Rex Ryan, Brian Schottenheimer to meet again Sunday

With the Tim Tebow drama dominating the headlines, this week's truly juicy subplot has been overlooked. The New York Jets are taking on last season's scapegoat, now-St. Louis Rams offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer.

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"Schotty" was blamed for a lot of New York's problems last season. He wasn't brought back to the Jets, although the team took pains to make it seem like he wasn't fired. The offense has only grown worse without him, and the Rams' offense has made improvements overall this season.

In short, it has been a good year so far for Schottenheimer.

Jets coach Rex Ryan said Thursday that he's looking forward to the "cat and mouse" game with his ex-assistant.

"He's probably anticipating certain things from us, and we're anticipating certain things as well," Ryan said.

Ryan has long said Schottenheimer would be an "excellent head coach." Ryan said he admired and respected Schottenheimer. In the end, however, Ryan got rid of him. Schottenheimer has a chance to speed up Ryan's descent this season and end any debate about the Jets' future this season.

Follow Gregg Rosenthal on Twitter @greggrosenthal.