No Matter What Rex Ryan Says, These Are The Same Old Jets.

(Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)

Look at the photo I have chosen of Mark Sanchez. Just look at it.

Look familiar?

Richard Todd. Ken O'Brien. Glenn Foley. Neil O'Donnell. Vinny Testaverde. Chad Pennington.

What these quarterbacks all share in common is the look of disgust.

Walt Michaels. Rich Kotite. Bruce Coslett. Pete Carroll. Herman Edwards. Eric Mangini, and now Rex Ryan.

What do these men all have in common?

Nothing but declarations of a better tomorrow, when you know, I know, and even your pets know; that bright shiny days do not exist in New York Jet land.

Once the Brett Favre/Eric Mangini era fell to pieces, only to be picked up by Ryan with his gregarious personality and jovial smile, it appeared that things were going to change. 

Ryan promised a new brand of football.

A physically domineering team that would take nothing for granted and do everything in its power to win a Super Bowl. Hell, Ryan even promised that he would one day shake the hand of Barrack Obama after the Jets won a Super Bowl!

Ryan's bravado and the team's cockiness claiming they would drag the Patriots through the dirt; after the team demolished the Texans in Week One; made people believers.

The coach made personal phone calls to all Jets season ticket holders asking them to come to the Patriots game in droves and drive them crazy. The fans bought into Ryan's talk, coming to the game like a pack of maddened wolves.

The players seemed to buy into Ryan's talk as they played a style of aggressive play that earned the title "Badfellas" from this very writer. They played with a "badass" mentality from the get-go.

But It's amazing how so much can change in a mere three weeks.

Losing to a team like the New Orleans Saints is one thing; the Saints are a great football team that may not lose more than a game this season. However, gift wrapping two games to the Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills is another thing.

Those two losses are so gut-wrenching, so inexplicable, that it will leave fans with only one conclusion: these 2009 New York Jets, Rex Ryan's Inglorious Bastards of the Gridiron, are nothing more than the same old Jets of yesteryear. 

To hold a 13-3 lead against a Bills team that can't get out of its own way; a Bills team that loses its promising young star quarterback, Trent Edwards, for a third stringer, Ryan Fitzpatrick; and somehow, someway the Jets still manage to find a way to lose a ball game.

First, Mark Sanchez is clearly not used to the strong winds of Giants Stadium. He was picked off five times, and a lot of his passes were badly under-thrown, or just taken away by the wind.

He has got to develop better arm strength if he has any intention of building a respectable career in New York. In order to throw in this park, a quarterback has to be able to cut the ball through the winds. Eli Manning learned that the hard way last year- when he was plain awful against the Eagles in the playoffs- and that's a quarterback who has a Super Bowl trophy on his resume.

That being said, Sanchez has a lot to learn, and one thing he going to need to learn is that being a starting quarterback in the NFL is a privilege.

He's 22-years-old and it may be time to force the kid to grow up a little bit and sit him down for a game. Let him get the cobwebs out of his mind and refocus. He needs to know that if you don't take care of the football, you are not going to play in this league.

Sanchez has 10 interceptions and six fumbles this year; he clearly doesn't get it right now, and it doesn't help matters that he is playing on a team that expects to be a playoff team in 2009.

That is a lot of pressure on his shoulders; therefore, he needs to take a time out.

This is not to say that Kellen Clemens or Eric Ainge would fair any better. In fact, they might even be worse, but the Jets need to do something to get their young quarterback back on track mentally.

Hence the Jets biggest problem: they don't have an identity.

The Jets want to believe they are a playoff team in 2009, and that they can win the way the Ravens and Falcons

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