Jets owner Woody Johnson had a chance to quiet any talk of his general manager and head coach being on the hot seat yesterday, but passed.
There has been speculation the jobs of general manager Mike Tannenbaum and coach Rex Ryan could be on the line this season. Johnson, speaking at practice, declined to comment on the job status of either man, but sounded more enthusiastic about the job Ryan has done.
“We’re not going to comment on status. I’ve already said that,” Johnson said, speaking specifically about Ryan. “But in terms of my confidence in him, I’m very confident in Rex Ryan. You just have to look at the body of work. It’s unparalleled in our history, what he’s done.”
Asked specifically about Tannenbaum, he said: “First and foremost, I never comment on coaches or players or the status of their contracts or anything like that during the season. I’ve made a practice of [not] doing that. But as I said, I’m confident. I’m very optimistic and confident in this organization and this group of young players and experienced players to get the job done.”
Ryan and Tannenbaum have experienced a great deal of success in their first three years together. They have won a combined 32 games over that time, including two trips to the AFC Championship. Tannenbaum has been the team’s GM since 2006, with three trips to the playoffs in that time and just one losing season.
However, critics have pointed to a lack of offensive weapons on this year’s team as a failure of Tannenbaum’s. The Jets stuck with Wayne Hunter at right tackle until late August, when they decided to bench him. They are counting on a rookie to be the No. 2 wide receiver and lack depth at several key positions.
Then, there is the trade for quarterback Tim Tebow, which many people believe will be a failure. But Johnson said yesterday he believes this team has enough support for quarterback Mark Sanchez on offense to be a playoff team.
“I definitely think so,” Johnson said. “Take a look at our offensive line — in terms of No. 1 picks and Pro Bowl stats, you’ve got three Pro Bowlers on the line. Nobody else has that. I think you’ve got a string of running backs that all do something a little bit different, starting with Shonn [Greene]. You’ve got receivers that are as gifted as anybody. … I think you have a lot of very good weapons, starting with the quarterback.”
Last season was a failure for the Jets, who finished 8-8 and missed the playoffs for the first time under Ryan. Johnson declined to echo Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie, who said another 8-8 finish by his team would be unacceptable.
“Some owners have made those comments. I just prefer to look at it optimistically, like I said, and say, that when we go into the season, we don’t expect to go into a game and not win that game,” Johnson said. “And we game plan and we practice and we psychologically prepare ourselves to win. We’re prepared to win.”
Johnson made headlines last week when he said in a TV interview, “you can never have enough Tebow.” He laughed off the comment.
“It was kind of, I thought, a fairly humorous quote, myself,” Johnson said. “But we’ve got 53 guys on the varsity here. Everybody’s important, including Tebow. We’re glad to have him. But we’re glad to have the other 52 as well, including Sanchez and the rest of them. Our job is to team-build. I didn’t mean that to be anything but a kind of a humorous remark.”
brian.costello@btc365-futebol.com