Jets' Ryan defends Schottenheimer

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. - Rex Ryan isn't about to get rid of his offensive coordinator.

Ryan made it crystal-clear Monday that he's bringing back Brian Schottenheimer. He didn't hesitate when asked if Schottenheimer will return for a sixth season with the Jets.

"Yes, absolutely," Ryan said.

Schottenheimer is on the hot seat with some observers because of some curious play calls, the offense's lethargic play in the first half and its lack of urgency in the fourth quarter of Sunday's 24-19 AFC Championship Game loss to the Steelers.

He again drew the ire of the Jets' faithful, especially for that goal-line sequence in the final quarter with the Jets trailing 24-10 but with first-and-goal at the 2-yard line.

After Shonn Greene ran for a yard on first down, the Jets attempted head-scratching passes on successive plays, with quarterback Mark Sanchez misfiring on both to set up fourth down. LaDainian Tomlinson was stuffed for no gain and the Jets squandered a golden opportunity to claw within a touchdown at 24-17 with 7:44 remaining.

The Jets were lambasted for not running the ball more during that exchange, and after a day to think about it, Ryan somewhat agreed.

"If we had the benefit of hindsight, we should have probably just ran Shonn Greene or L.T. four straight times," Ryan said. "That's easy to look back on it. We clearly thought that we had some good plays designed and it never worked out."

That might be partly attributed to the communication problems the Jets were having. Sanchez said his headset went on the fritz several times - including on that goal-line series - making it difficult to get the plays in rapidly.

"It's your team's responsibility about the headphones," Ryan said. "That's not why we lost the game. It's something that happened, but that's not why we lost the game."

Santonio Holmes appeared to take a few swipes at Schottenheimer after the game. Holmes, fired up to play his old team, caught a 45-yard touchdown pass early in the third quarter but seemed bothered that Schottenheimer didn't utilize him on the game's first few plays.

"Ask coach Schottenheimer," he said. "I just had to go with the game plan. That's the way things were called, and that's what I had to do . . . He'll explain everything to you. I don't have an answer for that."

Ryan wasn't pleased with Holmes' criticism, but he chalked it up to the raw feelings that are so prevalent after such a difficult defeat.

"No, that's not the way I like to operate," he said. "It just talks of the emotions that you're feeling at the time. Just like I was in saying [Sunday] nobody has a right to write negative comments about us. That's a ridiculous statement. But it was just - it was raw. It was like that's the emotion of it at the time, you know? Those are things, obviously, you wish you had back."