http://www.newsday.com/sports/footba...tory?track=rss Ryan 'like a breath of fresh air' to Jets BY ERIK BOLAND | erik.boland@newsday.com March 29, 2009 Some of Bart Scott's new teammates have used a fairly common phrase - one not commonly used by football players - in describing their early impressions of Rex Ryan. "Like a breath of fresh air," Scott said Thursday during a break in the team's offseason conditioning program. "They just feel it. The energy, they just feel it. It's energy I'm always used to having." Scott is one of several former Ravens players Ryan has brought to the Jets, whose locker room is getting used to a different approach from the one employed by the head coach they heard the previous three years. But calling Ryan "different" from Eric Mangini in terms of approaches to public discourse is understatement akin to saying people are "angry" at some Wall Street CEOs. It took Ryan about 15 seconds to capture the players' attention - from those seated in the back of the auditorium and those watching on television - during his introductory news conference Jan. 21. Like the media and fans, players had a strong reaction to Ryan's assurance of a White House visit within the next several years and his "the Jets are coming" proclamation to the rest of the league. "I think the right guy got the job," safety Kerry Rhodes said. "He set the tone for us early, letting us know that we're going to be a confident group, that we're going to go out and attack, which is something that we want to do and is something we think we should do." Leon Washington said Ryan in some ways reminded him of his days at Florida State, where coach Bobby Bowden didn't mind a little trash-talk. "I guess the new word now is the swagger he displays," Washington said of Ryan. "Hopefully, that can be infectious to the rest of the team. I was telling one of the guys, this was the way I was used to playing when I was at Florida State. We kind of went out and did our thing and not too much worried about what everybody else did. Hopefully, that attitude can be infectious to the rest of the guys on the team and go out there and do our thing and have swagger about it and be confident about it." Scott said Ryan brings more than confidence. "I couldn't come into a depressing environment and thrive," Scott said. "You have to be happy about work. This is a painful, tough business, and if you're not excited about coming to work, then how can you get your work done to the best of your ability? It becomes a job." Safety Jim Leonhard, another Baltimore import, said Ryan earns the respect of his players in multiple ways, one of the most important being that the coach understands the men playing are imperfect. "The players have a lot of respect for him, the way he carries himself and the way that he talks to you," Leonhard said. "He talks to you like you're a man and he's not talking down to you. He's very realistic for what happens on the football field. As a player, you can respect that because he understands that everything's not perfect, mistakes are going to happen and that as long as you're playing hard, that's all he can really ask for. I think it's a lot of fun to play for a coach like that." That was not a word often associated with Mangini, though the former coach wasn't as unpopular in the locker room as some might have thought. Players haven't taken advantage of the freedom of speech bestowed upon them to be critical of Mangini; they've simply stated the obvious regarding Ryan's way of doing things. "It was kind of foreign to us from what we had heard over the first couple years," said Washington, a favorite of Mangini, and vice versa. "We were always told just keep what we do under wraps; don't tip off the opponent. But coach Ryan is more like, we're going to be good at what we do, and the league has to stop us."
It's the same stuff we hear every time we get a new coach. Let's hope they feel this way a few years down the road.
I have a feeling that Kerry Rhodes is going to be used in the same ways here in NY that Ed Reed was used in Baltimore under Rex Ryan, ways that put this man in position to make plays for our Defense. Kerry Rhodes has always been a ball-hawking playmaker and in my eyes, wasn't used correctly urder Mangini and company. I have a strong feeling that Kerry Rhodes wont be lined up 20 yards deep in the secondary before the snap of the ball every other down, we may just see Kerry Rhodes play as an aggressive safety here in 09 and I honestly cant wait for the Jets Defense to take the field for the 1st time under Rex Ryan. One thing about Bobby Bowden...He's a tough as nails type of head coach but the players really love playing for the man and FSU players really have fun out there on Saturdays which is important in my eyes. All in all, overall...It's just exciting to know that two of my favorite Jets are excited about the future of the Jets under Rex Ryan.
Yeah, but it's always a plus when two team leaders such as Leon and Kerry have nothing but great words to say about their new head coach, it can go a long way with the rest of the players in that locker room. Put it this way...Jay Cutler in Denver doesn't feel the same way about his new head coach and in the long run...Could be a problem for the Denver locker room if players start to takes sides.
I don't think I've ever read anyone quoting themselves twice in the same post to drive home a point... Strange days indeed.
I was kidding with you about your thread yesterday, in a friendly way. Thinking it would be funny to you. Now you have lost another poster on TGG to the side who hates you. I was neutral, now I hate you.
lol, I knew you were kidding and I got a good laugh when you said something like..."They nailed you already" and believe it or not... I enjoy just about everyone here @ the ganggreen, love me or hate me...I enjoy this place and you can join the side who gives me a hard time all you like, I still enjoy alot of your posts, and...I thought Robert De Niro was one funny old man. But hey...:shit:
ANYWAY, TB85 you just gotta learn that lots of the guys here just try to get under your skin, whether it's all in good fun or not. I know being online you can never really tell. I thought he was being a jackass to you too but according to him it was just a joke. Didn't seem like it to me but hey, you never know online I guess. That's why I never let any insults towards me blow up into a back and forth fight on the INTERNET. haha.
I'm so excited for this defense. Offensively optimally Sanchez falls to 17, but this team has playmakers on the defensive side of the ball. I don't know what happened in the regression of Mangini's defense but the last six games were SO unaggressive.
hahaha, words to live by right there... I've always wondered why guys around here try soooo hard on pushing my buttons though, 99% of the time it doesnt work but I've always wondered why... all in all, I have fun with it though but thnx for taking note bro.
Not impressed by words We'll see when they get on the field Not doubting him, but if talking shit was all it took then we would have won a SB long time ago
jet offense will prolly be one of teh worst in the league next yr..no qb and only 1 good wr in cotchery who proven. Keller is prolly ur best TE weapon the field. raider offense tho has potential to be one of the best...with a new 0-line coach, new tackle with 7th pick, russell maturing like he did last 8 games this year, and shields who ran 4.48 and is 6'1-6'2, and schillens at 6'foot about ran 4.35 will round out the wr crops. zach miller is our te and already one of the best in the league..he all around and he can block well. our fb oren is comin back from injury but he was cosnidered of the best fb's in college so if healthy he'll be deadly. jets better hope their d will be excellent cause the offeNse wont be
just couldn't "wait out" your ban sentence, eh Jeaux.....you truly have no life. EDIT: probably some lame imposter.
