Jets Must Rebound for Rex Ryan and John Idzik to Keep Their Jobs

New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan and general manager John Idzik are reaching a point of no return. At this point, it doesn't matter who deserves blame for the Jets' struggles, or how much blame they deserve. The team must turn things around quickly if those two are going to keep their jobs.

Many of Idzik's personnel moves have not panned out, and Ryan is on pace for his fourth straight season at or below .500.

The Jets are still alive in the race for the AFC East (which could be determined by who is left standing as much as it is by who rises to the occasion), but the Jets are already staring down the barrel ofa 1-3 start to the season. With contests against the San Diego Chargers, Denver Broncos and New England Patriots in the next three games, things may get worse before they get better. The Jets have a bye in Week 11, but at this rate, changes could be coming before that time. 

For Rex, this season has always been win-or-go-home, but the Jets' chances of getting to the actual win-or-go-home stage of the playoffs have taken a dramatic dip thanks to the team's recent three-game skid.

An 8-8 finish is probably the bare minimum for Ryan to keep his job. The Jets cannot continue to employ Ryan simply by giving him the benefit of the doubt that he's been dealt a lackluster roster. At some point, the housecleaning must begin.

But where does the GM fall in that housecleaning? Will he be one of the people enacting it, or will he be a victim of it? In his second year, Idzik may have a little more leeway and room for error; the roster was left in shambles by the previous regime of Mike Tannenbaum.

That being said, the Jets have not added many tangible components with two offseasons and 19 draft picks to rebuild the team. In fact, only five of Idzik's draft picks are every-game starters: cornerback Dee Milliner, defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson, quarterback Geno Smith, guard Brian Winters and safety Calvin Pryor.

It's still early, and with 12 games to go, Idzik's draft classes could still turn it around, but at this point, only three of the Jets' 12 draft picks from 2014 are making meaningful contributions to the team.

The Jets' lack of talent at wide receiver is the most prevalent on the roster and could be partly to blame for the struggles of the quarterback position. The only talented and productive pass-catchers added by this regime are tight end Jace Amaro (who has yet to make a dramatic impact on the offense) and wide receiver Eric Decker (who has been injured).

Other than those two, the pieces on offense were mostly added by the previous regime—which was also criticized for its inability to scout and develop talent at receiver.

Signing Decker was a good start, but it was never going to be enough on its own. Did the Jets and Idzik truly believe that a band of three mid-rounders in Jalen Saunders, Quincy Enunwa and Shaquelle Evans were going to quell the flaming-hot mess at the skill positions?

Offense stats	Pts/gm.	Yds/gm.	3rd %	RZ %
Jets	19.8	366	44.07	35.71
2014 rank	26	11	13	29

Geno Smith is struggling among the worst quarterbacks in the league right now, but he's certainly not getting enough help from the talent around him to offer a 100-percent fair assessment of his own ability.

The same holds true at cornerback, where the Jets refused to target the second-tier free agents that could have provided the team the depth it so sorely lacks at the moment. The Jets' lack of moves put a lot of pressure on Milliner to take a big step forward—or maybe even a leap or two—following a rookie season in which he struggled for 14 games and shone for two.

The Jets have one of the most supremely talented defensive lines in football, as evidenced by their allowing a league-best 253 rushing yards and a league-high 14 sacks, but they are stuck hoping players like Darrin Walls, Phillip Adams, Kyle Wilson and converted safety Antonio Allen to give the Jets the coverage they need on the back end opposite Milliner. 

The results have been about as you would expect: When the defensive front isn't getting pressure, the secondary can't cover long enough to prevent plays through the air.

The Jets need to show some kind of improvement this year for the head coach to keep his job. Unfortunately, he has been sidled with a roster that lacks playmakers at multiple positions. The Jets aren't going to get more talented between now and the end of the season, so it's going to be up to Ryan and the coaching staff to maximize the talent they have on the roster.

Unless otherwise noted, all quotes obtained via team news release and all stats obtained via Pro-Football-Reference.com.

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