Rex Ryan Good For Dolphins/Jets
By Brian Miller
The last few years have been rather boring. The Miami Dolphins have been owned by the NY Jets who really couldn’t “own” anyone else. It was like the kid that picked on in school lashed out at the kid who was weaker beside him. That was the NY Jets. They couldn’t get past New England, and Miami basically, well, sucked. So they beat up on us. There was no rivalry, how could their be? The names playing QB in Miami were a list of washouts and castoffs, something the Jets have been used to for years outside of Chad Pennington when he was there. The rivalry was really nothing more than a Jets whipping post. With the addition of Rex Ryan, that rivalry appears to be well renewed. Of course the re-emergence of the Dolphins has a lot to do with that as well.
You could tell last season that something was up. The Dolphins rid themselves of worthless coaches and regimes that basically make Miami look like the Jets. Piss poor decisions that had make Miami the Detroit Lions of the AFC were gone and in their place stood from top to bottom, coaches, a GM, and new football Czar who knew nothing outside of winning. The attitude changed, and then Chad Pennington landed in Miami’s lap.
If the addition of Chad Pennington rekindled the Jets/Dolphins rivalry then the addition of HC Rex Ryan has solidified it. Sure there have been coaches before him, like say, Pete Carroll and his choke sign, but Carroll was nothing more than a NY appetizer to Jets fans. Ryan seems on the surface to be the real deal. At least his attitude is. This is not to say that I like Ryan but I find that his presence brings back that bitter bile taste that I used to get when I heard the J.E.T.S. name. I didn’t like it then, I don’t like it now, but deep down, I really love this kind of football.
So last year saw Pennington lose on opening day to his former team only to return to NY and knock them out of the playoffs. CP is injured now and by first impression of Chad Henne looks to be done as the starter in Miami. The reigns of the team passed on. Henne is in his first starting role in Miami which makes sense in this rivalry considering on the opposite side of the field is Mark Sanchez who despite an entire season of less experience has more starts than Henne. Both QB’s of the future. Both saddles with resurrecting their franchises. Both on opposing sides of a hated rivalry. Marino Vs. O’Brien, Marino Vs. Kelly, Henne Vs. Sanchez? While it’s the play of the QB’s that get the most attention, the rivalry starts with the franchises themselves.
The Rex Ryan era is a new one but he seems to fit so perfectly with the loud roar of New Yorkers while the laid back Tony Sparano seems fitting of the Miami sunshine lifestyle. Ryan has seen fit to run his mouth from the day he took over his job. In fact, his first presser was viewed as a backhanded swat to New England coach Bill Belichick. He got no response. Then realizing that in the NFL coaches don’t normally respond to another coaches drivel, Ryan began a back and forth verbal campaign with LB Channing Crowder.
After the Dolphins handed the Jets a loss in their first match, Ryan took to defending his choice of not using time outs on the Dolphins final winning drive by stating “I just honestly thought they wouldn’t score a touchdown”. He and his team who daily are emerging just as mouthy took to calling the Dolphins use of the WC a joke and QB Chad Henne a clown. Basically, showing once again that New York Jets football is all talk.
Entering this weeks contest, Ryan has gone all the way back to the day after loss to Miami to pull out a Ronnie Brown quote to use as revenge fodder: “Coming into the game we’re watching how they blitz and we were like, ‘OK we’ll just sit back and play football then, and let’s see who has the tougher 11 people on the field,’ ” Ronnie Brown said on Oct. 14. – Miami Herald.
So apparently the Jets are now all riled up once again. I picture them chanting in the locker-room , dancing in a circle, throwing Dolphins memorabilia into a flaming pot casting spells like some witch doctor orgy. While Rex Ryan stands guard egging them on. In Miami, it seems they are hitting the pads and hitting the beach. Nary a sound other than, a “we’ll see”. Regardless of whether the Dolphins knock the Jets down another peg or the Jets find a way to win this one at home, the Dolphins are looking to sweep the Jets on the season. Something that will sit in the stomach’s of Jets fans from now until the next meeting next year. See, in Miami a successful season under any HC other than Dave Wannstedt is going to the playoffs regardless of how many wins you have. For the Jets, success is spelled…”beating Miami”.
In this young re-rejuvinated rivalry that features two young HC’s and two young QB’s. A slew of young rising stars on defense and offense, the first win went to Miami. Regardless of how this weeks game plays out, whether it’s a Miami win or Jets win, it’s safe to say that the rivalry itself is the real winner. That makes the games more fun, more heated, more hated, and a lot more interesting. Round 1 went to Miami. Round two plays out on Sunday.