Joe Flacco States Practicing Against Ryan’s Defense Was Key to His Success
Joe Flacco was at Ray Rice’s camp in New Rochelle recently and told a reporter that as a rookie, facing Ryan’s defense prepared him well for what he was going to face Sundays in the fall.
What Flacco learned playing against Rex Ryan’s defense in practice:
He throws so many things at you. There’s not really a look that you see during the season that you haven’t seen from him. So when you’re able to go against it every day, it’s a huge plus, a huge benefit. You might not realize it during that day, when you’re getting beat up by it and everything like that. But in the long run, it really helps you out. He’ll benefit from that.
On how Ryan operates his defense:
It’s a challenge every day. He’s good at what he does. He gets defensive guys ready to play. So when you go out there against it every day, it really makes it that much better, because you realize how much better our guys were last year — we felt — than the rest of the guys. So going against those guys all summer long and training camp, we didn’t even really know how much it was going to prepare us. It’s unbelievable, because he just throws so many different looks at you, and they do them all so well.
Whoever goes out and plays QB for the Jets, I hope that seeing this defensive scheme does the same for them.
What an intangible Rex brings to the offense….
Getting Rex was such a smart move (even better than Cowher looking back on it). Not only does it essentially create a two coach system where Schotty can actaully get a chance to coach (and doesnt feel totally slapped in the face by the Jets) but it creates that Offense vs. Defense mentality that is key for player development. I guess football is one of those sports that have teams within the team. On any given day we will see the Offense, Defense, or Special Teams “team” help the Jets win a game this year. Its going to be exciting.
As a side note… Calivin Pace is going to explode this year. Rex is gonna bring it with this guy… nightmare matchup ALL day.
good insight on Pace MSM – we have all been so focused on what Rex is going to do with Gholston, we have forgotten that Pace is going to be a nightmare for offenses as well with his flexibility
I absolutely agree with you MSM
Pace will have a Pro Bowl type of season this year, and I’m sure Gholston will have a solid season as well, but I still get the feeling Harris is gonna explode this year in this Defense.
And Sanchez will have a huge advantage playing against a Defensive genius such as Rex will make him NFL ready.
Great post, Bassett! Now, THIS is a quote I can get excited about. He’s been there, done what Sanchez and Clemens are attempting to do, and succeeded at it, even when thrown in as Baltimore’s last resort. I’ll take Flacco’s word over a string of fan blog posts [other than TheJetsBlog, of course! :-)] or TV/radio sports media dweebs who played peewee football, if that. I figured that going against Ryan’s D every day was instrumental in Flacco’s success, and that it wasn’t just that he was such an overlooked star in the making, which he may well turn out to be, who knows?
Both of our QBs have talent which should flourish by seeing that madness across the line from them every day. At the very least, their thought processes should be extremely sharp come game time. C’mon, September!
MSM,
How do you expect Rex to have respect from his coaches if one of them is doing his job? I brought it up a few months ago when it was evident in free agency and the draft. Schotty, before the draft went on his own without too much consult from Rex to most of the college players Pro Days. He went out to dinner with a few of them and interviewed them. He tried to test their offensive football knowledge within their positions. Do you think having two football coaches share the responsibility of the head coach is better than one coach? It doesn’t work that way in the nfl. One coach calls the shots. Rex hasn’t done a good job clarifying that.
MSM,
Schotty has taken a slap in the face by this franchise. I don’t believe he will be back next year.
Fonz,
Sexy is already on record as saying that this is how he wants it. He stated that this is how the new Balt. coach treated him last year, and he said it worked really well for everyone involved. Plus, it got him ready to take the next step to HC. Sexy clearly said that this is the plan for Schotty, since he’s in a similar position to Sexy’s last year. And, no, Schotty will not be back next year, he’ll be a HC somewhere. That’s the Jets’ plan as of now. So for now, sit back, relax and let these folks do their jobs. If they crash and burn, then fine, we’ll all holler.
