Play Like You Mean It: Passion, Laughs, and Leadership in the World's Most Beautiful Game (26 page)

With L.T., it was a little different. Things just weren’t working out in San Diego. Part of it was just bad luck. He had been hurt his last couple of years in San Diego. During the playoffs in 2007, the Chargers made it to the AFC Championship Game, but he carried only two times and they lost at New England. The guy had a bad groin injury; what can you do? The next year, he opened the season and got a toe injury but gutted it through every game, but then it was the same thing in the playoffs. He could only carry it five times in the first playoff game, and then he couldn’t play after that. That was frustrating for everybody.

In the end, it seemed to me like L.T. didn’t feel appreciated there anymore. You don’t let that happen with great players. Trust me, if you treat guys like that, what does that say to the rest of the locker room? It’s like broadcasting the message “We don’t care how hard you work, we’re going to treat you like a piece of meat in the end.” Look, players get it. They know if they’re not good enough, the team isn’t keeping them, especially when salaries mean so much. Regardless, there’s still a way you treat people. You don’t make a guy who works that hard twist in the wind. The Chargers did that during the 2009 off-season. They busted his chops over money, and they made it public and it set the whole tone for the 2009 season. Tomlinson had another down year, gaining only 730 yards. They were not playing
him on third downs, and against us in the playoffs, he got only 12 carries and we held him to 24 yards.

Despite all that, I could see he was just a little off in his game. Plus, the Chargers were having offensive line problems all year, so the timing on that team was never right. On top of everything, they had Philip Rivers, who was becoming one hell of a quarterback. I don’t think people realize just how great that guy is. You’re talking about this era’s version of Dan Marino, the way he gets rid of the ball so quickly and accurately. He may not have a cannon arm, but he’s one of the best deep throwers in the game. What I was seeing out of L.T. as I was watching him that season was a guy who just needed to heal his body a little and get with a solid offensive line. You could see by the way he was running that he still loved the game. He was just frustrated. The kid is a warrior, a guy with a lot of pride. By that time, everybody in the NFL knew the Chargers were letting him go, so when we had to make our decision on Thomas Jones, it was time to go get L.T.

It’s funny—I had my lap-band surgery at the same time that L.T. was making his final decision on whether he was playing for us or for the Vikings. When I woke up from surgery, the very first thing I asked was “Did we sign L.T.?” I just knew that if we did, we were getting one really motivated guy. He was going to prove people wrong, and he certainly showed that all training camp and all season.

With Taylor, I had the same idea. You’re talking about one of the best all-around athletes the league has ever had. He’s a great edge pass rusher, terrific in coverage, great motor, everything you want with a guy who plays that position. Most important, he has amazing pride and is very driven. You just see it in how the guy walks around. Clearly, he’s a good-looking guy, one of those guys who could be on the cover of
GQ
or
People
magazine every week. I know he has big plans to get into the movie business, too. That’s great for J.T. You can just tell how serious he is about being good at everything.

So again, the only risk we were taking is that both L.T. and Jason didn’t get hurt. Neither one ended up playing full-time in 2010, but
they both ended up being terrific for the Jets this postseason. L.T. started a lot of games, and we mixed it up and had Greene carry the ball a lot. He’s a beast. With Taylor, he was in there mostly on passing downs, and both guys were really effective. If we manage the situation right, which is what they pay me to do as coach, the truth is that you can’t look at either of these as real risks.

—————

So that’s how you build a team. You look for opportunities—moments some call risks—and you figure out how to manage those moments to create BIG moments. The five guys showed that, in fact, this can be done and done well!

O
ne of the biggest challenges, and one of the reasons I think I am the perfect fit for the Jets, is that they are the ultimate underdog team. When people ask me what it’s like to share New York with the Giants, my response is always I am not sharing it with them—they are sharing it with me.

