Ryan Gets Defensive on Safeties
Rex got a little snippy yesterday with reporters when they asked about Eric Smith, Kerry Rhodes and the up-for-grabs spot at safety.
The day after the Buffalo game, Rhodes said he was told by Ryan that he had gotten his starting job back. But three days later, in a conference call with reporters, Ryan was non-committal, saying he wanted to see “how the week played out” before deciding.
Yesterday, when asked about it, Ryan snapped, “Go ahead and name the starter if you want. I don’t care. I mean, all those guys are going to play. If you’ll feel better about it, we’ll quit getting all those questions, so ahead and name the starter.
For the record, during the 30-minute period open to reporters, Smith practiced with the starters in the base defense on Monday and Rhodes was back there yesterday.
See if the alternating trend continues today and tomorrow or if Rhodes starts taking all the “base” snaps, I think that will say a lot for what the weekend holds for the safeties.
19 Responses to Ryan Gets Defensive on Safeties
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brian311 says:
i think this is such a non-issue. clearly, eric smith has played well enough to get snaps, and rhodes has played poorly enough to have snaps taken away from him. both are good players in their own skillset. it makes sense to play smith on obvious run downs and rhodes on the obvious pass downs.
this is just a media created event, so the beat writers have something to do (go back and forth between rhodes and rex). i think rex’s comments were just trying to diffuse the situation
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I am still not in favor of giving Rhodes the starting job back…..Even though he is the better player and has been the scapegoat for alot of fans.
I feel the demotion has not been handled that well by Kerry and after playing decent in a few games he cant wait for people to know that he might be the starter again.
I have been annoyed with how Rhodes’s attitude has come across basically since last year. He has basically said all of the wrong things and refuses to fully take any of this on himself.
From throwing mangini under the bus when after he had his 2 best years under him…..then the below average play “for him” to the comments about leaving and playing out the rest of the season for “others” to see film on him.
Even though it dosent matter who starts in the grand scheme of things. It apparently bothers Rhodes and I would continue to keep him on the bench instead of starting to get him back to the player he was. I would not give in to this “new” prima dona attitude.
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Brendan says:
Yeah I just went back and watched the press conference, and Ryan was “snapp(ing)” at all. He basically explained that on his defense, starter isn’t a word they care about. Everyone plays, everyone will be used, and if it makes the beat writer’s feel better they can say Rhodes is the starter or Smith is the starter.
Btw, very funny part at the end of it. Someone asked about the Bucs improving defense, and Rex said (rough summary) “it’s hard when you put in a new defense. It’s hard to play fast, and it’s hard to be effective from the get-go” all the while clearly holding back a smirk. I’m surprised people aren’t up in arms about him disrespecting the Bucs with that comment.
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*wasn’t snapping
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jcjets says:
Both are going to play, but being the starter means a lot to Rhodes. I think Rex is tweakin him a little bit.
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droseatwork says:
Brendan,
I watched the press conference and I don’t think he was taking a swipe at the Bucs, it seemed to me that he was tooting his own horn a little bit. He had to install a new defense with new players and he still managed to have the 31 D in the league. It seemed to me to be more of a pride thing about his (jets) D more than a swipe at the Bucs. -
drose,
I agree completely. I was more pointing to the fact that the media around here will take anything as a “story” and run with it. I personally thought it was great and he should take pride in the fact he instituted a brand new scheme and had the defense playing well since the beginning of the season.
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Harvlis says:
I don’t see Rhodes tackling getting better in two weeks. He still looks to shoulder people to the ground. Smith showed everyone that he deserves to play on running downs. I think Rex will use them interchangeably. That is the reason for his problem dealing with the questions about who will start. Based on the way our defense has looked, I am confident that Rex knows how to use them best.
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The problem with using the “Smith=run, Rhodes=pass” strategy is that this is the NFL. If a QB see’s that Smith is in there, there’s a good chance he’s going to be playing up, so they will try to attack him with audibles into a passing play. If Rhodes is in, they’ll try the opposite. Rex was doing a good job of giving them alternating drives, not just plays, and keeping the offense guessing as to what the defense was doing when they were in there. It’s not as simple as “Smith 1st and 2nd downs…Rhodes 3rd and long 2nd downs”.
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Bent says: “I don’t see Rhodes tackling getting better in two weeks. He still looks to shoulder people to the ground.”
I don’t see why not. I never saw him habitually tackle like that until the Pats game, so all he has to do is get back to being a secure tackler like he was for the first 4.5 years of his career.
My view is that Rhodes should get the bulk of the playing time, but Smith should start, so that Rhodes still gets the message that he needs to keep working hard and that the last two weeks, while an improvement, are still not good enough. Of course, Smith will play a lot too. That might be one of their best lineups with the two of them both in the game.
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Bent,
Rhodes has made one tackle, in the past two games. Notice how our defense looked much better lately. He did make two INT’s against Carolina but, one was a gimme and they were his first two INT’s of the year. He has been ineffective, all season. Remember the comparisons to Ed Reed, prior to the season. That turned out to be a joke. Bottom line, Smith has done a nice job and should play a good deal of the time. Odds are, we won’t have Rhodes here, next season, anyway.
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Harvlis, who did we play the past two games? Panthers and Bills. We sold out to stop the run in both and dared them to beat us with the pass. Guess who plays in passing situations? Rhodes. Our defense has looked better because they’re getting better every week. The more time spent in a system the better you get at it (and the weak competition doesn’t hurt either).
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Bent says:
He averaged five tackles a game prior to the last two games and has been almost exclusively employed in coverage over the last two. Also, any improvement in the defense over the last two games has come from improved play from the front seven and the fact that they’ve played two poor offensive teams.
I’m tired of defending Rhodes, because he IS underperforming dramatically, but the difference between Rhodes in a down year and Eric Smith at his best is tiny, IMO.
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Bent
I completely agree with your Rhodes explanation…. I just wish this guy would change his attitude….. at least a little
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Bent says:
Yeah, I can’t defend his attitude, if some of the quotes he has made have been accurately represented.
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frustratedjetfan says:
Eric Smith + Kerry Rhodes = 1 great and complete safety. Against the Bills ES had 11 tackles (2 for loss) and KR had 1 tackle with something like 2 passes defensed. The previous game’s stats were similar with ES tied for team lead with 10 tackles and KR having no tackles but 2 Ints. Like it or not, you must play both to get the most out of this position.
I used to be a big KR fan and still believe he got screwed out of the pro bowl twice. But that was before he went Hollywood and lost his desire to play hard-nosed football. And maybe that big contract they gave him should have had less guaranteed money and more incentive clauses (you never know). What I have seen and what most commentators on SNY seem to agree with is that KR is not an aggressive hard-nosed tackling safety that’s even close to being a pro-bowl caliber game changer.
Forget his lobbying for the “starter” label. Let him play his part this year and trade him for draft picks but (note to Tanny) include an escalator clause (1st round draft choice) to stop him from being traded back within the division. This guy might just put out for Belichick if read the riot act.
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Brendan,
Who did Rhodes look good against, this season. He is a big zero on the stat sheet. You are right — the only reason Rhodes had two INT’s was, we were playing a weak team.
Our overall defense has played well, from game one. They have had some let-downs at the end of a few games but, overall — they have done what it takes to win. They would have been more effective, if Rhodes had played well. Now that Rhodes can’t keep his mouth shut, I see him being shipped out. Having seen him, for the past few season — if we play against him, I would not be worried about him.
I watched the press conference.. to say that Ryan “snapped” is exaggerated..
His point was more along the lines of, both with play.. it doesn’t matter who the “starter” is.. both will be on the field a lot..