Four things I've liked from Rex this year.

[T0mShane]

As I've stated many, many, many, many times here, I'm not a great fan of Rex Ryan as a head coach. I think he's an overhired defensive coordinator in the Dick LeBeau/Wade Phillips vein who will hold a team in a purgatorial state because of his many failings as a leader, an administrator, and as the face of a franchise. Ultimately, I think the Jets can, and should, find a more complete head coach to guide the team moving forward. That said, he's shown some growth in areas that I didn't think he was capable of, and I compiled a few examples into a list because I'm bored and attention-starved.

1. Cutting Joe McKnight: McKnight came on board in Rex's first draft and was one of what I like to call, "Rex's swagger guys." McKnight was supposed to be one of those projects that would be so enamored with Rex's player's coach philosophy that he'd work hard enough to develop once freed of the disciplined strictures of those mean Ol' hard-ass coaches at USC. McKnight, of course, never did. But, he showed enough as a kick returner over the years that cutting him was never as easy a call as it appears in retrospect. True, McKnight had a nightmare training camp, but McKnight has always had nightmare training camps because he's a lazy, entitled jackass. The fact that he was cut early on was a mild indication that there would be more accountability at Florham Park and that no one--not even one of Rex's Swagger Guys--was guaranteed a job here anymore.

2. Benching Milliner, Kyle Wilson, and Vlad Ducasse: Speaking of accountability, Rex had previously never shown the ability to bench a player that was clearly hurting the team, whether it was Mark Sanchez, Santonio Holmes, Eric Smith, Wayne Hunter, Bart Scott, etc etc etc. But, early on, Rex has pulled the string on a few guys whose play merited some bench time. Pulling Milliner out of the New England game, pulling Wilson out against Buffalo, and finally yanking Ducasse (even after showing some promise two weeks prior against New England) was encouraging. All three deserved to be pulled, and Rex finally found the spine to do so. Who knows what the past two seasons may have looked like if he found the nerve to bench Holmes after his Philadelphia meltdown two years ago, or benching Sanchez at any point during one of his many fugue episodes? The act of getting a player who is hurting the team off the field--no matter their draft position or salary, or even level of talent--reaffirms that the goal of the team is to win games, and not to serve as a giant pre-K program for selfish, emotionally unstable clowns. In 2013, Rex has learned that. Finally.

3. Not anointing Geno Smith: Geno got the starting job, and maintains the starting job, largely by default, and Rex makes sure Geno knows it, which is ok. Rex, as we've seen over the years, has had a tendency to over-emote regarding players under his control. He has not done so--at all--with Geno, and it's worked out. Even after the Atlanta and New England victories, where it would have been justified to lavish his young QB with praise, Rex was muted, going so far as to not even guarantee that the job was Geno's the following week. This is another example of Rex better understanding the team dynamic, and reinforcing the concept of accountability and competition. After spending four years treating Mark Sanchez like he was Bart Starr, maybe Rex has learned that keeping a young player's nose to the grindstone--especially one who came in with ego/maturity problems--won't totally eradicate that player's confidence.

4. His reaction to Belichick's whining over the Pats losing on a penalty: "He's got to make up his mind," referring to Belichick, "Was he aware of this thing? Was it second level? All this kind of jazz, or now the story is we did it. OK, I gotcha. The fact is, we're moving on. We earned that victory, plain and simple and we're focused on Cincinnati now." Contained therein was Rex throwing down the gauntlet against two entities that have pushed him around over the years: Belichick and the media. Though Rex's teams have played the Pats well at times, he'd lost to Belichick fairly regularly, usually followed by a smug Belichick throwing some platitude Rex's way about how much he appreciates his coaching. Belichick used to do the same to Herm Edwards, which essentially boiled down to Belichick saying, "nice try, kiddo" This was Rex pushing back against Belichick, who was saying that Rex got lucky. Rex's response: "Eat a d|ck." Nice. As it relates to the media, Rex has figured out, finally, that being the media's favorite source of sound bytes isn't necessarily a good thing. Rex seemingly no longer plays to the cameras and, now, mostly, doesn't spoon feed his reporters/antagonists the fodder they've used the past two years to paint him as a clown. The harder Cimini and Mehta have to work to write inflammatory stories, the better off your organization is. Players obsess over public perception. If the coach is viewed as a clown, that coach becomes vulnerable. If a coach is vulnerable, there are enough malcontents on every team to progressively threaten that coach's ability to control a locker room. It seems Rex has learned about discretion being the better part of valor, and that maintaining a slightly adversarial relationship with your beat guys means you're keeping them at exactly the right distance.

