So what if the Jets lost last night.  So what if some people are saying once again the Rex Ryan is all talk. We big, sweatervest-wearing, smack-talking  guys need to stick together at all costs, and considering what Ryan has done for the Jets, sticking with him is easier than ordering an extra slice of pizza.

Sure, its easy to point at the disaster that was the first half of last night’s AFC Championship. However to do that ignores two important things. It ignores the nearly-successful comeback in the second half, and it ignores what it took to even be in that position. Most importantly, it ignores who made both those thing possible.

Rex Fucking Ryan.

At first, I had a similar reaction to last night’s loss. I had a profanity-filled tirade at such a volume that the cat still hasn’t come out from under the bed. But then I thought about where the Jets have been, and where they are are going, and then I remembered why that is all happening.

Rex Fucking Ryan.

You don’t have to love his style, and you don’t have to love his brash nature. But you have to respect what this guy has done. The Jets are a franchise which for the last two decades has oscillated between mediocre and terrible; achieving double-digit wins only four times in that spa, but suffering double-digit losses at twice that rate. Before Ryan’s arrival, the Jets had only advanced to one AFC Championship in the past two decades; after Ryan they have been in two straight.

If that isn’t enough for you, look at the path they had to follow this season. To get to the Super Bowl, this team would have had to go on the road and beat three of the most elite quarterbacks this game has to offer; Peyton Manning in Indianapolis, Tom Brady in Foxboro, and Ben Roethlisberger in Pittsburgh.  Stop and think about it…had they been successful, this accomplishment would be largely similar to the Steelers journey of five years ago when as a 6-seed they had to navigate the top three AFC seeds on their way to a Super Bowl.

So, before anybody starts criticizing Rex Ryan, take a hard look at where the Jets were before Rex Ryan arrived, and look at where they are now. So, this time the Jets couldn’t beat the last three Super Bowl winning AFC quarterbacks. But, to quote another notable big guy, Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad.