Mike Dussault

OK, I’m finally starting to get sick of Rex Ryan. At first he was like a breath of fresh air for a league that had grown stale with coaches afraid to say the wrong thing. That was last year. Now, it’s getting old fast. 

I have never seen a team annoint themselves Super Bowl champs by May like this Jets team has. I am somewhat used to it, we went through the same thing when they got Brett Favre. It doesn’t take much to get a New York team hype machine rolling.

Look I get confidence, I get believing in yourself, but at a certain point it’s time to shut up and get to work.

So let’s just take a moment to have a reality check for the Jets here.

• If the Colts had any balls at all the Jets would not have made the playoffs.
• Mark Sanchez threw 20 interceptions, and was nowhere near as good as Matt Ryan or Joe Flacco were in their rookie seasons. Maybe he’ll be better this year, or maybe he won’t have the running attack he did last year and he’ll be even more exposed.
• LaDainian Tomlinson hasn’t ran hard, stayed healthy and been feared since 2006.
• Jets fans seem to collectively forget Cromartie getting steamrolled by Shonn Greene in the playoffs. And that was the rule last year for him, not the exception.
• No one wanted Jason Taylor, not even the Dolphins. He was a non-factor in both games against the Patriots.
• The Jets cut two of their biggest leaders, Thomas Jones and Alan Faneca, while another Shaun Ellis might not even make it to September. Meanwhile everyone says lack of leadership is the biggest hurdle for the Patriots to overcome.
• Maybe Shonn Greene is the next great NFL runningback. But maybe he isn’t. And if he’s not, or gets hurt, the Jets won’t have the #1 rushing attack in the NFL next year.
• Can anyone tell me who’s playing Safety for the Jets in 2010? Because last time I checked Ed Reed was still in Baltimore.
• Santonio Holmes had a great catch in the Super Bowl, but can anyone tell me the last time a wideout other than Randy Moss switched teams and dominated?

OK, you get the point. I’m not saying the Jets won’t be a good competitive team. I’m not even saying they won’t win the AFCE, but for me all the offseason moves they’ve made depend completely and fully on Mark Sanchez’s progress which just happens to be closely reliant on a completely new backfield.

Rex Ryan has the Jets so high on themselves it’s going to be very, very interesting to see how they react when they lose a couple games. And with the Ravens and Patriots as the first two opponents on the schedule that could happen very, very quickly.