[flgreen]

As I've stated many, many, many, many times here, I'm not a great fan of Rex Ryan as a head coach. I think he's an overhired defensive coordinator in the Dick LeBeau/Wade Phillips vein who will hold a team in a purgatorial state because of his many failings as a leader, an administrator, and as the face of a franchise. Ultimately, I think the Jets can, and should, find a more complete head coach to guide the team moving forward. That said, he's shown some growth in areas that I didn't think he was capable of, and I compiled a few examples into a list because I'm bored and attention-starved.

1. Cutting Joe McKnight: McKnight came on board in Rex's first draft and was one of what I like to call, "Rex's swagger guys." McKnight was supposed to be one of those projects that would be so enamored with Rex's player's coach philosophy that he'd work hard enough to develop once freed of the disciplined strictures of those mean Ol' hard-ass coaches at USC. McKnight, of course, never did. But, he showed enough as a kick returner over the years that cutting him was never as easy a call as it appears in retrospect. True, McKnight had a nightmare training camp, but McKnight has always had nightmare training camps because he's a lazy, entitled jackass. The fact that he was cut early on was a mild indication that there would be more accountability at Florham Park and that no one--not even one of Rex's Swagger Guys--was guaranteed a job here anymore.

2. Benching Milliner, Kyle Wilson, and Vlad Ducasse: Speaking of accountability, Rex had previously never shown the ability to bench a player that was clearly hurting the team, whether it was Mark Sanchez, Santonio Holmes, Eric Smith, Wayne Hunter, Bart Scott, etc etc etc. But, early on, Rex has pulled the string on a few guys whose play merited some bench time. Pulling Milliner out of the New England game, pulling Wilson out against Buffalo, and finally yanking Ducasse (even after showing some promise two weeks prior against New England) was encouraging. All three deserved to be pulled, and Rex finally found the spine to do so. Who knows what the past two seasons may have looked like if he found the nerve to bench Holmes after his Philadelphia meltdown two years ago, or benching Sanchez at any point during one of his many fugue episodes? The act of getting a player who is hurting the team off the field--no matter their draft position or salary, or even level of talent--reaffirms that the goal of the team is to win games, and not to serve as a giant pre-K program for selfish, emotionally unstable clowns. In 2013, Rex has learned that. Finally.

3. Not anointing Geno Smith: Geno got the starting job, and maintains the starting job, largely by default, and Rex makes sure Geno knows it, which is ok. Rex, as we've seen over the years, has had a tendency to over-emote regarding players under his control. He has not done so--at all--with Geno, and it's worked out. Even after the Atlanta and New England victories, where it would have been justified to lavish his young QB with praise, Rex was muted, going so far as to not even guarantee that the job was Geno's the following week. This is another example of Rex better understanding the team dynamic, and reinforcing the concept of accountability and competition. After spending four years treating Mark Sanchez like he was Bart Starr, maybe Rex has learned that keeping a young player's nose to the grindstone--especially one who came in with ego/maturity problems--won't totally eradicate that player's confidence.

4. His reaction to Belichick's whining over the Pats losing on a penalty: "He's got to make up his mind," referring to Belichick, "Was he aware of this thing? Was it second level? All this kind of jazz, or now the story is we did it. OK, I gotcha. The fact is, we're moving on. We earned that victory, plain and simple and we're focused on Cincinnati now." Contained therein was Rex throwing down the gauntlet against two entities that have pushed him around over the years: Belichick and the media. Though Rex's teams have played the Pats well at times, he'd lost to Belichick fairly regularly, usually followed by a smug Belichick throwing some platitude Rex's way about how much he appreciates his coaching. Belichick used to do the same to Herm Edwards, which essentially boiled down to Belichick saying, "nice try, kiddo" This was Rex pushing back against Belichick, who was saying that Rex got lucky. Rex's response: "Eat a d|ck." Nice. As it relates to the media, Rex has figured out, finally, that being the media's favorite source of sound bytes isn't necessarily a good thing. Rex seemingly no longer plays to the cameras and, now, mostly, doesn't spoon feed his reporters/antagonists the fodder they've used the past two years to paint him as a clown. The harder Cimini and Mehta have to work to write inflammatory stories, the better off your organization is. Players obsess over public perception. If the coach is viewed as a clown, that coach becomes vulnerable. If a coach is vulnerable, there are enough malcontents on every team to progressively threaten that coach's ability to control a locker room. It seems Rex has learned about discretion being the better part of valor, and that maintaining a slightly adversarial relationship with your beat guys means you're keeping them at exactly the right distance.

