Larry Brown Sports

Rex Ryan was recently photographed catching some rays by the pool with his shirt off while vacationing in the Bahamas. I know what you’re thinking, but give the guy a break. He’s lost a ton of weight so he has nothing to be ashamed of — except maybe the tattoo he has on his right arm of what appears to be his wife wearing a Mark Sanchez jersey.

While our initial reaction when we heard the rumor was that this has to be some sort of photoshop job, we’re confident that is not the case since the photo was taken by NY Daily News photographer Andrew Theodorakis. Also, I don’t think there’s anyone in the world clever enough to make something like that up. And to top it all off, we already know Rex has one ridiculous tattoo.

ESPN’s Rachel Nichols shared the photo on Twitter:

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The New York Jets ended a disappointing season with a 28-9 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. While Rex Ryan is undoubtedly upset with the way his team performed this year, he has to be relieved that he no longer has to deal with arguably the ugliest quarterback situation in the NFL.

When the Jets acquired Tim Tebow, Ryan warned opponents that they had better be prepared to face both Tebow and Mark Sanchez. It didn’t exactly work out that way, and Ryan all but admitted on Sunday that he had no confidence in Tebow.

“No, I made the decision. It was my decision to stay with Sanchez,” Ryan said when asked if he considered starting Tebow against Buffalo. “I was the only one who made that decision. It’s on me, and obviously it didn’t work out the way I wanted it to.

“If I thought Tebow would have helped us win the game playing quarterback or defensive tackle. I would have played him.”

Simply put, he didn’t think Tebow would have improved New York’s chances. And aside from a few Wildcat snaps here and there throughout the first 15 games of the season, he clearly didn’t think he could have helped the Jets at any point. With the way things had gone all season, he probably didn’t think Sanchez could help the team, either. If he did, he wouldn’t be so adamant about changes being made in the upcoming offseason.

After their game against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, one of the most hectic and disappointing seasons in recent New York Jets history will finally come to a close. The team is expected to have a new look next season, with Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow both likely heading elsewhere. Some have even speculated that Rex Ryan won’t be far behind, but it seems unlikely that Jets owner Woody Johnson would fire him.

Johnson may not fire his head coach, but that doesn’t mean he’ll want to stay. According to the NY Daily News, Ryan feels that the team would be better off firing him if significant changes and improvements aren’t made an offense.

The Daily News has learned that Ryan, the swashbuckling point man who dominated the headlines for the past four seasons, has intimated to “anyone who will listen” that he would be better off getting fired if Johnson isn’t willing to rectify player personnel and coaching issues on offense, according to sources.

New York’s passing attack currently ranks 30th in the NFL. The Jets have scored only 18.1 points per game, which puts them at 28th overall. The fact that they were even still alive in the AFC playoff race before last weekend’s loss to the San Diego Chargers is amazing.

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What better way for the New York Jets to end their season than to start the quarterback who was once the starter, then got benched, then started again, then got benched again and is now preparing to be under center to close out the year. Greg McElroy is still suffering from concussion-like symptoms, which means Mark Sanchez is starting against the Buffalo Bills this weekend.

You didn’t think Tim Tebow would actually get an opportunity, did you?

“You’re not going to believe this one,” Ryan told reporters Thursday morning, via Manish Mehta of the NY Daily News. “I was stunned by it. Mark has had success earlier in the season against Buffalo. He’s very familiar with them. That’s the reason I’m going with Mark. I had the conversation with both Mark and Tim…. about what I was going to do. Obviously, Tim’s not happy with that. That’s what you expect.”

The announcement is the perfect ending to arguably the most hectic season in Jets history. In the offseason, most experts predicted Tebow would earn the starting job at some point during the season when Sanchez inevitably struggled. Sanchez certainly struggled, but Tebow was never given a chance. In fact, there were even reports that he asked to be removed from situational duty if he wasn’t going to be given an opportunity to start.

“Obviously, (Tebow would) like a shot at it,” Ryan explained. ”When you look at it with the situation the way it is, it’s a short window to get the preparation time in. I just think it’s best for a our football team. That doesn’t mean that Tim won’t play in this game, but I’m just more comfortable starting Mark.”

If Tim plays in this game, we’d be surprised. Actually, the Jets could run Fireman Ed out onto the field and it wouldn’t shock us with the way this season has gone.

