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Being on the same page is very important. It really is. What am I getting at here? Let’s take a closer look . . .
Woody Johnson is involved with a great charity, “The Alliance for Lupus Research.”
On Saturday, they held a charity walk at MetLife Stadium to raise money for research to find a cure for Lupus.
They hold his event every year.
A reporter attending the event approached John Idzik and Rex Ryan for their thoughts on Mike Goodson’s arrest.
They declined to comment.
Remember the Jets’ current position on this matter is, “This is a pending legal matter. There will be no further comment until the legal process has run its course.”
Okay, if that is their position, why don’t they relay that to their players?
“It’s one of the things where it’s zero-tolerance with stuff like that,” Willie Colon told the Daily News. “It’s sad. Mike could have been huge for us.”
So let me get this straight, the GM and coach aren’t commenting on this matter, but a guard recently signed with the team is?
From an organizational standpoint, that makes little sense.
Knowing there were going to be reporters at the charity event, the Jets should have briefed the players who were nice enough to attend, and tell them they are going to asked about Goodson, and to say, “No comment.”
I’m sorry, you can’t have a player commenting on a legal matter, when some of the top people in the organization won’t touch the issue, publicly.
Plus, Colon’s statement put even more pressure on the Jets to release Goodson. Do they really have a “zero tolerance” philosophy? I’ve never heard that.
I’m not saying the Jets are soft when it comes to dealing with off-the-field issue, they aren’t (as a couple of other players found out recently when they were caught with pot in Morristown).
But I’ve never heard the Jets ever say “zero tolerance.”
Maybe Colon is thinking of the Pittsburgh Steelers, his former team. They have really cracked down the last couple of years after a few of their players got in trouble off-the-field, including Ben Roethlisberger and Santonio Holmes.
Colon’s a quality guy, but for him to come out and basically say he expects Goodson to be released, is presumptuous and actually unfair to the running back.
Let’s see what the police investigation determines.
I personally don’t think they should release him if it’s only a pot charge. If he didn’t drive drunk, and the gun didn’t belong to him, I think he should get a second chance.
I’m not aware of him having any indiscretions his first five years in the NFL.
And whether people like it or not, there is often a double-standard in sports, where players determined to have more value to a club will get a second chance, and bubble players won’t.
A perfect example of that was Bill Parcells and Lawrence Taylor. No matter how many times “L.T.” messed up off-the-field, Parcells, a very strict coach, kept the linebacker around.
I’m not saying Goodson is an “LT” kind of talent, but the Jets certainly view him as much more valuable than Claude Davis and Cliff Harris.
The Jets are very high on Goodson. He’s a quick, elusive scat-back, who should not only help them as a runner, but as a receiver out of the backfield. The Jets intend on throwing to the backs a great deal under new offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg, and Goodson could be a big difference-maker for them as a receiver out of the backfield.
Hey, are double-standards fair in life? Of course not, but they are the reality.
And another reality is the Jets need to perhaps hold more meetings so they can get on the same page.
Flat-out – you can’t have a player comment on an issue that his bosses won’t even touch.
May 19, 2013
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