TLDR

[Joe Jets fan]

Number one is hiring MM.     Thats the move that might save his job.

[Damaged89]

TL;DR AND/OR #AGENDA

 

 

Seriously, this is all very well thought out and well said.  Chapters 2 and 4 are dead on.  Rex obviously has talent as a defensive mind and as a motivator.  The problems stem from what has thus far been an inability to correct his flaws and mistakes.  Those flaws were covered up in 2009-2010 and exposed in the subsequent two seasons.  Seeing (belated) growth in areas that he has been deficient in gives me reason for optimism, especially since I'm inclined to think that Woody is looking to bring him back.

[BroadwayJoe12]

Spot-on. Eloquent. Uncharacteristic. GFY.

[dbatesman]

After spending four years treating Mark Sanchez like he was Bart Starr, maybe Rex has learned that keeping a young player's nose to the grindstone--especially one who came in with ego/maturity problems--won't totally eradicate that player's confidence.

 

Agree with everything but the bolded, which I think has been pretty conclusively proven to be utter horsesh*t.

[The Crusher]

As I've stated many, many, many, many times here, I'm not a great fan of Rex Ryan as a head coach. I think he's an overhired defensive coordinator in the Dick LeBeau/Wade Phillips vein who will hold a team in a purgatorial state because of his many failings as a leader, an administrator, and as the face of a franchise. Ultimately, I think the Jets can, and should, find a more complete head coach to guide the team moving forward. That said, he's shown some growth in areas that I didn't think he was capable of, and I compiled a few examples into a list because I'm bored and attention-starved.

1. Cutting Joe McKnight: McKnight came on board in Rex's first draft and was one of what I like to call, "Rex's swagger guys." McKnight was supposed to be one of those projects that would be so enamored with Rex's player's coach philosophy that he'd work hard enough to develop once freed of the disciplined strictures of those mean Ol' hard-ass coaches at USC. McKnight, of course, never did. But, he showed enough as a kick returner over the years that cutting him was never as easy a call as it appears in retrospect. True, McKnight had a nightmare training camp, but McKnight has always had nightmare training camps because he's a lazy, entitled jackass. The fact that he was cut early on was a mild indication that there would be more accountability at Florham Park and that no one--not even one of Rex's Swagger Guys--was guaranteed a job here anymore.

2. Benching Milliner, Kyle Wilson, and Vlad Ducasse: Speaking of accountability, Rex had previously never shown the ability to bench a player that was clearly hurting the team, whether it was Mark Sanchez, Santonio Holmes, Eric Smith, Wayne Hunter, Bart Scott, etc etc etc. But, early on, Rex has pulled the string on a few guys whose play merited some bench time. Pulling Milliner out of the New England game, pulling Wilson out against Buffalo, and finally yanking Ducasse (even after showing some promise two weeks prior against New England) was encouraging. All three deserved to be pulled, and Rex finally found the spine to do so. Who knows what the past two seasons may have looked like if he found the nerve to bench Holmes after his Philadelphia meltdown two years ago, or benching Sanchez at any point during one of his many fugue episodes? The act of getting a player who is hurting the team off the field--no matter their draft position or salary, or even level of talent--reaffirms that the goal of the team is to win games, and not to serve as a giant pre-K program for selfish, emotionally unstable clowns. In 2013, Rex has learned that. Finally.

3. Not anointing Geno Smith: Geno got the starting job, and maintains the starting job, largely by default, and Rex makes sure Geno knows it, which is ok. Rex, as we've seen over the years, has had a tendency to over-emote regarding players under his control. He has not done so--at all--with Geno, and it's worked out. Even after the Atlanta and New England victories, where it would have been justified to lavish his young QB with praise, Rex was muted, going so far as to not even guarantee that the job was Geno's the following week. This is another example of Rex better understanding the team dynamic, and reinforcing the concept of accountability and competition. After spending four years treating Mark Sanchez like he was Bart Starr, maybe Rex has learned that keeping a young player's nose to the grindstone--especially one who came in with ego/maturity problems--won't totally eradicate that player's confidence.

4. His reaction to Belichick's whining over the Pats losing on a penalty: "He's got to make up his mind," referring to Belichick, "Was he aware of this thing? Was it second level? All this kind of jazz, or now the story is we did it. OK, I gotcha. The fact is, we're moving on. We earned that victory, plain and simple and we're focused on Cincinnati now." Contained therein was Rex throwing down the gauntlet against two entities that have pushed him around over the years: Belichick and the media. Though Rex's teams have played the Pats well at times, he'd lost to Belichick fairly regularly, usually followed by a smug Belichick throwing some platitude Rex's way about how much he appreciates his coaching. Belichick used to do the same to Herm Edwards, which essentially boiled down to Belichick saying, "nice try, kiddo" This was Rex pushing back against Belichick, who was saying that Rex got lucky. Rex's response: "Eat a d|ck." Nice. As it relates to the media, Rex has figured out, finally, that being the media's favorite source of sound bytes isn't necessarily a good thing. Rex seemingly no longer plays to the cameras and, now, mostly, doesn't spoon feed his reporters/antagonists the fodder they've used the past two years to paint him as a clown. The harder Cimini and Mehta have to work to write inflammatory stories, the better off your organization is. Players obsess over public perception. If the coach is viewed as a clown, that coach becomes vulnerable. If a coach is vulnerable, there are enough malcontents on every team to progressively threaten that coach's ability to control a locker room. It seems Rex has learned about discretion being the better part of valor, and that maintaining a slightly adversarial relationship with your beat guys means you're keeping them at exactly the right distance.

Great read. It's been a slow process but Rex has certainly showed a "willigness" to become better.  From him losing weight (Quitter) to him starting to act like a head coach rather than a vaudeville clown during pressers.   These are very good thought out points. 

[SenorGato]

Number one is hiring MM. Thats the move that might save his job.

This man knows what hes talking about.

The other stuff was good too. Ryan's a good coach doing what they do. The media point is excellent - that's much closer to how great coaches treat the media.

[JoeC36]

Rex likes nothing about T0mShane

[Pac]

As I've stated many, many, many, many times here, I'm not a great fan of Rex Ryan as a head coach. I think he's an overhired defensive coordinator in the Dick LeBeau/Wade Phillips vein who will hold a team in a purgatorial state because of his many failings as a leader, an administrator, and as the face of a franchise. Ultimately, I think the Jets can, and should, find a more complete head coach to guide the team moving forward. That said, he's shown some growth in areas that I didn't think he was capable of, and I compiled a few examples into a list because I'm bored and attention-starved.

1. Cutting Joe McKnight: McKnight came on board in Rex's first draft and was one of what I like to call, "Rex's swagger guys." McKnight was supposed to be one of those projects that would be so enamored with Rex's player's coach philosophy that he'd work hard enough to develop once freed of the disciplined strictures of those mean Ol' hard-ass coaches at USC. McKnight, of course, never did. But, he showed enough as a kick returner over the years that cutting him was never as easy a call as it appears in retrospect. True, McKnight had a nightmare training camp, but McKnight has always had nightmare training camps because he's a lazy, entitled jackass. The fact that he was cut early on was a mild indication that there would be more accountability at Florham Park and that no one--not even one of Rex's Swagger Guys--was guaranteed a job here anymore.

2. Benching Milliner, Kyle Wilson, and Vlad Ducasse: Speaking of accountability, Rex had previously never shown the ability to bench a player that was clearly hurting the team, whether it was Mark Sanchez, Santonio Holmes, Eric Smith, Wayne Hunter, Bart Scott, etc etc etc. But, early on, Rex has pulled the string on a few guys whose play merited some bench time. Pulling Milliner out of the New England game, pulling Wilson out against Buffalo, and finally yanking Ducasse (even after showing some promise two weeks prior against New England) was encouraging. All three deserved to be pulled, and Rex finally found the spine to do so. Who knows what the past two seasons may have looked like if he found the nerve to bench Holmes after his Philadelphia meltdown two years ago, or benching Sanchez at any point during one of his many fugue episodes? The act of getting a player who is hurting the team off the field--no matter their draft position or salary, or even level of talent--reaffirms that the goal of the team is to win games, and not to serve as a giant pre-K program for selfish, emotionally unstable clowns. In 2013, Rex has learned that. Finally.

3. Not anointing Geno Smith: Geno got the starting job, and maintains the starting job, largely by default, and Rex makes sure Geno knows it, which is ok. Rex, as we've seen over the years, has had a tendency to over-emote regarding players under his control. He has not done so--at all--with Geno, and it's worked out. Even after the Atlanta and New England victories, where it would have been justified to lavish his young QB with praise, Rex was muted, going so far as to not even guarantee that the job was Geno's the following week. This is another example of Rex better understanding the team dynamic, and reinforcing the concept of accountability and competition. After spending four years treating Mark Sanchez like he was Bart Starr, maybe Rex has learned that keeping a young player's nose to the grindstone--especially one who came in with ego/maturity problems--won't totally eradicate that player's confidence.

