What if the Browns had hired Rex Ryan?
While watching this weekend’s playoff games we decided to put on our Hindsight Hat and wonder:
What if the Browns had hired Rex Ryan as coach in 2009? Would it have made a difference?
After Saturday’s victory against Indianapolis, Ryan has now led the Jets to three road playoff wins in two seasons. By comparison, the Browns have won two road playoff games in franchise history: the 1955 NFL Championship game against the Rams and a 1969 playoff game against Dallas.
That’s it.
The Jets have also won 20 games over the past two seasons. The Browns haven’t won 20 games in a two-season span since the 1987 and 1988 seasons.
There’s no doubt his personality would have fit in here; just look at his brother Rob, the Browns defensive coordinator. And the two Ryans working together on the Browns defense certainly would have produced positive results.
Rex Ryan talks a big game and he gets his players to back it up.
But would the Browns be in a better situation than they are right now? That’s hard to say. We still would have liked to see Mangini come back for another year of working with Mike Holmgren and Tom Heckert.
Even if the Browns had hired Ryan over Mangini, the team would still have had to hire a general manager. Would that have been Tom Heckert? Seems doubtful and we like what we’ve seen of his work so far.
Same with Mike Holmgren. If the Browns had played better in ’09 then owner Randy Lerner may not have felt pressure to bring in someone like Holmgren.
And they would still have needed a quarterback, wide receivers, etc. The situation was still one that couldn’t be fixed over night.
That’s the thing when you play the “what if” game, there are so many variables involved that there is really no way to come up with a definitive answer.
There’s one thing we are sure of, though: things would be a lot more interesting. Of course, not everyone would agree.
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ESPN continues its campaign to dump on Cleveland as much as possible.
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First came the news that Anderson Varejao will miss the rest of the Cavs season with a torn tendon in his foot; then today word comes down that Christian Eyenga is in a walking boot.
No word, though, on if Eyenga picked up one of the Browns spare boots for his injury.
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Giants defensive coordinator Perry Fewell is in town to interview on Tuesday for the Browns coaching job.
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King Kenny brings hope to Liverpool even in defeat. Dude, we could use a big shot of hope around here right about now.
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Athletes and Twitter are always good for a laugh.
Red Right 88 
What if the Browns would have hired Rex Ryan? I’ll venture a guess that they wouldn't have won any road playoff games. I also wonder how many of those road playoff games for the Jets would have been home playoff games if they’d have kept Mangini to keep working with what he’d built there.
The Jets were supposed to be a Super Bowl contender this year. How big of a hero is Ryan when they flame out in the Divisional round this week?
That's the thing with the what if game, you can't take it too far before you go spinning into too many variables.
Home or away, Ryan has won playoff games with the team and that's something we haven't seen the Browns do in almost two decades.
I'm not sure how the Jets are not Super Bowl contenders; they are in the playoffs for the Super Bowl, therefore they are contenders. Isn't that what we want here – a team that consistently makes the playoffs?
I'm not advocating that the Browns should have hired Ryan. I'm just putting some thoughts to paper after watching another weekend of playoffs that didn't include the Browns.