We learned a while ago that Rex tried a new figurehead head coach tactic, and subsequently lost the pulse of the locker room. Mike Pettine took over play-calling duties for the defense, and Rex wasn't able to understand the verbiage of the offense to get involved, so he left that to Brian Schottenheimer. What Rex actually did this past season, nobody knows.
Well, it seems as if that experiment is no longer. Jenny Vrentas is reporting that Rex will "share" play-calling duties with Pettine and will get more involved in actual coaching, especially on defense. This is a very good step. Rex's forte has always been defense, and I'm happy to see him get involved. It was his involvement that created our dominant defense in '09. Rex is known for his exotic blitzes and hard-to-diagnose schemes. Since Pettine has taken over, the Jets have seen more of a coverage-based scheme, rather than a blitz-led one. Part of this is due to our lack of a real pass-rusher (outside the limited Aaron Maybin), but it has created a conservative defense, the opposite of 2009, where quarterbacks and simply sit back and pick apart our tight end coverage. Rex's involvement doesn't mean necessarily that we will revert to '09 form, but it's no doubt a good step to getting back to the defense we loved to watch only a few years ago.