Showing His Worth

He may be the ring leader of the frat house atmosphere, but Rex Ryan has already shown he is worth his weight in gold.

Two weeks ago, the Jets were crucified for their 10-9 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. The national media reacted as if the Jets had lost by 30 to the St. Louis Rams, not lost by 1 to a Super Bowl favorite. The Jets commit ed 14 penalties, gained only 6 first downs and managed to lose the game by only 1 point.

While everyone began to abandon the bandwagon, Rex managed to rally his team back to prominence. Despite losing perennial Pro Bowl Nose Tackle Kris Jenkins for the season, being involved in a sexual harassment case, and having one of their biggest offensive weapons busted for DWI, Ryan has managed to lead his club to back to back wins against their two biggest rivals.

The Jets currently sit at 2-1 atop the AFC East. They have proven that they are currently the class of the division and they have a chance to pick up another division win this Sunday in Buffalo.

In the past two wins, Mark Sanchez has outplayed Tom Brady, LaDainian Tomlinson has seemingly gone back in time, Antonio Cromartie has shut down Randy Moss, and Jason Taylor has won over the hearts of Jets fans everywhere. All of these accomplishments have been done without the Jets best wide receiver, Santonio Holmes, and largely without their best defensive player, Darrelle Revis.

Ryan's "Us against the world" mentality has reached his players. The Jets have become one of the most hated teams in all of sports due to their bravado and cockiness. All in all, this is kind of team that Rex Ryan wanted to built. A smash mouth running game and overwhelming defense carried the Jets to within 30 minutes of the Super Bowl a year ago, and if Mark Sanchez continues to play at this pace then the Jets should take the next step this season.

The defense, currently rated number 7 in the NFL, will get better with the return of the team's best pass rusher, Calvin Pace, and the league's best shutdown corner, Darrelle Revis. Though Chad Henne was able to pass the ball seemingly at will, the defense was able to stop the Dolphins on the final drive, something they did not do a whole lot of last season.

Mark Sanchez has begun the transition from game manager to franchise quarterback in only his second season. Offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer has learned to let Sanchez throw the ball early and often and take advantage of the many playmakers on the offensive side of the ball. Dustin Keller has become Sanchez's go-to-guy, Braylon Edwards has made big plays in big moments the last two weeks, and Tomlinson has broken off runs of 20+ yards in each of the first 3 weeks. When Santonio Holmes becomes eligible to play, the offense will only become harder to stop.

During the Eric Mangini era, the Jets were under the Iron Curtain of silence and discipline. Since the first time he donned the title of head coach, Rex has turned the Jets into a band of degenerates in search of a title. There are plenty of naysayer and critiques on the outside but Rex has his team believing on the inside, and that is all that really matters.