"Rex Ryan readily admits he never had the pulse of his team this season.

"That's the biggest thing we have to fix," he said during a conference call with reporters Friday. "It's the easiest thing to fix."

That is not the biggest problem facing the Jets. We know that because of the extensive wreckage that Ryan and GM Mike Tannenbaum are standing amid at the Jets training facility two weeks after they flamed out in Miami.

There is a crisis of confidence with quarterback Mark Sanchez. That is bigger than a mutinous receiver and mouthy fourth-string rookie quarterback. That is bigger than Ryan not sticking his head in the door of a position meeting or walking through the locker room chatting up players.

Sanchez's teammates told Daily News Jets beat writer Manish Mehta about this crisis. Yes, they were anonymous players making the assertions. Some people have called those players gutless, but no one has called them liars (although Sanchez does have backers such as Nick Mangold).

Pulse of the team? How about knowing there are guys in the locker room who doubt if you've got the right guy under center?

"We do have an open-door policy. We encourage our players to express themselves," Ryan said. "Saying things and not putting your name on it, that's not being a Jet. That's going to change without question."

On a personal level, Ryan is going to take Billy Joel's advice. He won't go changing.

"I might not be a coach that's cut from a certain mold. I might not be like 31 other coaches. But that's OK. I have to be myself," Ryan said."