin would teach Rex how to be professional & show him how a winner acts. Rex has been part of winning teams before, namely the 2000 Ravens, and is a defensive guru. He’s been a defense guy his whole life. His father was showing him defensive schemes before Rex even discovered foot fetishes.  Rex has always been trained to kill the quarterback and not groom a quarterback. I wouldn’t be adverse to seeing Rex play to his strengths for Big Blue.

If Rex is fired at the end of the season, like many expect him to be, he won’t be jobless for long. I’m sure other HC offers will come his way. He would be an exciting and entertaining analyst for any TV or radio program. However for Rex, keeping his address and just walking to the other side of the building may be his best bet. A year or two under a winner like Tom Coughlin could do wonders for Ryan’s career in the long haul and in the process, the Giants get a guy who knows defense and just wants to win.

When Rex Ryan first came to the Jets several years ago, he said he wasn’t here to kiss Bill Belichick’s rings. What better way to beat Bill Belichick than joining a coach who has bested Belichick in two Superbowls? While I don’t see the Giants taking a chance on Rex, even if he was available, stranger things have happened.

See ya playoffs. Maybe next year.

Sean McCaffrey
BULLSMC@aol.com
@NYCTHEMIC on the twitter











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