Rex Ryan: 2012 Jets might be 'best team that I've had'

Ryan loves this Jets team despite a one-TD preseason. (Getty Images)

Rex Ryan is like a guarantee junkie. Dude can't quit no matter how many times he swears he will. He's managed to stay away from them pretty well this offseason, but with everything going on with the Jets (and it's been a LOT), you knew he was bound to relapse.

He sure seemed close on Friday, when he said, despite the Jets aversion to the end zone this preseason, that 2012's team might be his best ever.

"Overall, in my opinion, I think this has a chance to be the best team that I've had since I've been the coach here,” Ryan said, per Seth Walder of the New York Daily News. "And I say that because I think we understand complementary football, sometimes your offense is going to be rolling.

"Sometimes you're going to have to ask your defense to – that old hockey term – stand on their heads."

Bart Scott has previously stated that this might be the best defensive Jets team since Ryan took over, so I think kind of the common theme that everyone agrees upon for Gang Green this year is that "their offense is putrid."

Because it sure doesn't sound like Rex is trying to get away from that idea either.

"It's all about winning, it's not about stats, it's not about anything else but trying to find anything but a way to win, and I think our team understands that," he said.

On this count, Rex is absolutely right. If the Jets could go all season without scoring an offensive touchdown and still manage to win all 16 of their games, well, it would be the best team he's ever had. And if they can manage to just win enough to get in the playoffs and then make it past the AFC Championship Game despite a terrible offense, again, best team he's had.

But this isn't a defensive league anymore and while teams that win the Super Bowl in recent years have tended to have above-average defenses, they also had elite offenses. The Jets most certainly don't have that this year.

At least Ryan is willing to admit it, even if he remains delusional about what this team can do over the course of the next few months.

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