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From The Top: Fearless Rex

Rex Ryan has silenced the mighty Patriots and called upon a legion of fans. Could this fiery, unapologetic man be the next great NFL head coach?

By Chris Cluff

Updated: September 25, 2009

Some people have complained that Rex Ryan is just a buffoon in coach's clothing, that he's a court jester who won't accomplish anything except to get people to laugh at him.

He has been accused of being uncoachly – not possessing the proper demeanor to represent an NFL franchise.

Well, all the folks who think that are a bunch of stuff shirts, because Rex Ryan is one of the most interesting and refreshing characters to assume an NFL head post in a decade.

The guy wears his emotions on his sleeve, and he makes no apologies for it. He has thrown down the gauntlet in the AFC East. Before the season, he called out Bill Belichick, the three-time Super Bowl-winning coach, saying he wasn't afraid of the Patriots' Super Bowl rings. Then he called upon Jets fans to show up and support his team in its home game against the Patriots last week.

If Ryan were not a good coach, all of that stuff would merely be theatrics. But Ryan has so far been up to the challenge, as his defense has shut down two strong offensive teams – Houston and New England – and his Jets have started 2-0 with rookie QB Mark Sanchez leading the offense.

Rex Ryan is like his papa, Buddy, but more likeable. He's like old Houston Oilers and Atlanta Falcons coach Jerry Glanville, but not as laughable. He's like former Jets coach Herman Edwards, but a better X's and O's guy.

His father was a legendary defensive mind in Chicago and Philadelphia, and Rex has carried on the tradition. He was one of the key coaches involved in building the dynastic Baltimore defense, beginning as the line coach and spending the past four years as the coordinator. Rex knows what he is doing with the Jets.

In a league whose coaches are mostly tight-lipped, close-to-the-vest types, it is always refreshing to see a guy like Ryan who isn't afraid to call it like he sees it. And it's even better when he can back it up.

What were they thinking?

Why in the world did the Raiders invest a No. 1 pick in JaMarcus Russell in 2007? Now in his third year, the guy is obviously not an NFL quarterback. Oh, he has the arm, which is what Al Davis fell in love with. But Russell can't do anything other than launch the ball downfield. The Raiders somehow managed to beat Kansas City last weekend, and they even had San Diego on the ropes in Week 1. But that was all despite the poor play of Russell, who completed only 12 of 30 passes against the Chargers and an even worse 7 of 24 against the Chiefs. So in two games, he has completed a pathetic 35.2 percent of his passes. This guy is horrible. What was Al Davis thinking?

After a hard-fought loss to a good Baltimore team in the opener, Todd Haley's Chiefs somehow let a bad team like the Raiders come in and beat them, 13-10. Haley contributed to the loss by failing to get points at the end of the first half. With no timeouts and just 14 seconds left, Haley called a pass play from Oakland's 9-yard line, and Dantrell Savage was tackled at the 1. Time ran out, and the Chiefs didn't get so much as a field goal out of it. What was Haley thinking?

Matt Cassel did not have a great first game, completing 24 of 39 passes, with one touchdown pass and two interceptions. And now people in Kansas City are actually calling for Brodie Croyle, the much-injured former third-round pick who acquitted himself well against Baltimore in Week 1. Given a chance to quash a QB controversy, Haley declined, telling reporters, "You've got to ultimately do what gives your team the best chance to win. If that means another quarterback being in there other than Matt Cassel, then sign me up." Well, then why did the Chiefs sign Cassel up for $63 million over six years? What were they thinking?

It has become quite apparent that Cleveland coach Eric Mangini is a power-tripping tyrant, which is funny considering, at age 38, he's one of the NFL's baby coaches. He has become quite adept at alienating his players. The latest is a report that he fined a player $1,700 for failing to pay for a $4 bottle of water at the team hotel. That's the kind of overzealous discipline that gets a team to turn on a coach. And it's the kind of terrible attitude that will prevent Mangini from ever being a good leader. What was Mangini thinking?

Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum has really made a lot of bad decisions over the past few years. First he hired Mangini, then he traded for Brett Favre, then he let Mangini lie on the injury report about Favre's injured arm, and now he reportedly has been talking to unsigned first-rounder Michael Crabtree's agent. The Jets did nothing under Mangini and Favre, got fined $125,000 for the injury report fiasco and now face possible sanctions for tampering with the 49ers' draft property. What was Tannenbaum thinking?

Washington coach Jim Zorn is under all kinds of fire for the failure of his offense ever since the middle of last season. And he's still having issues with some of his play calls. In Washington's narrow, 9-7 win over St. Louis last Sunday, Zorn eschewed a field goal in the final two minutes of the game that would have put Washington up 5. What was Zorn thinking?

In 2006, the Seahawks promoted Jordan Babineaux to starting safety to address the big passing plays that had plagued them. Then teams started running all over them, including 350+ yards by Frank Gore in two meetings that season. Well, Jim Mora's staff decided to make Babineaux a starter again this year, and it was déjà vu as Gore went off for 207 yards Sunday, scoring on 79- and 80-yard runs on which he ran right by Babineaux. What were the Seahawks thinking?