Rex knew all year that Idzik would fire him - New York Post

With each passing day, the sights and sounds surrounding Rex Ryan lead you to believe he knows his fate — even if nothing is official yet.

For a coach who brought so much personality and identity to Woody Johnson’s franchise when he was hired, and had astonishing early success with the two AFC Championship Game appearances his first two years, this has become sad to watch.

But Ryan’s fate with his team 2-9 and eliminated from the playoffs before Thanksgiving is something he had an idea was coming before the first game was played this season.

Sources told The Post that, during the offseason, Ryan bumped into scouts and other coaches from around the league who told him Jets general manager John Idzik had been telling people his plan all along was to replace Ryan after the season and bring in his own head coach.
“Did he think that wasn’t going to get back to me?” an angered Ryan told one confidant.

All year, Ryan has been exasperated by the deficiency of talent Idzik has given him — particularly at cornerback, which is the most crucial position on his defenses.
Through it all, he has remained a company man and kept those frustrations to himself, instead actually praising some of the ill-fated moves Idzik has made.
Idzik staying more than $20 million under the salary cap this year was a clear message to Ryan there was not a strong commitment to win during a year in which Ryan knew he had to win to keep his job.  A 2-year-old can put the pieces to that puzzle together.

Twice in the last two months I have been told by AFC coaches who compete against Ryan they will be happy if the Jets fire him.
Those coaches were not speaking like that out of disrespect. To the contrary: They said those things out of respect for Ryan because they would rather not have to coach against his teams.

“You don’t think [Patriots** head coach] Bill will be glad to see Rex out of the division?” one of the coaches said. “I guarantee you he’d be happy to see Rex out of the AFC East. I know I’d rather not face him — and I like Rex.”

Ryan, who will be the first person to tell you he is flawed, is a very good coach who will be pursued, at the very least, as a defensive coordinator the minute he becomes available.  But two sources told The Post in recent days Ryan has been hinting to people with whom he is close he is prepared to go directly to TV if (when?) he’s fired by the Jets.  Though he certainly would figure to be a natural at it because of his loquacious nature, Ryan to TV would be a surprising development considering how much coaching is in his blood.

But maybe all this losing has tired him out. As the losses have mounted, Ryan has appeared to lose some of his fight — at least publicly.
And, if you read the tea leaves, it appears he is about to lose his fight to remain the Jets head coach for a seventh season with the Jets failing to make the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season — their longest drought since the six-year run from 1992-97.

Last week, Ryan seemed to summon up what might end up being his last gasp of bravado when he said the team he was bringing to Detroit to play the Bills Monday night was “a zillion times” better than the one that had suffered a 43-23 home loss to Buffalo a month earlier.
His players responded by letting him down in spectacular fashion in a 38-3 loss. They embarrassed him. And now, with this latest loss looking like it has gassed him, Ryan sounds like a coach who’s resigned to his fate.

His words in the postgame press conference indicated as much:

“One thing I know, unless it changes drastically, I will be the head coach here for the next five weeks,” Ryan said Monday night.
“We’re running out of tomorrows,” Ryan said Tuesday. “I recognize it and that’s a challenge that’s in front of me. We’ve got to get a lot better in a hurry.”

Sadly, it’s too late.