The New York Jets are a mess at 1-8. With the team on their bye, it would seem likely that owner Woody Johnson would want to make some major changes, namely firing coach Rex Ryan and general managers John Idzik. However, that may not happen just yet.
NFL Network's Ian Rapoport weighed in on the situation.
"I am told it is highly unlikely that any decision with coach Rex Ryan or general manager John Idzik will be made next week going into the bye, although it does seem to make sense the Jets would take stock of their organization," Rapoport said on "NFL Gameday First." "I am told it would take several embarrassing losses and embarrassing situations for the Jets ownership to pull the plug on Rex Ryan and general manager John Idzik before the end of the season.
"Obviously, they are being evaluated. Everyone is at risk, given the type of season they've had. But Woody Johnson's MO is to evaluate everything after the season. It would take a striking turn of events, in a bad way, for that to change."
Unfortunately, the Jets already have several embarrassing losses on their record this season. It is not entirely unlikely that a few more could follow. New York will play the red-hot Pittsburgh Steelers after their bye this week.
ESPN's Adam Caplan notes that Ryan's seat is hot but that Johnson is still a fan of the coach.
"Warm: Ryan is almost certain to post his fourth straight non-winning and non-playoff season, but you'd be hard pressed to blame him for most of the team's failures, which is why he's listed as warm," Caplan wrote. "While Ryan currently owns a lifetime record under .500 (43-46), he doesn't pick the players. NFL executives say GM John Idzik has made too many poor personnel decisions and should take the brunt of the blame for the poor results during his two seasons as the top football executive for the team. Team insiders continue to say owner Woody Johnson still adores Ryan, so the feeling is that Idzik could wind up taking the fall for the ongoing struggles of the team. But Johnson's insistence that Idzik had to keep Ryan as his head coach when Idzik took over as GM wasn't exactly the way things should have been done. The coach and GM clearly don't match up philosophically. The bottom line is Johnson still appears to be solidly in Ryan's corner, but the Jets don't seem to be close to improving this season, so Ryan can't be considered totally safe to return for his seventh season with the team."
HNGN's sports staff all agreed that Ryan will not be with the Jets next season. However, we all think he'll end up in different places, and possibly different positions.
