Jets Pull out Inspired Upset over Dolphins in Likely Rex Ryan Finale

If this was indeed Rex Ryan's last afternoon strutting the sidelines for the New York Jets, it was just one Lamar Miller touchdown run away from a perfect ending on this era of coaching. 

It took 17 weeks, but the Jets finally put together a performance they could be proud of in all three phases of the game. Quarterback Geno Smith put on the best performance of his career, throwing for 358 yards and three touchdowns for a perfect 158.3 rating in his hometown. 

Meanwhile, Miami Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill was sacked seven times, completing just 23 of his 39 passing attempts. While the Jets certainly would like a redo on Lamar Miller's 97-yard touchdown scamper, their performance was effective enough, combined with Smith's strong outing, to secure the win. 

Ryan has made plenty of mistakes this season to land himself right in the firing line, but this finale was just another example of his innate ability to motivate a team, no matter the circumstances.

Just a few weeks removed from putting up nearly 300 yards rushing against these Dolphins, the Jets barely had anything to speak of in terms of rushing performance. They averaged just 3.1 yards on the ground—a number that includes a 23-yard end-around from Chris Owusu that went for a touchdown. 

Luckily for the Jets, this was just about the only week where they could have won with such a putrid day on the ground. 

Receiver Eric Decker saved his best game for last, racking up a career-high 221 yards—seven yards shy of the team record set by Don Maynard in 1968. Decker, who apparently hates all of his fantasy football owners, was just 38 yards away from the most miraculous 1,000-yard season in history. 

Decker may not be the true No. 1 he set out to prove he was, but he has given the Jets a good return on their dollar, even while battling through constant injury and a horrendous quarterback situation all season long. 

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The fact that Ryan's team played hard for him comes to no surprise, as it has put up tough fights against superior opponents on a weekly basis with no postseason to play for. However, the outstanding play of its young quarterback was certainly a surprise, especially against a quality defense without center Nick Mangold or receiver Percy Harvin to lean on. 

Smith may have given himself a bit of momentum headed into the offseason, but the Jets would be foolish to take this outing as a trend rather than an outlier performance. After all, it was just one year ago when Smith put up his best game as a Jet in the same stadium in a meaningless game. 

In fact, there is nothing of real value that can be derived from this game as ownership begins to make decisions that will impact the team for years to come. Ryan's squad may have put up an impressive fight in this final month, but decisions that change the organization from a fundamental level should not be based on a single game or even a single season.

Assuming owner Woody Johnson makes the expected move to clean house and move on from the Ryan-John Idzik experiment, Ryan's future as an NFL coach remains relatively promising. He told CBS that he would not accept a defensive coordinator position, making the rumored transition to television, reported by Richard Deitsch of SI.com (h/t ProFootballTalk), more likely by the hour:

Still, even on the heels of a  4-12 season, Ryan is still a viable head coaching candidate, especially for teams in need of a defensive facelift (Atlanta Falcons, anyone?).

If this was the end of the Ryan era in New York, he will leave behind a unique legacy of both failure and success. He was never able to maintain the success he obtained in his first two seasons in which he reached the conference championship game in consecutive seasons, but win or lose, the Jets were always an interesting team to follow through his interactions with fans and the media. 

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Ryan is not just a brilliant football mind and motivator—his personality gave a once-dormant franchise an injection of energy it had not seen in decades. 

The waiting game now begins as coaches and members of the front office learn their fates over the coming days, but the Jets coaches and players can at least take some solace in knowing that their pride will never come into question after these strong final few weeks of football.