There is a serious problem with the New York Jets.
They're 1-4, they benched their quarterback during a shutout loss (but they're going back to him next week) after he reportedly missed meetings the day before the game, they're 30th in points scored and last in passing yards and their defense, notoriously staunch and turnover-hungry, is just 21st in the league in points allowed, giving up an average of 25.4 a game and has a single interception for the season.
Free agents haven't panned out and draft picks are performing well below expectations.
All that's left to figure out is: Who's to blame for the mess?
General Manager John Idzik has taken quite a bit of heat recently - and for good reason.
The selection of Geno Smith in the second-round of last year's draft isn't looking so good lately. He's currently producing a stat line of 86 completions on 148 attempts (58.1% completion percentage), for 949 yards, four touchdowns, six interceptions and two fumbles for a total rating of 69.3. Not great.
Smith also recently cursed at a fan after a loss and missed meetings due to being unaware of what time zone he was in. Even worse.
Big money free agent, Eric Decker (five-year, $36.25 million deal), hasn't played anywhere near expectations since coming over from the Denver Broncos in the off-season.
Deals for free agent mercenaries like Chris Johnson, Jason Babin and Michael Vick have amounted to a whole lot of nothing.
And the decision to try to shore up the cornerback position after the free agent departure of Antonio Cromartie with draft picks Dexter McDougle and Dee Milliner and free agent journeyman Dimitri Patterson has proved to be a disastrous one.
McDougle and Milliner are both done for the season, and Patterson was released after some bizarre behavior surrounding his disappearance for the Jets preseason game against the New York Giants.
Idzik is justifiably feeling the heat for these moves - and yet, his culpability is hard to pin down.
The Jets currently have a little less than $24 million in cap space, which ranks them second in the league behind the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The truth is, the deals for Johnson, Babin and Vick are all short and relatively cheap. They're low-cost, high-reward signings. Yes, they're currently returning a very low reward, but each can be jettisoned after this season, should things continue the way they are.
This is a model employed by teams like the Seattle Seahawks (Michael Bennett, Cliff Avril) to great success.
Idzik comes from "the Ted Thompson tree of managers. Thompson-style general managers hoard draft picks, maintain cap flexibility, and generally avoid the middle class of free agency, only occasionally jumping into the water for a big splash," according to Grantland.
The Jets can roll their unused cap space over into next year, they can easily shed most of their underperforming free agents, plus they've got all their draft picks - they're currently in great position moving forward.
Decker - the lone "big splash" - has not played well. But much of that is due to the instability at quarterback. If Geno Smith can't complete a ball - to his own team at least - how is Decker supposed to successfully do his job?
Some will argue that Decker looked good in Denver because he played with perennial All-Pro and surefire Hall Of Famer Peyton Manning, and they'd be right - to a point. Every wide receiver is a product of his quarterback. Bad quarterback play means bad wide receiver play. In fact, as evidenced by the Jets' most recent loss to the San Diego Chargers, bad quarterback play means bad offensive play in general.
Football is a sport of connections.
If one unit, or one part of a unit, is playing poorly, the other units will suffer. Therefore, bad quarterback play means the receivers and tight ends aren't going to catch many passes, which means the defense is going to key on the run game, which means the run game will suffer, forcing the offense to try and win via what was failing them in the first place - the passing game.
The same goes for the organization as a whole. If general manager John Idzik - brought in this past season after owner Woody Johnson dismissed predecessor Mike Tannenbaum - is shopping for a grocery list that the head coach - Ryan - isn't interested in cooking with, then that leaves a serious hole in the team-building process.
But Ryan is the one who should probably be facing more blame - much more.
His strong, but still underperforming defensive unit boasts eight former first-round picks. The cornerback snafu falls as much on his shoulders as Idzik. The Jets are in a quarterback conundrum, at least partially due to the prior draft failings of Ryan and Tannenbaum (Kyle Wilson, 2010).
He also signed off on the idea of Geno Smith as the quarterback of the future in New York. He's coached him. He's seen him in team meetings (or not). It's his job to get the team, and Smith, ready week in and week out.
His offense seems to lack an identity, and he's failed to develop almost any quality offensive players in the six years he's been leading the franchise.
Linebacker Demario Davis told reporters he didn't think the Jets were "practicing like a championship team." Ryan was reportedly "shocked" by those comments.
After the loss to San Diego, he blamed himself for the poor play and inexcusable errors.
"First off, I apologize to our fans - those that are left," Ryan said to start his press conference. "This is on one person, and that's it. It's certainly not on the quarterback, on one individual that way or anybody else. It's on me. Clearly got out-coached. I thought we had a good plan going in and, obviously that wasn't the case. Couldn't convert a third down. Giving up a 60-percent conversion rate on third down on defense [67 percent, actually]. It only seemed like 100 percent. It was a complete ass whipping, and it was me that was getting my ass kicked. I think that's where it is. It's on one man. It's on me. I understand what needs to be done. It'll start with our preparation, like it always does. I thought I had my team prepared, and clearly that wasn't the case."
It seems that we may have reached the point where the team is tuning Ryan out. The players profess to love him, but saying something and proving something with actions are two entirely different things.
A 1-4 record shows a team that is on the verge of quitting on its coach, even as players seethe at the idea.
"Rex is not playing," defensive end Muhammad Wilkerson said. "He can put it on himself all he wants, but as men out here, we've got to do our job. We get paid to (expletive) play football."
Said defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson: "He can try to take the blame, but it's us out there playing. All he's doing is calling plays. He had his few communication problems (on Sunday), and we were in the wrong stuff. Or it was a different call than what we were calling, and he wanted something different. It only happened like twice, and it really wasn't that big of a play when he did mess up. So it's all on us."
Rex, for his part, said that he doesn't "believe for a minute" that he's lost the team. But he also thinks they "have plenty of talent" with which to compete.
Not necessarily warring ideals, but it doesn't leave much room for argument as to who is to blame for the current state of things.
Ryan was given a contract extension last offseason, but it only contains guaranteed money through 2015. He could be fired after this year with almost no financial repercussions.
Which leaves the real question to linger - how long until Ryan begins to absorb the type of criticism he so clearly deserves?