Some people like to say the Giants are the big brother team and the Jets are the little brother team. I know it’s going to piss off every Giants fan to hear this, but here you go: I really don’t care. We came to New York City to be the best team in the NFL, not just the best team in New York City. And I have news for you: We are the better team. We’re the big brother. People might say they are the big, bad Giants, but we are not the same old Jets. That was the big thing in 2009, my first year. We were the same old Jets? Oh, you mean the same old Jets who led the league in defense? The same old Jets who led the league in rushing? The same old Jets who have been to back-to-back AFC Championship Games and are considered serious Super Bowl contenders going forward?

I know the Giants were in New York first and are considered part of the old guard. They had a lot of success when Bill Parcells was the coach and they recently won a Super Bowl (2007), so in a way they have had a much richer tradition than the Jets. They are based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and the Jets were Long Island’s team, so lines had been drawn in the sand long ago.

I am going to be honest, though. To me, it seems clear that right now we are the better team and we are going to remain the better team for the next 10 years. Whether you like it or not, those are the facts, and that’s what is going to happen. I know it’s going to happen because our style of football is different. We are going to take over the town whether the Giants like it or not, so those fans on the fence that like both teams are going to be Jets fans in the end. The truth is, if I am going to watch one game, I am going to see the Jets, without a doubt. We are better.

I love the fact that people tell me that no head coach has coached past six years with the Jets since 1990. Bruce Coslet (1990-93), Pete Carroll (1994), Herman Edwards (2001-05), and all of these guys—none of them made it six years. Even an agent for one of my own players told me, “Quite honestly, Rex, we have got to do what’s best. You are not going to be here.”

That definitely got a response from me: “Number one, you are dead-ass wrong. I’m going to be here as long as I want to be here. It’s going to be hard to fire ol’ Rex with the success we are getting ready to have.”

I am a coach who’s big enough for this city, and I don’t mean that because of my waistline. This city is filled with heroes from all walks of life, and they want us to go for it all. They expect us to go for it all. I’m not a coach who is going to sit quietly by, be a bump on a log, and not stand up for our team, their team. I’m not that kind of coach. I never have been and I never will be

I have promised from day one what the New York Jets would be. I promised we were going to be the most physical football team in the NFL. We were—check. I promised we would have the most dominant
defense in the NFL. Check. I promised we would have an all-weather offense that would run the ball when we needed to. Check. We have one major thing left—we have to win a Super Bowl. That’s it. We’ve come pretty darn close in my first two years and we’re well on our way. That’s the last thing on our original list of things to check off.

I told our team when I arrived that I wanted to be the team in the NFL that nobody wanted to play. By the end of both the 2009 and 2010 seasons, I could promise that nobody wanted to play us. We established that in my first season and we built on it in my second. In one year we were able to capture that identity, and that’s what bodes so well for us moving forward. We’re going to tell you what we’re going to do—and then we’re going to go out and kick your ass. That was the bravado I wanted to have with our team. We are not a fly-under-the-radar team. How can you be that kind of team in New York, the most populous city in the United States? New York exerts a powerful influence over life, from finance to athletics to entertainment to the news media. It’s my kind of city, and the Jets are my kind of team. I know we have a lot of bull’s-eyes on our back, but you know what? That’s okay, because we are going to plant a bull’s-eye on your chest, and that’s the difference. That’s our mentality. That’s my mentality. We don’t have to sneak up on you; we are coming right at you.

Our opponents know that they have to play their asses off to beat us. I know there are teams and players out there who say, “I can’t wait to beat that loudmouth. I can’t wait to kick the shit out of the Jets.” Well, when that ball is kicked off, you will get the chance to prove it and kick our ass. We’ll see if you can do it. I think that’s part of the chip on our shoulder, being the younger brother in town to the older brother Giants. (Notice, though—I didn’t say we are the little brother.) That’s the mentality that we embrace in New York. People say I need to be careful what I say because of the media in New York City. Why? Who gives a shit? All we have to do is go out and win. If we don’t win, they are going to laugh at us anyway.

