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The Jets did the right thing by giving coach Rex Ryan a contract extension.

(New York Jets)

OK, so Rex Ryan's not only coming back to the Jets, he's got the added security of a contract beyond 2014 to keep him from being a lame duck. Some people think this a good idea; others think it's terrible one. I'm here to tell you why it's a good idea while using the arguments put forth by those who think it's terrible. Let's begin, shall we?

General manager John Idzik could have brought in "his" guy. Now Ryan is "his" guy.

And? So? Look, does it really make a damn bit of difference whether Idzik wins or loses with "his" guy? All that matters is whether he wins or loses. The NFL's recent history is littered with the discarded headsets of the next hotshot coach who found himself looking for a job within a few short years. For every Chip Kelly or Jim Harbaugh or Pete Carroll, there's a dozen Eric Manginis and Josh McDanielses and Tony Sparanos and anyone crazy enough to have worked for Dan Snyder. Yes, there's no guarantee Ryan will win a Super Bowl with the Jets. But who's out there who offers such a guarantee? Year-in and year-out, a lot of smart NFL people get paid a lot of money to figure that out and can't. Idzik saw enough of Ryan to go with what he has, rather than take a chance on some unknown. Remember, Carroll and even Bill Belichick didn't win the first time they were NFL head coaches. Idzik bringing in "his" guy and making a mistake had the potential of setting the Jets back years.

The Jets needed to hit the reset button on their "culture of losing."

Right, because doing that every few years has worked so well for Buffalo and Cleveland and Oakland and Miami and every time Jerry Jones reaches for another glass of scotch in Dallas. Guess what? Fourteen—14!—NFL teams have never won a Super Bowl. That's nearly half the league. Winning the Super Bowl is a really, really hard thing to do. And a "culture of losing" isn't some phantom, mystical force that negatively affects anyone who's earned a paycheck for a given organization. Ryan had his window and almost got the Jets to the promised land twice before it closed. Now a new window is opening. And it's up to Idzik to get him the right players.

Keeping Ryan and his antics means the Jets will never be the Giants.

Actually, it's the opposite. Look at every recent Super Bowl winner. All of them are coached by guys who have been on the job for a while. See a pattern there? And how many times, going back to 2004, were the Giants "supposed" to fire Tom Coughlin? Heck, how many times were they "supposed" to fire Coughlin in the same season they wound up winning the Super Bowl? By keeping Ryan, the Jets are doing exactly what made the Giants so successful in recent years. The biggest lesson the Jets can take from MetLife's other tenant is the importance of stability.

Who cares if his players love him? Ryan hasn't made the playoffs in three years!

Which is pretty much life in the NFL for every team not named the Patriots. Winning consistently in the salary-cap era, which necessitates periods of roster turnover, is almost impossible. Bill Cowher once missed the playoffs with the Steelers from 1998-2000. He then went 6-10 in '03 and was given an extension. And two years after that, he won a Super Bowl. I'm not saying Ryan is definitely going follow this pattern with the Jets. But I am saying it can happen. And the beauty of Ryan's extension is that his new deal seems to be incentive-laden. If he doesn't win next year or in 2015, he's gone, and then Idzik gets to bring in "his" guy, whoever that may be. But, as I said above, that won't be some magical guarantee of success, either.

The Jets missed a chance to fire up the fan base with someone new.

"Firing up the fan base" may just be the emptiest of the NFL's litany of empty clichés. What good is getting fired up in the offseason if the team doesn't win in the fall? Ryan's been given another chance to win, with an opportunity to breathe a little at the same time. If he doesn't succeed—and soon—he'll eventually get the exit his detractors all think he deserves anyway.