The Notorious R.E.X. is the "Realest"!

"Big Man's Swagger"

Rex Ryan the 2nd year head coach of the NY Jets has been successful because his players believe in him. So many people in the media have taken shots at this guy because he may come off as a jerk and overly cocky. Well guess what... it works. Players love to play for guys that have complete confidence in them. So while the media and the general public may not like this guy because of the way he talks or the language that he may use. The players embrace it. I heard Tony Dungy say in an interview on ESPN say that some guys can talk and play. If you can only do one, then just play. I just believe that if you can talk the talk and walk the walk. Keep walking and talking! Rex has proven that he can do both. He's 20-12 in the regular season and five games deep into his postseason career, he already stands as the only coach in Jets history to win four tournament games.

Guys want to know that their head coach has their back and will go to war with them. When the Jets got embarrassed during the regular season against the Patriots 45-3. Rex was the first one in the post-game press conference admitting that they got whipped and that he was willing to play them again right now if they would let them. That's what the players want to hear. That's my dawg right there. If he believes in me then I'm giving him everything I've got. No doubt about it and his players obviously feel the same way.

Don't try to compare this guy to Lombardi or Landry or some other coaches and expect him to operate like them. Now I'm not saying that he's on that level by any means. I'm just making the point that in order for him to do his thing his way, he's got to be Rex Ryan. If that means talking trash during the week and coaching his butt off as well then so be it. I keep hearing people say that he shouldn't act that way. I say he's got to be who he is. Ball players can't stand fake people and that's the quickest way to lose a team. The culture of being an athlete is the closest thing to growing up in the hood. You have to be authentic in order to be respected. The fact that Rex is as real as he is, allows him to be one of the guys and that's why he been so successful.

He reminds me of Jimmy Johnson while he was at the University of Miami and eventually during his tenure with the Cowboys. He would embrace the swagger and trash talk of his players for them to be themselves which allowed them to be loose. Barry Switzer was the same way at the University of Oklahoma before he landed with Dallas as well. I can remember hearing a story of how Barry would recruit high school kids to come to play for the Sooners. He would tell them that if they came to OU the Sooners would win a national title. If they didn't come to play for the Sooners, Oklahoma would win a national title. You could win with us or get beat by us. Most people call that being arrogant, I call it being confident.

The Notorious B.I.G.

Ryan has a lot of the late rapper The Notorious B.I.G. in him. He's supremely confident and doesn't care what you think of the way he gets down. Biggie once wrote the ultimate lyric, "black and ugly as ever, however, I stay Gucci down to the socks, my rings and watch filled with rocks". I can hear Rex giving his version of it, "white and ugly as ever, however, I stay Nike down to the socks, I want my Super Bowl ring filled with rocks". He's my guy because he let's the world know that it's OK to be yourself and still be successful. Like Jay Z once said, "Don't knock the hustle".

The next time he does an interview pay attention to him. He'll never answer a question the way most people would. He'll say what many of us are thinking but would never think to say because we're afraid of what the public will think about us. Like I always say, " If  50% of the people in the room aren't hating on you, then you aren't doing your job". What's your opinion?

Jay Graves
jaygraves@barbershopsports.net
follow me on Twitter: @jaygravesreport