To follow up on what miketaliaferro was saying…
The respect is there. I mean put yourself in Schotty’s shoes. Would you want a guy that just took your job to come in there and boss you around, change your approach, and tell you how he wanted to run the show? I dont think so. Im sure he respects Rex way more because of the liberty he has giving him and the responsibilty to run that offense. I think Rex is playing to his strengths and focusing on the defense… not trying to do more than he can handle.
Schotty IS that system. Who better to go interview candidates for the positions than him? I dont see anything wrong with that at all. I do believe two football minds are better than one. Rex will make the final decision, but ultimatly he will make them based on the infromation that he trusts from his coaches. Nothing wrong with that. Parcels, for example, has never won without Belichik. Hes been good, but hes never won without him. Coughlin had Spagnolo. Mike Martz has been hired by many teams to run their offenses. Theres nothing wrong with coaches focusing on their strengths. If anything, i think it makes Rex a better coach.
fonzie,
You’re missing a point somewhere. I am sure that Schotty is very happy to be given this much freedom. It is designed to showcase Schotty’s abilities and hopefully land him a HC job next year. I remember when Rex was hired and he reported that Schott would be retained, and allowed to run the offensive show, Rex said he was doing it because it was done for him and he really appreciated it, and he credits the defensive freedom he was given with his getting a HC job.
If I remember the article correctly, Schotty getting that freedom was the real selling point to him coming back, so I would say the he is on board with it.
what success??
I honestly cannot read another thing about this defense without having a heart attack.
It NEEDS to be football season. I have to see this in action I am so freaking excited.
miketaliaferro,
Do you think the success from the Ravens last year with Harbarough giving Rex some head coach responsibilities is going to work with Schotty and Rex this year? Rex hasn’t even put any input to the offensive side of the ball. If you read most of his press conferences he has dedicated 150% of himself to the defense. He hasn’t even tried to work Callahan or Schotty. Do you think our offense is so ready for the season that Rex doesn’t need to put time into it? If you look at the big picture Rex has only demonstrated a vision a defensive coordinator would make to the entire team. The team is followed by its defense. Its kind of twisted don’t you think? The team should not be followed by anything, it should be well grounded. Schotty has more experience with “jet” players on this team (a good bunch of them are on offense) that is why Rex respects his craft. I willing to say that Rex doesn’t have any idea of what Schotty has been up to this entire offseason. Really!! I am just waiting for the naysayers to open their mouths when the season is underway and they form a lynching mob outside Atlantic Health Center to put Schotty away when things go wrong. Just like last year. Mike you didn’t post on the blog last year and I can name a few on this blog who wanted Schotty cut from the team.
MSM,
Do you really think Schotty wants to be a part of the new york jets after being denied of the head coaching position with a favorable resume? Look MSM he was an in-house candidate for the job after Mangini left. He was a young intelligent mind (sorry to hurt you guys that wanted to hang him last year) who could keep trust in the coaches and the players that were left. He wouldn’t have spent time worrying about drafting a qb in the first round because he knew that he had to work with the three quarterbacks he had already. MSM, Schotty’s position hasn’t changed one bit. He was an offensive coordinator last year and he will be an offensive coordinator this year. The only difference is that Mangini showed structure, a model of consistency, and organziation while Schotty was an offensive coordinator. Rex has shown an unclear method of how to go about things while Scotty has taken it upon himself to do things the way he wants to.
MSM,
Two minds cannot make the final decision on gameday. Its impossible!! You need a leader (not two) on gameday. Rex is going to have to show his maturity and take it upon himself. He has to leave his pleasure zone of working with his defensive players and begin to look out for the entire team.
The way I see it, Rex needs to make sure everyone knows he’s the boss, but he also needs to let Schotty run the offense. When you get a defensive-minded head coach sticking his nose into the offense, you end up with the crap we had last season. Bizarre play calling on occasion, conservative game plans, etc.
As everyone has been saying, Schotty is a HC candidate. He’s good at his job. Ryan is doing the right thing in giving him freedom.