Rex Ryan says he's 'side by side' on decisions with John Idzik

Not sure if you were aware, but the Jets are a slow-motion trainwreck. Saturday night can't be the culmination because it's only the preseason but, man, it was pretty awesome seeing Rex Ryan derail on live television. So what would happen Monday when he returned to the podium?

Unfortunately, the fireworks created from Mark Sanchez shoulder injury late Saturday were put back in the box and Ryan had no interest in discussion his near meltdown from two days before.

"As we all know in here I spent a lot of time discussing my answer then after the game, from my standpoint we had to move forward and that's where we're at," Ryan said of the Sanchez injury and his press conference. "What happened in the past you can't do anything about right now you've got to focus on the present and the future and that's where we are right now."

Ryan also added that at no point did owner Woody Johnson or GM John Idzik speak to him about the blowup -- an incident that's actually drawn the ire of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie -- but he did protest quite a bit when asked if he and Idzik were opposed at all in decision making.

"John and I are really like shoulder to shoulder on decisions we make," Rex said. "What's in front of us now is finishing out who's gonna make this team, making those final decisions. The present is making sure we have the best roster we possibly can have. Obviously you have a game to play against Philadelphia and you have Tampa down the road.

"With John and I we are side-by-side on every decision that goes into it. Who plays, who's making the team, all those types of things, we are side-by-side with each other."

That statement is something Ryan has to say, mainly because Idzik is his boss. But it runs counter to the notion that Rex wants Sanchez to win the starting quarterback competition and Idzik wants his guy, rookie Geno Smith, to win the job.

It's probably going to end up being Geno, mainly because Sanchez is hurt, but Rex isn't saying at the moment.

"We said from Week 1 there was no timetable on us announcing a starting quarterback. We'll probably have our decision before [Friday of Week 1]," Ryan said. "We're not going to rush the decision until we're completely comfortable. I don't know what else to say about it."

Naming the quarterback who'll be under center for Week 1 would be a decent start. But that would also do a lot to deflect attention and move things onto football-related matters. And certainly we wouldn't want to do that.

Topics: Geno Smith, Mark Sanchez, Will Brinson, New York Jets, NFL