It’s not hard to identify when the Rex Ryan era Jets began to slide. It all began to fall apart in December 2011 and the Jets are still trying to recover.
The Jets lost three in a row to end the 2011 season and miss the playoffs for the first time under Ryan. The middle loss of those three was to the Giants on Christmas Eve. It’s a loss that still eats at Jets coach Rex Ryan.
“It started with the Giants game. When we lost the Giants game, that really killed us,” Ryan said in an interview with The Post this spring.
It’s something that could cross Ryan’s mind Saturday night when the two teams lined up for their annual preseason meeting. The Jets went 6-10 last year and have not been the same team since Dec. 2011. This spring, Ryan shook his head as he remembered everything about that loss, best remembered for Victor Cruz’s 99-yard touchdown.
Ryan said he actually felt that game hurt them the week before when the Eagles blasted the Jets 45-19 in Philadelphia. Ryan thought his team was caught looking ahead to the MetLife Stadium showdown.
“I think our team was so focused on playing Giants,” Ryan said.
The week before the game, Ryan infuriated the Giants with his talk. Ryan has not been the same brash coach since, dialing down his trash talk perhaps because of how it came back to bite him that day.
The Jets were dominating that game early before the Cruz play spurred the Giants on to a 29-14 win. Ryan still remains dumbfounded the Jets lost that day.
“Eli [Manning] was 9-of-27 in that game. Go back and look,” Ryan said.
After that game, the Jets imploded in Miami and missed the playoffs. The Giants went on to win the Super Bowl.
“That kind of snowballed us,” Ryan said. “They used it to accelerate and we went like this (pointing down).”