Time has come to fire Rex

New York Jets coach Rex Ryan needs to be fired.

THAT HURTS
Jets' QB mess just got worse with Sanchez injury, Peter Schrager writes.

No really, fired. This is not reaction trolling. I’d actually really fire him before Week 1 if I were Jets general manager John Idzik.

Playing veteran quarterback Mark Sanchez in Saturday’s fourth quarter, behind a second-string offensive line, after their only other viable option, Geno Smith, had absolutely proven himself not ready for NFL action feels fireable. But for a coach with a football HR file as big as Rex’s and a coach who barely avoided getting axed this offseason, this feels last straw-ish.

Because what happened Saturday at MetLife Stadium speaks to a bigger issue at play for the Jets this season: Their coach and team have divergent interests. Rex has to win now to stay employed and, in lieu of that, which seems an unlikely scenario judging by everything we have seen so far, Rex at least needs an alibi. He needs to be able to say, “How was I supposed to win with Geno Smith?”

What the Jets need is to start determining if winning with Smith is likely. Saturday’s results — three interceptions and an inexplicable decision to step out of the end zone — suggest patience is necessary.

Only that may not be an option, not if Sanchez is seriously hurt.

He is having an MRI on his shoulder this morning. And whatever the results, what Rex did goes down as one of the dumbest coaching moves in NFL history. There is no good reason for Sanchez to be playing Saturday, and Rex did not bother coming up with any during an epic — even by New York standards — press conference. Instead Rex invoked his constitutional right to free speech, turned to deliver his non-answer sideways during an especially combative exchange and just generally did nothing to dispel the idea that he is fraying under the pressure of being a mostly fired coach.