I'll be honest, I knew nothing about this guy when he was a linebackers coach on the Ravens, and was a bit nervous going into last season with him as our DC. Obviously Rex knows what the fuck he is doing, and Pettine is a great coach. As evidenced by our #1 Defense in his first year as an NFL DC. Rex designs the D, but Pettine must be imperative in calling/analyzing some of the plays and drawing up schemes. I've really liked everything I've seen from him on Hard Knocks, from his interactions with the players to his coaching philosophies. He seems to carry the same hardass, tough nosed mentality that Rex does. That's instrumental in influencing how our players act and for them to truly believe in it, they have to be convinced the coaches believe in what they say. He sold me.
"People ask how we find all these good guys well it's easy. We find out who can do the job and we cut the rest." Loved that line.
Don't make it easy for us He's an intense guy and clearly very important to this staff...if the Jets continue to be near the top of the league in defense for the next few years somebody may give him a shot as head coach.
I met him up at Cortland when he was signing autographs. He's the quintessential football coach. Seems no nonsense, and straight up. I think he's a perfect complement for Rex Ryan.
Don't forget that DT is an integral part of this scheme and all three of them (Rex, Pettine, Thomas) probably know exactly what the other is thinking.
I loved the fact that after the Eli incident his first thought wasn't "nice hit" or "good stop", it was "How can we not have the fucking ball??!!!"
And to think just a few years ago he was an up and coming HS coach outside of Philly trying to establish a legacy separate from that of his dad's, who was a famous HS coach in PA. He's had a pretty amazing climb from then to now.
There is actually a movie about this. Its a pretty good documentary called "The Last Game," he's in it quite a bit, pretty neat seeing him in the NFL now for sure.
As much as I think he's adequate, do you not think he's a Ryan puppet? Ryan admittedly does a lot more work with the D and I think whatever Ryan does Pettine will mimic.
Pettine is clearly an intense dude who doesn't really act anything like Rex. I don't think you could say that he's a puppet of Rex, unlike Shotty, Pettine is a mean dude.
With 2 gimmees at the end of the regular season and a win over a lousy Cincy team, then a flat SD team, I'm think most us are overrating the green Machine. 12 yards passing with marginal backs aint gunna do it.
