Ryan maneuvers around Jets' self-made scandals

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. – In a league where coaches often act like overzealous nannies with their players, Jets coach Rex Ryan has navigated the team through one bizarre distraction after another, incidents and stories that usually have little or nothing to do with football.

How does Ryan get the New York Jets to survive one oddball news story after another, ranging from Ryan himself hitting the back page of the tabloids with a middle-finger salute to a series of stories about sexual harassment?

By diving right in and taking on the issue.

And, apparently, feet first.

"No fair dodging," defensive lineman Trevor Pryce(notes) said, repeating one of Ryan's mantras. "I think this team is much better at [blocking things out] and it comes from our head coach. It's so important to him. He's able to look at himself and he's honest. Instead of letting something fester … he addresses it head on."

The latest in a long string of issues for the Jets on their way to an 11-5 season and their second straight playoff appearance is the bubbling story about Ryan, his wife Michelle and their apparent foot fetish. While somewhat benign, it is nonetheless titillating in a town that loves its gossip columns. The story took another turn in recent days when pictures of Michelle having her feet rubbed by another man surfaced. The gossip reporters started wondering if the man was a Jets player.

Then again, that's hardly even close to the most distracting story. Ryan got the offseason going last January when he talked trash to Dolphins fans at an MMA match in South Florida and then flipped off another fan on the way out.

From there, it has been a menagerie, such as:

• The negotiations and eventual holdout of star cornerback Darrelle Revis(notes).

• The war of words (or at least the war over one particular word) between Ryan and ex-coach and TV analyst Tony Dungy.

• The investigation of former quarterback Brett Favre's(notes) alleged harassment of former Jets employees, which still hasn't ended now that a sexual harassment lawsuit has been filed. While Favre and the employees are long gone, at least one current Jets employee has been implicated as complicit in the matter.

• Multiple Jets players gawking, preening and hooting at TV Azteca reporter Ines Sainz.

• Wide receiver Braylon Edwards(notes) being arrested for a DWI.

• Jets strength coach Sal Alosi tripping a Dolphins player during a game, resulting in a league investigation, a suspension and fine of Alosi by the team and finally a fine of the team by the NFL.

Oh yeah, and the Jets actually played football this season. Pretty well, so far. They're preparing for Saturday night's first-round playoff game at Indianapolis.

Sanchez manages to laugh with his coach despite nearly getting benched this season.
(John O'Boyle-The Star-Ledger/US Presswire)

They seem to have gotten there, despite all the oddities, because Ryan has been straightforward with the players, if not always with the media (Ryan has refused to answer questions about the foot-fetish issue, but apologized to his players in private).

Pryce, a 14-year veteran, said he has encountered plenty on the flipside from other coaches, men who avoid dealing with any kind of controversy.

"Duck, dodge … you seen the movie 'Dodgeball,' the five Ds? Duck, dodge, dip, dive, dodge," Pryce said. "[Ryan], as he walks in, it's, 'Hey, this is what happened.' … Once he addresses it, it goes away. It has been addressed and he doesn't even say, 'Let's move on,' we just do. It's like, enough of that. That's the way he is."

Said linebacker Bart Scott(notes): "He's not looking for public approval. He does what he thinks is right and he deals with it."

Still, the Jets are a long way from achieving the Super Bowl title Ryan has been promising since he arrived in 2009 and all but guaranteed this offseason. If they don't get there, plenty of people are going to wonder if the off-field issues were part of the problem.

Then again, you get the feeling that this is all part of the Jets' strange plan to put themselves out there and amp the pressure to succeed. Or as owner Woody Johnson said recently, "This business is not for the timid."

"I think it starts with our head coach," Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum said when asked how the team has survived the kind of stories that drive other coaches and teams into the proverbial ditch.

Ryan exudes confidence the way most people breathe, unafraid to put himself out there. In a league where coaches dummy down their comments to the point it seems they're getting ready for a chess match and not a football game, Ryan is ready to charge up the hill with the flag. Even after he has had his legs chopped at the knees.

For example, there was Ryan's declaration that the matchup of his defense against Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning(notes) was "personal." The media then countered with the fact that Ryan has yet to beat Manning in the postseason, be it in New York or as the former defensive coordinator in Baltimore.

Again, Ryan swung back with his combination of humor and bravado, sprinkled with self-deprecation.

"I'm not the only coordinator or the only guy that Peyton's ever destroyed," Ryan said. "I think it's written like I'm his punching bag or something. Mine's at least got some arms on it. Some of these other guys he plays against, they've got no arms on it. But I plan on swinging back and we'll see if that works out this week."

It seems to be working in the grand scheme of things. Be it the series of weird off-field stories, the moves to pick up LaDainian Tomlinson(notes), Jason Taylor(notes), Santonio Holmes(notes) or Antonio Cromartie(notes), or the roller coaster nature of this season's 11-5 results (an improvement over last year's 9-7 on the way to the AFC championship game), the Jets are doing exactly what Johnson wanted when he switched from Eric Mangini to Ryan.

They are drawing attention. Just as late New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner once dominated the back pages with everything from player acquisitions to tirades with his managers.

"Whenever you're brash and you talk like that, people want to take shots at you. It comes with the territory," said Scott, who came to the Jets as a free agent from Baltimore in 2009 with Ryan. "We knew what we were signing up for when [Ryan] took the head coaching job and I decided to follow. Some of the same things that happen here, that get blown out of proportion don't even get talked about in other places."

Perhaps, but more than anything, people just want to talk about the Jets for one reason or another.