If Jets Fire Rex Ryan, Team Will Miss Coach's Dominance over Tom Brady

Shouldering the burden of a 3-12 record, there is nothing Rex Ryan can do to stop his inevitable fate of becoming a former head coach.

It may very well be time for the New York Jets to part ways with their six-year head coach, but they will lose a lot more than a boisterous, often hilarious personality—they will be giving up on the man who has given New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady as much trouble over the years as anyone in the league.

Ryan has given plenty of quarterbacks trouble, but slowing down the likes of Brady on a biannual basis like Ryan has is a weapon the Jets had better be sure they can replace before they let Ryan out of their building.

Ryan's win-loss record against Brady is nothing to hang on the refrigerator—he is just 3-8 against the Patriots since taking the Jets job back in 2009. Still, Rex knows that Brady hardly looks forward to facing off against him twice a season.

Even in his wins, Brady has looked as mortal as ever against Ryan's defenses over the years, as stats provided by CBSSports.com's Jared Dubin indicate:

Year	Yards/Att	Completion %	TD	INT	Jets W/L
2009	4.60	48.94	0	1	W
2009	7.56	68.29	1	0	L
2010	6.89	55.56	2	2	W
2010	11.24	72.41	4	0	L
2010*	6.6	64.44	2	1	W
2011	9.73	72.73	1	1	L
2011	8.44	66.67	3	0	L
2012	6.17	61.90	2	0	L
2012	11.96	66.67	3	0	L
2013	4.74	48.72	1	0	L
2013	4.96	47.83	0	1	W
2014	7.05	54.05	3	0	L
2014	5.2	54.20	1	1	L

For most quarterbacks, these stats may be acceptable. For one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever take the field, Brady is simply not the same player when he squares off against Ryan.

The Jets may not have been able to outscore Brady, but they sure have done a excellent job making sure he is as miserable as possible during the game under Ryan:

The Patriots' personnel has changed greatly since Ryan became coach in 2009. He has game-planned to stop everyone from Randy Moss to Rob Gronkowski and everything in between.

It can be argued that Ryan's ability to stop the Patriots offense during the Moss era led to the Patriots releasing him in 2010, drifting toward the tight end-heavy attack they employ today.

Meanwhile, the Jets have seen a dramatic shift in defensive personnel, trading top cornerback talent for a more formidable defensive line without seeing a massive drop-off against Brady and the Patriots.

Rex is among the best defensive minds in the game, but what is it that gives Brady so much more trouble than anyone else? After all, Brady has made plenty of other quality defensive coaches look foolish.

The reason why Ryan's quality defenses have lasted so long has been their versatility, embracing just about every front, coverage and blitz fathomable. This is how Ryan has maintained quality defenses going back to his days as Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator through his time in New York, adapting to shits in play style on both sides of the ball.

Against Brady, Ryan knows that the key is making the Hall of Fame quarterback who has seen every coverage known to man take as long as possible to diagnose the play by constantly disguising and changing looks.

Blitzing Brady over and over is a surefire way to get beat, but carefully placed blitzes—like he called on Sunday—can spoil an outing for Brady in a hurry.

Brady knew he would be in for a long day as early as the first drive. On a 3rd-and-short, Ryan dialed up a perfectly executed blitz that fooled both Brady and the entire Patriots offensive line.

There are only three down linemen, but the Patriots have no idea which rushers are coming and dropping into coverage. Ryan is about to unleash a blitz that Brady is unable to identify:

Credit: NFL Game Rewind

The Jets wind up only rushing four rushers, but they get as much pressure as if they rushed eight, dropping defensive linemen into coverage while sending in linebacker David Harris to blitz.

The short routes the Patriots have been living on all afternoon are now cut off. Meanwhile, linebacker Calvin Pace is unaccounted for, getting a free run at Brady for the eventual sack. This play was doomed as soon as Brady took the snap:

Credit: NFL Game Rewind

The only way the Patriots were going to convert with this play was if Brady recognized the exact blitz and adjusted the protection pre-snap.

Given the sheer volume of plays in Ryan's arsenal, identifying one particular type of blitz out of so many is quite the task.

Rex is hardly the first coach to ever try to run a zone blitz against Brady, but this is just one of many examples where Brady is unable to identify the call and adjust the protection scheme accordingly. Ryan is making Brady miss calls and throws he would make in almost any other situation.

As much as he may loathe playing against his defenses, Brady respects Ryan and vice versa. There is no doubt that Ryan's presence on the sidelines—and in the press room—has reignited this rivalry to heights it has not reached since the Spygate episode in 2007.

In all likelihood, Sunday was the last time these two masters of their profession will face each other as division rivals. They may have hated playing against each other on game day, but seeing Brady truly tested to his max in almost every meeting was worth the price of admission.

The Jets may need to move in a new direction to restart their rebuild, but they will not find a man better-equipped to stop Brady in any coaching market.

They may be in the mood for change now, but having the antidote for Brady on the sideline is a luxury the Jets could be taking for granted.

Advanced statistics provided by Pro Football Focus (subscription required).

Follow @Ryan_Alfieri