To call this the Year of Rex Ryan might be a bit dramatic, but only just. And it’s only going to get worse:
This will happen because Ryan is a force of nature who cannot be contained by lap-band surgery, foot-fetish video tempests, or a roster of players with more faults than California. But it will also happen because without Michael Vick, the rest of the playoff field can’t even combine to counter the force of his personality. The walking cure for insomnia Bill Belichick? Lovie Smith? John (no, not Jim) Harbaugh? Whoever is coaching Green Bay from under that ski cap? Atlanta’s Mike Smith might get asked for ID at his own stadium. Even the sunny and bombastic Pete Carroll would be blown aside by a Rex Ryan sneeze.
The good news? We may be rid of him by Sunday. Not that he’ll be quiet after his New York Jets vanish into the Patriots’ maw.