When the rest of the National Football League is passing the ball at record numbers, why are the New York Jets reverting to a gadget-driven offense that's been phased out of the playbook by virtually everyone else?
When other football teams are relying on the development of a competent passing game, why are the New York Jets going to invest 20 plays, or a third of the time they have the football, in the questionable talents of an over-hyped second-stringer named Tim Tebow?
Most importantly, however, why is head coach Rex Ryan gambling his future on such as wild card as Tebow and the offensive skill set of a failed head coach named Tony Sparano?
Ryan, who has had the back of starter Mark Sanchez since the day the Jets moved up in the draft to get him, has now inexplicably turned his back on the man he thought would take him to the Promised Land.
Ryan has become more corporate, more part of management by stepping aside and putting his stamp of approval on the hiring of Sparano and the signing of the single biggest distraction by a player who can't play (Tim Tebow).
Why has Ryan's confidence in Sanchez's ability to lead the Jets gone astray?
Was it last year's season-ending collapse that culminated with getting wasted by the eventual Super Bowl champion New York Giants on Christmas Eve? Was it a season-ending losing streak that bounced the Jets from playoff contention and made room for pretenders like the Cincinnati Bengals and Denver Broncos?
Who will go first should the Jets flounder again in 2012?
Who will go first should the Jets flounder again in 2012?
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Rex Ryan
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Mark Sanchez
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Tim Tebow
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Mike Tannenbaum
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Tony Sparano
The New York Jets still remain a sub-.500 franchise that's never been to the playoffs three consecutive seasons in team history. A club that's 0-4 in AFC Conference play and looks no closer to getting to the Super Bowl since the day the Jets signed Rex Ryan as head coach more than three years ago.
All the promise of the Rex Ryan era has disintegrated and now the New York Jets are placing their hopes in a quarterback who can't throw the football.
While Mark Sanchez is to blame for some of the failure, getting sacked nearly 40 times in 2011 wasn't one of those reasons. And despite the 2011 meltdown, Sanchez has more regular-season victories as well as playoff wins in his first three seasons in New York than any Jet quarterback in team history.
More than Joe Namath. More than Richard Todd. More than Ken O'Brien, Boomer Esiason, Vinny Testaverde and Chad Pennington!
With a 26-20 regular-season record and a 30-22 performance overall, Sanchez has won more games over his first three seasons than a guy named Eli Manning, who happens to have two Super Bowl rings with his New York Giants.
Did the Giants throw Manning under a bus for not winning the Super Bowl right out of the gate?
One Foot Out the Door?â€"Despite taking the Jets to the playoffs twice, Rex Ryan could be out of a job by Thanksgiving if the New York Jets don't make the playoffs in 2012.
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How many three-year starters go to the conference championship in a rookie season?
How many win four of six road playoff games?
More importantly, why is all of this forgotten by Ryan, GM Mike Tannenbaum and principal owner Woody Johnson?
So here you have a guy as the starter who is averaging 10 wins a season, and you want to limit his play so the reality star second-stringer can make his way into game plan?
Just who does this make sense to?
While the Jets allow Tim Tebow's media hype to blossom, the team has become radioactive to any serious free agent looking to improve this club on either side of the football.
If football legend and Denver head man John Elway saw no residual value in retaining the services of Tebow, what did the Jets see in a guy who can't throw more completions than incompletions? While most franchises respect the opinions of living legends like an Elway, Johnson is proud to announce he doesn't take football counsel from the likes of Hall of Famer Joe Namath.
No, he thinks the expertise of Tannenbaum is his ticket to winning in the Big Apple!
So could it be Rex Ryan is more interested in self-preservation than improving a bad team like the New York Jets in 2012 by investing in a football distraction like Tebow?
Loser or Leader?â€"Despite winning more games in three seasons than any quarterback in Jet history, Mark Sanchez is on the hot seat in the Meadowlands.
Patrick McDermott/Getty Images
Is the plan to simply dump Sanchez and hope ebow's past heroics in Denver can repeat themselves in the Meadowlands?
Not a single respectable analyst or insider views the acquisition of Tebow as improving the New York Jets, yet the Jets stand by the decision no matter how seemingly disruptive to the team's overall chemistry.
For whatever reason, Ryan has decided to go along with this sideshow insertion of Tebow in an already explosive situation. If Tim Tebow crashes and burnsâ€"as most football observers believeâ€"Rex Ryan will be the first casualty of a team so off the path of success it's become scary and sad for the fans of Gang Green.
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