Rex Ryan stood behind five garbage cans simulating an offensive line and shouted out the defense to a group of confused rookies. He shouted when they messed up. He praised when they did well. He moved around the defense, instructing, cajoling and critiquing.
Ryan was doing what he loves best — coaching defense.
The Jets head coach had gotten away from running every facet of his defense over the past two years. He delegated to former defensive coordinator Mike Pettine and tried to spend more time injecting himself into the offense and becoming more of a head coach.
No longer. Ryan is back to the coach he was in 2009 and ’10, when he controlled the defense.
“It’s not that different than my first year when I first came here and my first two years when I ran all the walkthroughs, installing the defense, all of that,” Ryan said. “That’s exactly what I’m going to do. The reason for it is there could be seven new starters on the defense. I think that makes more sense for me to do that — really getting down there and getting more hands-on.”
The 50-year-old coach made his name coaching defense with the Ravens and led the Jets to the No. 1 ranking in the NFL in 2009. He faced criticism after the 2011 season for not knowing about the rifts that had formed on the offensive side of the ball. Last year, he made a greater effort to attend offensive meetings and learn ex-coordinator Tony Sparano’s offense.
Now, Ryan has lost Pettine, his right-hand man for many years, along with seven starters from last year’s defense. With all that turnover, Ryan wants to get back to teaching his defense. He also has faith in new offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg to take care of that side of the ball, similar to his approach with Brian Schottenheimer, the coordinator under Ryan for his first three years.
“When we never really had to replace guys as much as we’re going to have to, I felt I’d be more the head coach role and we all know where that got us,” Ryan said, poking fun at the team’s 6-10 record last year. “I’m going to go back to doing what I do and that’s teach and coach, primarily on defense. I hired a great offensive coach.”
In the first two days of this weekend’s rookie mini-camp, Ryan has been running the defensive meetings and handling all of the installation during walkthroughs. He plans on calling the defense this year, something he did only sporadically the past two seasons.
Ryan said none of this is a knock on new defensive coordinator Dennis Thurman, who has been the team’s secondary coach the past four years.
“It has nothing to do with Dennis’ ability,” Ryan said. “There’s a reason four straight years [other teams] wanted him to be their coordinator and we denied it every time.”
The rookies have gotten a taste of playing for Ryan during the minicamp.
“He’s everything I thought he was going to be,” safety Rontez Miles said. “Great coach, very hands on. He’s not one of those coaches who sits back and lets everyone else coach. He gets in there himself. He does the dirty work. He’s very knowledgeable about his system. He has a passion for the game. It’s like playing for a dream coach. It’s perfect.”
Ryan said he still will be involved with the offense, but he made it clear he is running the defense.
“I just think for me and for really the football team, in our situation, we’re better served if I’m on the defensive side,” Ryan said, “and making sure we’ve got the rules set the way I see it set, not that it wouldn’t be before I really go to the offense and things.”