Rex Ryan and the New York Jets: How They Resurrected Their 2011 Season

You would be hard pressed to find another example of it in the pages of New York Jets history. A team with more self-confidence and swagger than perhaps any team in professional football regardless of the state of their on-field performances, the Jets suddenly stood face to face with their watershed moment. Never before was there such an obvious pink elephant (dressed in a green and white jersey) standing in the locker room of MetLife Stadium.

Just a few short weeks ago, following the loss that should never have been in Denver, Rex Ryan and his New York Jets were at the end of their rope. Everything they had worked o to build their reputation on was in peril. All of their bluster, all of the sound bites professing their inevitable ascension to the Lombardi throne, were about to blow up in their own collective faces.

The vaunted Jets defense had just surrendered a game-losing drive to Tim Tebow that has for all intents and purposes facilitated a change of perception within the National Football League of what a winning quarterback looks like. If you go back and take a second look at the post-game interview given by Rex Ryan after the loss, you would swear that smoke seeped from his ears as he was forced to admit to this monster created at the expense of his cherished defense.

It truly pained me, as it most likely saddened the entire Jets fan base, to see the man who has returned our once hopeless franchise to prominence, humbled as brutally as he was on November 17, 2011. What we could not have imagined though, was the significance that single moment played in the resurrection of the Jets 2011 campaign.

The ego of Jets and their brash, arrogant leader were humbled. They were humbled in every true definition of the term. They were humbled in the way Rocky Balboa was by Clubber Lang in third film in the Rocky saga, brought back to earth the way that the 2007 New England Patriots were in Super Bowl XLII. Reality set in that no one is unbeatable simply because people believe they are.

I have no doubt that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of analysts and other opinion providers who have a different perspective on the Jets' turnaround this season, but none would be able to convince me that the new found humility that emits from this Jets squad doesn’t have at least a little something to do with it.

This modesty will not slap you in the face. The humility that the Jets have developed over the last month will not make the front page of the New York Times and will not be easily recognizable in every word uttered from the mouth of Rex Ryan, but it is visible in the moves they have made since that fateful night in Denver.

The increased role for offensive consultant Tom Moore is a clear confession that the Jets treasured ground and pound system has not succeeded the way they anticipated this season. No company CEO brings in an outside consultant if they think their business model is as good as it ever could be.

To admit one’s need for help is a measure of humility. It was clear three weeks ago that the Jets' offense needed help and needed it badly. Suddenly, the Jets' offense is clicking on acceptable levels, scoring 62 points on offense and incorporating a invigorated scheme involving the spread option and wildcat offense.

The Jets' defense also seems to have a new found character as of late, although it may have taken a bit longer than the rest of Gang Green. Against the Washington Redskins last week, running back Roy Helu absolutely gashed the Jets' defense for most of his 100 yard, one touchdown rushing performance in the first quarter.

As you watched the defense take the field, they walked with that swagger we have all come to expect. They once again thought that by just appearing, victory was inevitable. After fifteen minutes of being challenged to the sort of fistfight they built their reputation on, the sleeping monster finally awoke. The Redskins and Helu were unable to muster any semblance of offense once the Jets began to dig deep in their trenches. They too were reminded that no team, no squad, is invincible.

Every champion must be reminded from time to time of why they wanted to be a champion in the first place. The Jets earned their right to confidence by appearing in the last two AFC Championships, an opportunity 14 other AFC teams would give anything for every year. Somewhere along the line the Jets got the wild idea that their mere attendance for games insured victory. That is obviously no longer the case and now, the Jets know this as well. Championship football teams constantly stay hungry to be the best. Now, it appears, the New York Jets have found their hunger again.