I love New York City, the Big Apple. Come on, it’s a sports town. The New York City metropolitan area has nine teams in the four major North American professional sports leagues, each of which also has its headquarters in the city. The state is actually represented in the NFL by three teams—the Jets, Giants, and Buffalo Bills. Yes, the Bills, the only NFL team that actually plays in the state of New York. The Jets and the Giants play in the New Meadowlands Stadium in nearby East Rutherford, New Jersey. Like I mentioned earlier, the Giants have always been considered by many people to be the more popular team because they have been around the longest. The Giants, who have the third most titles in NFL history with seven, joined the league in 1925. To tell you what kind of infant state the NFL was in back then, there were five teams that joined the league that year. The Giants are the only one still around. The Jets, who were originally called the New York Titans, were founded in 1960 as a charter member of the American Football League. They changed their name to the Jets in 1963 and joined the NFL as part of the AFL/NFL merger in 1970 (45 years after the Giants).

I loved the Jets as a kid. They were my team. As I said earlier, my dad was the Jets’ linebackers coach from 1968 to 1975 and helped the team win Super Bowl III in 1969 against the Baltimore Colts. That game is regarded as one of the greatest upsets in sports history and was the first game officially known as the “Super Bowl.” The Jets and “Broadway” Joe Namath beat the Colts 16-7, giving the AFL its first Super Bowl victory. Namath guaranteed a victory in that game, and his bravado brought much-needed interest to the game since the Colts were nearly a 20-point favorite. Many people regarded Namath as an arrogant loudmouth—now, who does that sound like?—and that gave them more reason than ever to root against him, but Joe had his supporters and they happily applauded his bravado. I know the entire history of the Jets. Everybody just kind of looked down on them while I celebrated their history. If I had been offered the job of head coach by the Giants at the same time as the Jets, it still would have been an easy choice. I’d pick the Jets, because that’s who I am.

Let me tell you something I love about the New York media: it enables me to talk to the fans every day. Who I am as a person, and as a coach, was made clear in my first news conference when I said we are not the “same old Jets” and I expected us to win a Super Bowl. That caught everyone’s attention, both in the sports world and the non–sports world. But I honestly believe that and I know we’re going to deliver.

I love the mentality of New York City and the mentality of the New York Jets fans. It’s like the perfect marriage. I am not the only one with a chip on my shoulder. Our fans have one also. All you have to do is stand on the sidelines of our amazing new stadium on game day. The roar you hear from our fans—the energy and dedication—it’s just something to behold. We’re going to win a Super Bowl, and I know our fans feel it, too. Are we setting ourselves up for disappointment? I don’t think so. We are going for it.

I talk about it all the time, but a big part of what makes the situation so special is being surrounded by people like Woody, people from the top of our organization all the way down. I have a great coaching staff. The entire organization, we are a team. I have always said this: “I am set up to succeed. I am going to have a tough time failing.” I truly believe that. It’s really because of the ability of all the people in this organization.

Why does everyone say there’s extra pressure in New York? It is probably in large part because of this town’s incredible sports history. The Knicks represent the city in the NBA; the Rangers in the NHL. Queens is host of the U.S. Tennis Open, one of the four Grand Slam tournaments. The New York City Marathon is the world’s largest. And don’t forget the Boys of Summer. Baseball is hugely popular, and you are not going to find a bigger baseball fan than me. I had the opportunity to meet Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez, and he was great to my guys and me. I was shocked. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t that. He was phenomenal. The Yankees are phenomenal. There have been 14 World Series championship series between New York City teams, in matchups called the
Subway Series. New York is one of only three cities (Chicago and Los Angeles being the others) to have two baseball teams—the Yankees and the New York Mets.

I know some people liken us to the Mets—they are considered by many the “second” team in New York behind the Yankees and we play second fiddle to the Giants. Sorry, that’s not the way I see it—not as long as I have anything to do with it. The Yankees have won more championships than any other team in baseball. They’ve won 27 World Series championships and 40 American League pennants. Those numbers make them the greatest championship franchise in all of North American professional sports, exceeding the 24 Stanley Cups won by the Montreal Canadiens. And their list of all-stars is staggering—from Babe Ruth to Lou Gehrig to Mickey Mantle to Reggie Jackson to Derek Jeter to Alex Rodriguez. I could go on and on. They have 46 players in the Baseball Hall of Fame. The Yankees talk about winning the World Series every year. They expect to win it every year. That’s the kind of culture I want to create with the Jets.