Who Is at Fault for the New York Jets' Disappointing 2014 Season?

Sporting a disastrous 1-5 record, the New York Jets have entered the blame-passing process of a failing organization. 

The Jets are not just a bad team—they are on a downward trend that suggests they may have taken the wrong path in their decision-making to get to this point. Now, they are not just losing games: New York was routed 31-0 by the San Diego Chargers in Week 5 and lost to the Denver Broncos in Week 6, 31-17, in a game that wasn't as close as the final score suggests.

By Thursday evening, there is a good chance the Jets will have lost their sixth straight game since beating the Oakland Raiders in the season opener, all but eliminating any chances of reaching the playoffs. If there is one thing owners hate, it is the lack of hope that things are turning for the better, or in other words, something they can sell to potential season ticket holders. 

Unless the Jets can spark a miracle turnaround, changes as to who makes major decisions within the organization are inevitable, whether it be head coach Rex Ryan or general manager John Idzik.

According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, it is not so cut and dry as to the job status of head coach Rex Ryan. A 1-5 record would put just about any coach on the hot seat, but to have a general manager's job in doubt adds a new layer of intrigue for the decisions owner Woody Johnson will have to make this offseason. 

The first question owner Johnson must answer is where the root problems of the team are coming from: is the coaching not getting enough out of the players on the roster, or do the Jets simply not have the right players?

The Case against Rex Ryan

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Unlike Idzik, Ryan is a known commodity in his sixth season on the job. His strengths and weaknesses are well documented—Johnson knew exactly what he was getting when he gave Rex a (short) contract extension at the end of the last offseason: While not an offensive genius by any stretch, Ryan's prowess as a defensive mastermind is matched by few coaches, if any. 

What are just as vital to Ryan's success as innovative defensive schemes are his motivational tactics. Ryan's teams may never be the most talented, but he always made a living on getting the most out of his squad, even one without elite talent.  He was treated like a king last year after squeaking out eight wins during a rebuilding season.

This year's team, however, is starting to show signs of a coach whose voice no longer carries the same weight as it once did. Linebacker Demario Davis openly questioned the Jets' practice habits after getting shut out by the San Diego Chargers. This comes a day after starting quarterback Geno Smith missed a team meeting. 

Speaking of Smith, the embattled young signal-caller is a yet another example of how Ryan has been unable to properly develop a quarterback. If Smith never pans out—as his current career trajectory indicates—how many more young quarterbacks are the Jets going to sacrifice to Ryan's coaching?

Ryan's presence in the Jets organization has hardly been faint, but it appears to be fading faster than it is gaining momentum. Six years on the job, Ryan is not going to develop much further as a head coach—if they are not satisfied with the type of coach he is now, there is no sense is waiting to go in a new direction. 

The Case against John Idzik

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The Jets know exactly what they are getting from Rex Ryan. Idzik, on the other hand, is much more of a wild card.

A member of the Seattle Seahawks' front office before taking over the Jets, Idzik was hardly on the radar for other teams in search of a general manager when he was hired in 2013. A cap specialist for most of his career, this is Idzik's first shot at trying to balance the scouting and cap-management side of things, with somewhat disastrous results to show for it. 

Sure, the Jets have nearly $20 million in cap space to play with next offseason, but Idzik's refusal to bend to the market prices of free agents has sunk the entire 2014 season. Idzik has done a tremendous job getting the Jets back into a healthy fiscal situation, but at a steep cost on the scoreboard. 

The Jets have $20 million in cap space and are set to start journeyman practice squad castoffs Greg Salas and Phillip Adams against the New England Patriots on Thursday. His biggest acquisition, receiver Eric Decker, has been in and out of the lineup with injuries. In truth, the only new addition giving the Jets good value on their dollar is right tackle Breno Giacomini. 

Woody Johnson hired Idzik because he was looking for a more fiscally responsible general manager that would keep the team in contention over the long term, but Idzik has taken that approach to an unnecessary extreme. 

Idzik's allergic reaction to action in free agency is not the only aspect of his job that has sunk the Jets. His biggest whiffs came on draft day, even after adding draft picks from the Darrelle Revis trade. In two seasons' worth of high-volume drafts—19 picks to be exact—Idzik has come away with just two or three players who have had a positive impact on the team. 

Round	Player	Position	Status
1	Calvin Pryor	S	Starter
2	Jace Amaro	TE	Starter
3	Dexter McDougle	CB	IR
4	Jalen Saunders	WR	Released
4	Shaq Evans	WR	IR
4	Dakota Dozier	OG	Third-string/Inactive
5	Jeremiah George	LB	Claimed by Jaguars
6	Quincy Enunwa	WR	Practice Squad
6	Brandon Dixon	CB	Claimed by Buccaneers
6	IK Enemkpali	OLB	Third String
6	Tajh Boyd	QB	Playing in FXFL
7	Trevor Reilly	OLB	Second String

Building around the draft is what every team would love to do in theory. After all, drafted players are always cheaper, have a lot more gas in the tank and have room to develop into quality starters. 

However, when a contending team whiffs on draft picks, they at least try to fill some of the holes in free agency, even if that approach is a bit more expensive. Otherwise, teams would never have a chance to be even competitive on the field if draft picks do not develop according to plan.

No matter what Ryan says publicly about his boss' work on draft day, you'd have think Ryan knows Idzik has put his team in an impossible situation with poor draft classes exacerbated by a lack of activity in the free-agent market.

Head coaches are almost always the first to take the bullet, especially in a situation where a general manager was brought on so recently. Changing a coaching staff is simply an easier process than cleaning out the entire front office. 

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However, in this case, it is difficult to justify robbing Ryan of his position while allowing Idzik to escape unscathed. The head coach has made his mistakes this season, but no coach can succeed with the roster Ryan currently has at his disposal. The Jets would be firing Ryan because of his job title, not because of his performance. 

Deep down, the Jets know Ryan is a good coach—otherwise, they would have had no problem letting him go after three-consecutive non-winning seasons. Letting go of Ryan may be the most orderly way of going about cleaning up this mess, but is it worth letting a quality coach with a proven track record walk out the front door for the sake of doing what they are "supposed" to do?

Whenever a coach is able to get a job soon after getting fired, it can be read that the coach was nothing more than a scapegoat for his previous team's problems. Johnson has stuck with Ryan through tough times before, seeing where the problems in the organization really lied. There is no reason to think that he cannot do it again.

The good news for both of these men is that neither of them are reliant on meeting a hard quota of wins to remain employed into next season, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports. 

As long as the Jets are competitive the rest of the way and show enough to suggest that they are, in fact, on the right track, may just be enough to keep the Ryan-Idzik tandem intact for one more offseason. However, Johnson is running out of justifications to keep them in the building after this season as the losses continue to pile up. 

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