Owner doesn't deny Jets are in turmoil

Despite his team's late-season flameout and the finger-pointing that's been prevalent since, Jets owner Woody Johnson remained silent.

Until Thursday.

Johnson, who's spent the better part of this week supporting Mitt Romney's bid for the Republican presidential nomination, finally spoke up about the Jets in an appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."

Asked if the team is in turmoil and if there's chaos surrounding the Jets, Johnson didn't dispute it.

"It should be,'' he said. "New Yorkers don't like losers, and even if it's an 8-8 record, that's not good enough here. They want a winner and there is frustration. That's what you want.''

Johnson said "everybody is a little frustrated" after the Jets failed to meet their lofty Super Bowl expectations, which they thought they would achieve after reaching the AFC Championship Game in the first two years of the Rex Ryan era.

The Jets have been revamping their coaching staff, hiring former Dolphins coach Tony Sparano as offensive coordinator Wednesday, barely 12 hours after Brian Schottenheimer's resignation.

The shake-up -- which included letting go assistant head coach/offensive line coach Bill Callahan and wide receivers coach Henry Ellard after their contracts expired -- comes on the heels of rookie quarterback Greg McElroy's calling the Jets' locker room "corrupt" and filled with "selfish individuals" in a radio interview last week.

Johnson also addressed the Daily News report that quoted anonymous players and team sources who heavily criticized Mark Sanchez, with a player calling the quarterback lazy.

"I've never heard that,'' Johnson said. "He's the first guy in the building every morning and the last guy to leave. So the last thing he is, is lazy. He's the first guy in.

"He's an NFL quarterback. That's what you expect from an NFL quarterback."

Johnson said Ryan understands he made a huge mistake by not having a better pulse of the team, which became much more obvious when McElroy publicly aired its dirty laundry.

"I think he does,'' Johnson said. "Now how do you correct that? That's alchemy. Inside the locker room is one of those things that every year is a little bit different.''

The Jets decided not to hold training camp in upstate Cortland because of the condensed period after the lockout. Johnson suggested it may have been a mistake. The Jets held camp there in Ryan's first two seasons.

"Thirty percent new players and the fact that we didn't go to Cortland hurt us," Johnson said. "Every team didn't have an offseason, [but] maybe it hurt us more than others.''

Notes & quotes: A Jets source confirmed former Chiefs coach Todd Haley met with the team yesterday about a possible position on the offensive staff, but no offer was made to Haley . . . ESPN reported Schottenheimer is drawing interest from the Jaguars for their offensive coordinator job.