FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- They have a three-game losing streak. The owner isn't happy. The coach is an emotional pendulum, swinging from tears to tirades. The organization is mired in the "Terrible" Tim Tebow fallout.

It can't possibly get any worse for the New York Jets.

Oh, yes it can.

If they lose Sunday to Brian Schottenheimer, they might as well throw in the Terrible Towel.

Rex Ryan says facing his former OC will be a "cat-and-mouse game." AP Photo/Julio Cortez

The Jets kicked their former offensive coordinator to the curb last January -- officially, it was termed a mutual parting -- and now they face him and the St. Louis Rams in a different kind of must-win.

If Rex Ryan's defense allows Schottenheimer's offense to resemble "The Greatest Show on Turf," it'll be the biggest stain yet on the Jets' season – especially if Tony Sparano's offense continues to put up zeros.

Don't think for a second that some folks at 1 Jets Drive aren't a little freaked out by the prospect of reading "Schotty's Revenge" headlines in the Monday tabloids. No one is afraid of the Rams' 24th-ranked offense, but the way the Jets' season is going, it doesn't take a fertile imagination to think of all the ways this could go wrong for them.

Plus, they suspect that Schottenheimer has something up his sleeve. This one's personal.

"I'm sure he has fond memories of the Jets and I have fond memories of Schotty -- we won a lot of games together -- but at the end of the day, Mike Pettine is going to try to kill Schotty and Schotty will try to kill us," said Rex Ryan, referring to his defensive coordinator.

Predictably, Schottenheimer downplayed the matchup, but you can bet it means a lot to him. He served as Eric Mangini's coordinator for three years, got passed over for the head-coaching job when Ryan was hired in 2009, and stuck around to run Ryan's offense. He got beat up pretty good in New York despite two trips to the AFC Championship Game.