We know what Rex Ryan says. Most weeks he does his best to tell you that despite what you just saw his team is the best in the league and everyone should be afraid to play them. He's got a bit of his dad in him, but he's more polished. But he's quite different from his dad too because his dad was a miserable son of a bitch where as Rex is a jolly fat man that brightens up any room that he walks into.

We know what Rex eats. Well, we don't really know what he eats, but believe me he eats. We do know he's personally taken Mark Sanchez under his wing getting him ready for the big 4th of July Nathans Coney Island Hot Dog Eating Contest against Takeru Kobayashi and Joey Chestnut. Remember in the beginning of the season when the Jets did that PR thing where they were donating money to charity for each pound he lost. What happened there? I was at the Jaguars game in week 10 and I know they were still running the promo for it at the stadium on the big screen. It looks to me like he's actually gained a few pounds from week one? Does the charity have to pay the Jets?

We know what he does. Rex walks around the side line like Ralph Kramden coaching the defense. Both Rex and his brother Rob (defensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns) certainly learned a thing or two from his dad about defense. Rex's defense's like his dads are all about pressure; hit the QB on every play - whether he has the ball or not. If you can't sack the QB, make the ball come out early, screw up the timing and the rhythm.

The Jets finished smack in the middle of the pack with 32 sacks, so it's not even like they get to the QB all that much. The Jets don't really have an exceptional edge pass rusher. Calvin Pace was supposed to be that guy, he's ok but he's not one of the league's best. Pace has eight sacks on the year, but there of those came in the blowout against the Oakland Raiders 3 where the Jets were up like 30-0 when the coin landed and they could just pin their ears back and rush the passer all day. When the Jets do get to the QB it's because they send seven guys on third and long. If that doesn't work, the next third and long they send eight. They just keep sending guys until someone gets there.

While I'm not questioning Rex's defense (they are fist in the league in yards given up per game at 252.3 and points allowed per game at 14.8) it's hard to call yourself "the best defense in the league" when you let the Dolphins, Jaguars and Falcons all drive the filed in the final two minutes of the game for the winning scores. The Dolphins could have gone another 100 yards, the Jaguars scored with such ease Maurice Jones-Drew had to kneel down on the one yard line because he was going to score too quickly, and I think I just saw Tony Gonzales walk past my window and he's still all alone.... How do you not have a guy on Tony Gonzales on the last play of thegame? Two guys? Three? Why not put the human blanket Darrelle Revis on him?

Rex has instituted a color code system for his rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez so that he would know when to be more conservative and not take chances with the ball. I hope Sanchez isn't color blind. At the rate he throws passes to the other team you would think they would check.

Ryan got the color code idea from that Brazilian restaurant in NYC where you turn the card to green if you want more meat and leave it on red if you don't want another portion as they come by with the servings. Guess what color Rex usually has his on?

Given that he apparently knew he had such a good defense I find it interesting that Rex choose to go with a rookie QB with only 16 games of college experience. Not that I'm saying Kellen Clemens was the answer, but why not have signed someone like Jeff Garcia, a veteran that you know can protect the ball and just manage the game. Think about it, Sanchez was directly responsible for 5 losses with his turnovers this year. He's got 20 interceptions and 10 fumbles. That's 30 turnovers! They should call him "Apple!"

When I was doing some research for the piece I wrote about Brad Smith throwing the ball I came up with some interesting facts. Did you know that Brad Smith threw for over 8,000 yards in college and that's more yards than Sanchez has thrown with USA and the Jets combined!

Remember after Keyshawn Johnson's a rookie year with the Jets when he wrote "Just Give Me the Damn Ball?" Perhaps Smith should write one that says "Just Let Me Throw the Damn Ball."

So statistically Ryan has the best defense in the league, he's got one of the most well regarded special teams coaches in the game in Mike Westhoff who always seems to come up with a nice fake punt or out scheme the other coach and come up with a nice blocked punt, yet for some reason with Rex Ryan as the head coach kicker Jay Feely leads the kickoff team in tackles (is that the game plan, to take up all the other blockers to free up Feely to make the tackles?), they botched three field goals in the Falcons game, and they let Ted Ginn Jr. of the Miami Dolphins audition for the 100 meter dash US Olympic squad DURING THE GAME against them. I don't think the stop watch was working properly because apparently they asked him to do it again!

My point is that Rex Ryan is so consumed and concerned with his defense that he often appears to have no handle on the other phases of the game. If the Jets are going to do any damage in the playoffs this year (or even next), even if they just win the Wild Card game against the Bengals, Rex Ryan is going to have to finally realize that he is not only the defensive coordinator, but that he is the head coach. And that means more than getting to be first in line for lunch and dinner at the new Jets training complex in Florham Park, NJ.

It would seem to me that the 50-1 to win the Super Bowl Jets (although Rex seems to think they should be the favorite) actually have a legitimate chance to win the Wild Card game this Saturday against the Cincinnati Bengals. Forget the 37-0 win last week, there is a reason the Jets were 10 point favorites, this game is for real... and there is a reason the Bengals are 3 point favorites.

I know the Bengals swept their division this year but they certainly haven't looked good going down the stretch. The Bengals have the worst offensive of any of the playoff teams ranked 24th in the league and the have a ton of off the field adversity to deal with.

If you play good defense and don't turn the ball over anything can happen. With the offense the Jets showed so far this year I don't know about the Jets being able to beat anyone else in this tournament, but I do think they have a legitimate shot at winning this game.

Can you imagine Rex Ryan's press conference if they win? He will start calling Peyton Manning a sissy Mary, he'll make fun of Philip Rivers throwing motion, he's guarantee a win in the next game like Joe Namath, and he'll probably come up with some sort of Muhammad Ali rhyming thing....... - Mike Cardano

Mike is the founder of the Around the Horn Baseball Blog and the Extra Point Football Blog.

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