“I shall be telling this with a sigh…” — Robert Frost, 1920.

New York Jets safety Kerry Rhodes sent a message on Sunday that didn’t take 140 characters or fewer against the Carolina Panthers.

The avid tweeter delivered a two-interception performance to stamp a final exclamation point on a tumultuous week that started with a demotion. Jets coach Rex Ryan had removed the fifth-year safety from his base 3-4 packages.

Yet, Rhodes still didn’t say enough. Making Jake Delhomme, a turnover-plagued quarterback, look like a turnover-plagued quarterback doesn’t signal the long-awaited return of the Jets’ playmaking superstar.

But if you ask Kerry, he’ll imply that the demotion was all he needed to reignite his fires.

“The message was sent,” said Rhodes, briefly. “Now I am moving on…You saw Kerry today and that is what you will see.”

A peculiar notion, to say the least.

The Jets’ 2008 defensive captain shouldn’t need a message to become the blitzing ball hawk who was snubbed in Pro Bowl voting, following strong 2006 and 2007 campaigns.

And he definitely shouldn’t have needed a message after an offseason he peppered with expectations of performances akin to that of Baltimore Ravens five-time All-Pro safety Ed Reed.

Former Jets quarterback Ray Lucas and NFL analyst Adam Schein discussed Rhodes’ performance on SNY after the game, and they agreed on something fans believed was missing from Rhodes’ preparation all season: he played like a man who studied the film on Delh-”Oh my God! Where are you throwing?” and took advantage.

If Lucas and Schein were right about Rhodes improving his preparation with more film study, then that speaks to a much bigger problem with the player who’s posted more than 7,100 messages to his Twitter profile.

Regardless, the intention is not to vilify Rhodes for his extracurricular activities—that would be inappropriate. But his motivation is not beyond reproach.

When former Jets coach Eric Mangini shipped Jonathan Vilma to the New Orleans Saints, he also shipped the defensive leader who kept Rhodes in the film room. The result: David Harris emerged as the quiet leader where Vilma once stood, and Rhodes regressed to a playmaker by previous reputation.

As it stands, fans have to wonder if Rex Ryan should consider making the demotion even stronger than just a message. Perhaps it could signify a real change.

Granted, Rhodes’ success could have been a result of added determination after an embarrassing public demotion. And then his performance could also have to do with the decrease in responsibility in his new role.

Finding the field in nickel packages didn’t require Rhodes to have sideline-to-sideline range in the defense against the Panthers. He played a support role and waited for Delhomme to toss one of those errant passes he’s become infamous for since January.

Rhodes is more athletic than Eric Smith, the safety who replaced him, but one has to wonder if he’s diagnosing plays with the efficiency needed to be the deep safety in Rex Ryan’s defense.

Nonetheless, consider these the cracks in the wall that separate fan from journalist:

1. I own an authentic Kerry Rhodes jersey.
2. Kerry Rhodes’ autograph is permanently Sharpie’d onto another jersey of mine.

It’d bring me great joy to declare the end of Rhodes’ two-year regression. But in the spirit of responsibility, it must be understood that such a declaration would be premature.

Until then, I’m looking down the road as far as I can, hoping the demotion made all the difference.

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