Rex Ryan doesn’t want to hear any more excuses regarding the 4-4 Jets.
Fed up with his underachieving team, the coach ripped into them after a poor practice on Thursday, telling them it’s time to step up.
“You can’t have a good practice or a good game and then all of sudden, one or two plays, [say] ‘But if this doesn’t happen or that happen we’d be 7-1, or whatever’ ” Ryan said yesterday. “The fact is, those things have happened. We’re tired of making excuses. We don’t need to make excuses. We just need to play better and find ways to win. I think that’s the message to our team.”
After delivering that message to the team on Thursday, Ryan said the Jets had an “outstanding” practice yesterday.
“We’re close,” Ryan said.
The Jets enter to morrow’s game against Jacksonville at a crossroads. Their bye week fell at the midseason point. When the team returned to work this week, it was a new phase of the season. It’s now November and if the Jets are to make the playoffs, there is no time to waste.
“It is the stretch run,” Ryan said. “The beginning of the stretch run, but that’s what it is. There’s got to be that sense of urgency. Don’t wait for somebody else to make the breaks for you. We’ve got to do it ourselves. We understand that.”
The Jets are coming off a bye week when Ryan gave the team six days off. It’s another built-in reason to assess blame if the team fails.
“Those six days off are going to be judged by how successful we play,” Ryan said. “That’s fine. I think we’re going to play well. Our guys are fresh and I think we’re focused.”
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Ryan said CB Lito Sheppard will play tomorrow, but won’t start. He is returning from a quadriceps injury that sidelined him for five of the last six weeks. Dwight Lowery will start. The Jets are taking a cautious approach with Sheppard. . . . LB Vernon Gholston (hamstring) did not practice yesterday and it is “very doubtful” he will play, according to Ryan. . . . Lowery or WR Brad Smith could return kicks tomorrow. . . . Members of the military watched yesterday’s practice and got autographs afterward. The Jets will honor the military at tomorrow’s game.