4. His reaction to Belichick's whining over the Pats losing on a penalty: "He's got to make up his mind," referring to Belichick, "Was he aware of this thing? Was it second level? All this kind of jazz, or now the story is we did it. OK, I gotcha. The fact is, we're moving on. We earned that victory, plain and simple and we're focused on Cincinnati now." Contained therein was Rex throwing down the gauntlet against two entities that have pushed him around over the years: Belichick and the media. Though Rex's teams have played the Pats well at times, he'd lost to Belichick fairly regularly, usually followed by a smug Belichick throwing some platitude Rex's way about how much he appreciates his coaching. Belichick used to do the same to Herm Edwards, which essentially boiled down to Belichick saying, "nice try, kiddo" This was Rex pushing back against Belichick, who was saying that Rex got lucky. Rex's response: "Eat a d|ck." Nice. As it relates to the media, Rex has figured out, finally, that being the media's favorite source of sound bytes isn't necessarily a good thing. Rex seemingly no longer plays to the cameras and, now, mostly, doesn't spoon feed his reporters/antagonists the fodder they've used the past two years to paint him as a clown. The harder Cimini and Mehta have to work to write inflammatory stories, the better off your organization is. Players obsess over public perception. If the coach is viewed as a clown, that coach becomes vulnerable. If a coach is vulnerable, there are enough malcontents on every team to progressively threaten that coach's ability to control a locker room. It seems Rex has learned about discretion being the better part of valor, and that maintaining a slightly adversarial relationship with your beat guys means you're keeping them at exactly the right distance.

 

I have neither the time nor the inclination to address each bullet point but I will say McKnight getting cut probably had to do a lot more with Kotwika not liking him than Rex trying to send messages.  At the time we had solid depth at RB so his services there weren't really required.

 

I'm also not sure McKnight could ever be considered a swagger guy, whatever that is.  He puked his very first practice and failed his conditioning test to start this season.  He was an expendable commodity who made the decision easy with his off field antics and his bizarre early season proclamations.

[Pac]

ok off to get a couple Empanadas and some Goya soda..  catch you squirrels later.

[slats]

The only thing I agree 100% on is that Shane is attention starved.

Rex has always been a good coach. Yes, he's growing (figuratively) into the role, but the big difference this season is that it's the first year he doesn't have serious liabilities at the OC and QB spots since he's had the job.

[Bugg]

Number one is hiring MM.     Thats the move that might save his job.

Yes. But Tom is also right about not handing Geno the job. He has learned his lesson to demand perfromance week to week. Seems Wrecks has realized being friends with players isn't nearly as important as the player doing the job.

[SayNoToDMC]

Tom <3's Rex! JiF wins

[BP]

I gotta take a sh*t. start the game thread bitch!

[HessStation]

Stop quoting the original post!!!!

[GREENBEAN]

I enjoyed this read more than the Winters steel mill article that's for sure.

[Maxman]

Rex has always been a good coach, Tom know realizes this and is quoting the progress as examples of why Tom is changing his vote on Rex. #crafty

[Jetfire]

I like that he as become accountable and started benching players. It sucks to be out there playing knowing that no matter what you do, a certain player will always be a liability yet they still start every game. 

[T0mShane]

You dicks will not spoil my positivity. Learn to embrace objective analysis.

[T0mShane]

ok off to get a couple Empanadas and some Goya soda.. catch you squirrels later.

Racístõ.

[BurnleyJet]

T0m Shane, a glass half full guy...

[jack48]

Let me think.  Rex could not get rid of Schotty when he came in because Woody loved him.  Idzik could not get rid of Rex coming in because Woody loved him.  There is a fly in the ointment here, somewhere but I cannot quite put my finger on it.  Point is, the Jets rarely make decisions that do not have the smell of owner interference around them.  Rex has done a good job despite this.  I thought Idzik should have been given a clean slate but fine.  Rex has been different.  No one can say he has not.  He used to wash Sanchez balls regularly (Oh, Woody loved Sanchez too) and he refuses to compliment Geno even as much as he deserves.  That is different.  He has an Offensive coordinator who does not major in Anal Retention--that is different than his professed love for ground and pound. He has stopped bloviating.  That is different.  No, he is different.  I also do not get the Joe McKnight comparison.  I do not think Rex regarded Puke-Boy as a swagger guy.

