Rex Ryan made a whole big hoopla heading into what was the big AFC East showdown one week ago against the Patriots. Following the 45-3 beatdown he proceeded with a funeral to bury the game ball. All was supposed to be forgotten… onto the next game against the Dolphins. And another abysmal performance losing 10-6.

At least for the Jets the D had a much improved game getting back to their dominating ways we have become accustomed to over the past few seasons. The Dolphins were limited to a measly 134 yards off offense with only six 1st downs all game long. The only reason the Fins put up 10 points was due to turnovers by the offense on their own side of the field.

So you would think if any part of the team would get a pass it would be the defensive units. Well think again because Rex Ryan came out and addressed the team after the game stating it was a team loss.

Due to the Jets playing a sought game defensively one of it’s key lineman Shaun Ellis to offense to these comments and responded with these comments to Pro Football Talk:

“According to Rex we played [bleepy] he said we weren’t good enough. I guess we needed a shutout. I guess that’s what he was talking about.”

“It’s frustrating to hear that because we played a solid game, I guess he just expects so much out of the defense that there should have been zero points on the board, not 10.”

I agree with everything Ellis said. However, I don’t like the way in which he dealt with the situation. These type of comments should be kept in the locker room if they are going to be said anywhere. And yes he is correct with his logic behind the statement. But, from Ryan’s perspective his job is to unite the team and the reality is you do win and lose as a team; regardless of which unit played better in any given game. Ryan can’t go ahead and specifically point the figure at any particular player or unit.

In addition, those comments indicate that Ellis is a selfish player. Because he doesn’t believe the entire team should be criticized when he and the players surrounding him on the field played well. If he really cared about the entire team he would keep his mouth shut even if he disagreed with Ryan and the entire world does agree with his statement.

Chemistry is a key element to team success, talent will only take you so far. I can’t imagine comments like that helping the team in any which way. The only result that may come out of this is NEGATIVE, for a team facing it’s first real controversy all season long So why even bother in the first place?

Written by

Chad Margulius