Ryan's Inner Circle - NY Times

A Jets Coaching Chemistry Forged Over Cigars and Defense

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. ? The Jets? ministry of defense was a package deal, a threesome of defensive coaches, more Sack Pack than Rat Pack. The franchise hired Rex Ryan as coach, and Ryan insisted on hiring Mike Pettine as defensive coordinator and Dennis Thurman as the defensive backs coach.

Ryan?s inner circle meets regularly, hashing out a philosophy of organized chaos while smoking cigars at The Side Bar in nearby Morristown, N.J. Between puffs, they watch sports, talk sports, argue about sports.

?They?re like brothers,? Jets defensive end Marques Douglas said. ?Or an entourage.?

The meetings started seven seasons ago in Baltimore, where the three coaches forged their bond. Always, they smoked cigars, preferably Cubans, on patios, in backyards. Always, the conversation turned to a shared passion: defense.

Ryan had served three seasons as the Ravens? defensive line coach when Pettine and Thurman were hired before the 2002 season. Pettine and Thurman had human resources orientation the same day, and when the two later shared an office, they discovered they believed in the same football philosophy.

Pettine started in the video department, Thurman as an intern defensive assistant. By the time Ryan started interviewing for head coaching jobs before the 2007 season, the three had hatched a plan. They liked their chemistry on game day. They liked one another, even if their arguments sometimes suggested otherwise.

?That was the team that we had to take with us,? Ryan said. ?Wherever we went, we were going to take each other.?

When the Jets hired Ryan a year ago, he told Pettine in person. His first phone call went to Thurman.

?Get your stuff ready,? Pettine recalled Ryan saying. ?We?re going to New York.?

Ryan and Pettine came from impressive coaching stock. Ryan?s father, Buddy, made the 46 defense famous with the Chicago Bears. Pettine?s father, Mike Sr., spent 33 years carving a legendary high school career in Pennsylvania.

For all they held in common, their differences ? race, size, appearance, stature ? also stood out. Pettine, who is bald, had experience in video. Ryan owned the biggest belly, the loudest mouth, and he struck the others as the most loyal person they ever met. Thurman boasted the most impressive playing career, first as an all-American safety at the University of Southern California and then nine years in the N.F.L., mostly with the Dallas Cowboys.

Even the baseball teams they rooted for ? the Yankees (Thurman), the Philadelphia Phillies (Pettine) and the Chicago Cubs (Ryan) ? showed three men with different tastes.

As defensive coaches, they had schemed for every offense ever invented ? from the Wing T to the Run and Shoot. Pettine became, according to Jets linebacker Bart Scott, who also played for them in Baltimore, Ryan?s ?prized pupil,? a coach who knows this defense as well as Ryan himself.

When Thurman spent last season out of football, Pettine and Ryan talked often about how their inner circle no longer felt complete. Reunited this season, they have resumed their old routine. On game day, Pettine sits upstairs, and Thurman mostly stands directly behind Ryan on the sideline. Players say the three speak their own language, tell inside jokes, all while not diminishing their relationships with other coaches.

?The chemistry that we have on game day, when it flows, it?s like, Wow,? Thurman said.

The results were also similar. The Jets? defense finished the season ranked first in the N.F.L. in several categories, including total defense and scoring defense. Pettine believes this stems from the chemistry among the Sack Pack, the way they refuse to take football, or themselves, too seriously.

In the defensive meeting room, their first rule is that players must have skin like an armadillo?s, and although they recognize that armadillos have shells, not skin, they constantly reiterate this point. Players are even fined for being too sensitive.

These rules extend to coaches. After a recent sauna session with his inner circle, Ryan claimed he was bloated from drinking water.

?I don?t think it?s the water,? Thurman said as the room exploded into laughter.

Sometimes, they fight like the brothers they have become. Pettine, the Phillies fan, took an exceptional beating during the World Series by Thurman, the Yankee fan. Pettine chalked the arguments up to three men, all competitive, all intense, but all pulling rope in the same direction.

When Ryan talks about the three coaches, he refers to them as ?we.?

?He?s one of those guys that once he gets to know you, he likes you, you?re in,? Thurman said. ?You?ll be in for the rest of your life. He?s just that kind of guy.?

To Douglas, that speaks to Ryan?s loyalty, to his propensity for keeping confidants close. Ryan also hired Jeff Weeks, his college roommate at Southwest Oklahoma State, as a defensive assistant, and Doug Plank, the player whose number Ryan?s father used to coin the 46 defense.

The Sack Pack still convenes at The Side Bar on occasion, although it has become more difficult as Ryan has become, in Thurman?s words, ?a megastar around here.?

That is where Ryan seems most at ease, on a couch, cigar in hand, surrounded by his crew.

Sometimes, they look back at the plan they hatched and marvel at how it unfolded so quickly, in only their first season with the Jets.

?It?s weird in that it?s something that we talked about,? Thurman said. ?A lot of times, it doesn?t turn out that way. We envisioned going somewhere and being successful. And here we are.?

One win from the Super Bowl, two wins from the ultimate victory cigar.

EXTRA POINTS

Shaun Ellis practiced Friday with his broken left hand heavily wrapped but said he expected to play. Ellis will have a hard time grasping opponents because his hand will be wrapped in a fist. Coach Rex Ryan said he planned to play Ellis as much as he normally does. Kerry Rhodes, who banged his knee Thursday in practice, said he would play. . . . Ryan said he was a little surprised to hear that souvenirs proclaiming the Jets as A.F.C. champions were on sale, until he was told that the Colts and both N.F.C. conference finalists also have souvenirs for sale. ?You can?t buy a four-extra-large T-shirt anyway, so I don?t care about that stuff,? Ryan said.