[JustInFudge]

Does he suck again after the Jets lose today? 

[TuscanyTile2]

I think Joe McKnight was cut because the league is essentially phasing out kick returns, due to concussions.  As far as your other points, I'm glad Rex has toned it down w/ the media and also not anointed Geno. As far as talking trash to Belichick, I don't care much about that whole thing.  I just want to beat the Pats around at least half the time and not get embarrassed by them on a regular basis.

[T0mShane]

Does he suck again after the Jets lose today?

Get in your ******* airboat and go skeetin', swamp logger.

[JustInFudge]

Get in your ******* airboat and go skeetin', swamp logger.

 

I dont own an airboat, just a flats boat.

 

You should come down and I will take you fishing.  You dont truly know a man until you see how he baits his hook.

 

[GimmeShelter]

The biggest difference in the Jets this year is at OC.  Any baby steps in holding players accountable is due to the good ole boyz club of Woody-Tanny- Rex-Sanchez being broken.

[T0mShane]

The biggest difference in the Jets this year is at OC. Any baby steps in holding players accountable is due to the good ole boyz club of Woody-Tanny- Rex-Sanchez being broken.

#Idzik

[Smashmouth]

Does he suck again after the Jets lose today? 

 

IF the Jets lose today, MR POSITIVE, then everyone sucks !!

[CobraVerde]

Excellent read. Post of the week/month nominee...

[El Gato Negro]

What's next 3 things he likes about Sanchez?

[slats]

Excellent read. Post of the week/month nominee...

Don't encourage him.

I don't think there's been any sea change with Rex this year. He's been growing for years. He did bench Sanchez last year. It's just that there was nothing behind him. I think he'd play Holmes if Holmes made himself available, and I think he should because Holmes is still the most talented player the Jets have on offense. But I do think Rex realizes for certain that he can't coach everyone. He won't bring in the bad character guys anymore. He got rid of Mason during the season, and let Plaxico go after the season, and has gone a couple years now without bring those guys in.

He seemed to come to the conclusion that he needed to tone it down before Idzik's arrival, and he was talking about opening it up on offense before he hired Mornhinweg. This has been a natural evolution, not a directive, and it's been in the works for a while now. It's more obvious this year because they finally have someone competent running the offense, and a QB who's at least playing better than Sanchez. The players all say Rex is the same guy behind the scenes, and they love him for it.

[JustInFudge]

Don't encourage him.

I don't think there's been any sea change with Rex this year. He's been growing for years. He did bench Sanchez last year. It's just that there was nothing behind him. I think he'd play Holmes if Holmes made himself available, and I think he should because Holmes is still the most talented player the Jets have on offense. But I do think Rex realizes for certain that he can't coach everyone. He won't bring in the bad character guys anymore. He got rid of Mason during the season, and let Plaxico go after the season, and has gone a couple years now without bring those guys in.

He seemed to come to the conclusion that he needed to tone it down before Idzik's arrival, and he was talking about opening it up on offense before he hired Mornhinweg. This has been a natural evolution, not a directive, and it's been in the works for a while now. It's more obvious this year because they finally have someone competent running the offense, and a QB who's at least playing better than Sanchez. The players all say Rex is the same guy behind the scenes, and they love him for it.

 

You're suggesting that someone can actually get better at their job with time and experience.  That's impossible. 

[T0mShane]

Don't encourage him.

I don't think there's been any sea change with Rex this year. He's been growing for years. He did bench Sanchez last year. It's just that there was nothing behind him. I think he'd play Holmes if Holmes made himself available, and I think he should because Holmes is still the most talented player the Jets have on offense. But I do think Rex realizes for certain that he can't coach everyone. He won't bring in the bad character guys anymore. He got rid of Mason during the season, and let Plaxico go after the season, and has gone a couple years now without bring those guys in.

He seemed to come to the conclusion that he needed to tone it down before Idzik's arrival, and he was talking about opening it up on offense before he hired Mornhinweg. This has been a natural evolution, not a directive, and it's been in the works for a while now. It's more obvious this year because they finally have someone competent running the offense, and a QB who's at least playing better than Sanchez. The players all say Rex is the same guy behind the scenes, and they love him for it.

These are all new revelations to Rex. Saying he "benched" Sanchez last year in Week 15 is like saying they put the "Fasten Seatbelt" sign on in the Hindenburg.