Photo credit: Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

Lost in all the anonymous bashing and intense criticism of the New York Jets from the fans and media has been one intriguing question: What do the Jets coaches think of Tim Tebow. If Rex Ryan and company could turn back the clock and prevent the Tebow trade from happening, would they?

We know Mark Sanchez would, and no one can blame him for that. But we also know Ryan was openly excited about the possibilities Tebow would bring to the Jets offense before the season, warning opposing teams to be prepared to deal with both Sanchez and New York’s newest weapon. Blame it on broken ribs if you wish, but Tebow has accounted for exactly 126 yards of total offense and no touchdowns after appearing in 10 games this season.

As Gary Myers of the NY Daily News pointed out, it would be naive to think it is a coincidence that Ryan chose to replace a struggling Sanchez against the Cardinals on a day in which Greg McElroy happened to be the team’s primary backup quarterback. Sanchez was particularly awful and had thrown three interceptions in the first half alone, but he has had plenty of horrible halves and stretches of play this season that would have warranted being replaced. Yet, Ryan never pulled the trigger when Tebow was the No. 2 quarterback on the depth chart.

“I don’t want to get into the what-ifs and all that kind of stuff,” Rex said when asked if Tebow would have replaced Sanchez against Arizona like McElroy did. “The fact is Greg was the guy that was active.”

After repeatedly backing Sanchez throughout the years, it took only one 7-6 victory for Ryan to become noncommittal about who his starting quarterback will be next weekend. Sanchez had posted QB ratings lower than 70.0 on six different occasions prior to last Sunday, but none of those games inspired the Jets to bench him in favor of Tebow. Perhaps New York’s coaching staff feels the same way about Tebow as his current and former teammates do.

Photo credit: Ed Mulholland-US PRESSWIRE

Rex Ryan indicated after the New York Jets’ 7-6 win over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday that he may stick with Greg McElroy as the team’s starting quarterback.

McElroy replaced Sanchez in the third quarter of the game and threw a touchdown pass on his first drive. That was all the Jets needed to win.

Addressing the media in his postgame news conference, Ryan made it seem like he may be sticking with McElroy as his quarterback.

“Right now I feel comfortable with Greg,” Ryan said, per Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News.

Ryan did not commit to Sanchez as his starter for Week 14, saying “I’ll let you guys know.”

Ryan also did not say whether he felt Sanchez gives the team its best chance of winning.

McElroy says he has no expectations for next week, but it seems like Ryan will give him a shot. And why wouldn’t Ryan? The Jets were 4-7 with Sanchez starting, and they won the first game McElroy played. Sanchez has committed 18 turnovers in 12 games and has thrown for just 12 touchdown passes. It’s about time the Jets give another quarterback a look. The only surprise is the one they’ve turned to is McElroy, and not Tim Tebow.

Rex Ryan is no stranger to his New York Jets being embarrassed at home by the New England Patriots. Last season, the Patriots traveled to New York and beat the Jets by a score of 37-16. Thursday’s loss was even uglier, as New England dominated in all phases of the game en route to a 49-19 Thanksgiving Day loss on national television.

If you thought the Jets had questions heading into Thursday night, look at them now. The loss to the Patriots dropped their record to 4-7 on the season and virtually erased any hope Gang Green had of making the playoffs. Jets fans chanted loudly for Tim Tebow at various points throughout the night. Mark Sanchez turned the ball over twice, but he was hardly the only issue as New York’s defense was a sieve and its special teams unit looked lost.

Now, Ryan has to be left wondering if he will keep his job at the end of the season. Rex is known as a defensive mastermind, yet the Jets’ defense has gotten progressively worse since it was a dominant force in 2009 and 2010. After being blown out by the Patriots, the Jets are now allowing a whopping 26.4 points per game on the season. When you couple that with an offense that has largely been anemic, you have a recipe for a lot of losses — seven of them in 11 games to be exact.

The fans and the media seem to dwell on the Sanchez vs. Tim Tebow debate, but that is hardly New York’s only issue. Sanchez may have committed two costly turnovers on Thursday night, but Tebow would not have saved the Jets given the way they played. A select number of anonymous players have once again made sure the Jets have locker room issues this year, and they are all but certain to miss the playoffs for a second straight season. Ryan led his team to back-to-back playoff appearances in his first two seasons in New York, but Jets fans have already forgotten about that. Perhaps its time for the team to move on from not only its quarterback but also its head coach.