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Some stuff eats away at your culture, even some don’t realize. You can talk about talent all you want, but it’s not everything . . .
Brandon Marshall is now a former Jets, released late last week.
Marshall is a heck of a talent, but he can be a distraction. There was so much drama around this player over the last two years, I feel like I covered him for 10 years, not two.
There is a reason Bill Belichick keeps things boring in New England. Interviewing Patriots players is like watching paint dry. He has trained his players over and over again to say nothing. Same with his assistant coaches.
Can you imagine a player in New England describing a rough season (not that they have many) as a “soiled diaper?”
That is how Marshall described the Jets’ 2016 season on Showtime’s Inside the NFL.
That is totally unacceptable. Now some people will say, “it’s true, so what is the big deal.”
It is a big deal.
If a player said that about my team, I’d read him the riot act.
You just don’t say that stuff, because you are insulting your coach, GM, teammates and so forth.
And that bring us to an active player doing a weekly NFL show talking about the league.
That is such a bad idea.
I understand that players do local TV and radio shows talking about THEIR team. I get that. But to comment on league-wide matters, on other teams, opponents, isn’t healthy.
Like when Marshall said that Bill Belichick gets too much credit, and Matt Patricia doesn’t get enough credit. How is that helpful to the Jets cause?
In 2015, he was critical of Greg Hardy’s sideline tantrum in Dallas. Considering his history (including two heated arguments with a teammate and coach in Chicago his last year there), isn’t this the pot calling the kettle black. I asked him this (much more diplomatically than the last sentence), and he didn’t like the question. And the Jets played Dallas a few weeks after this comment from Marshall on Showtime. How is helpful to the Jets for Marshall to be critiquing the behavior on a Cowboys player?
And let me tell you something, if Marshall somehow gets New England to sign him, Belichick only does it if Marshall pulls the plug on that TV gig.
National TV shows can wait until your career is over. There is plenty of time for a broadcasting career after football.
And let me ask everyone a question. Tuesday is a big day for physical therapy for injured players. Marshall was banged up a lot the last couple of years. Do you think he should be in the city taping a TV show, or spending the day in the trainer’s room? Also, players have always told me the importance of getting off your feet on the off-day. Give your legs a rest. Heading into the city with ankle sprains, knee injuries and whatever maladies Marshall had the last two years, is far from ideal.
A big reason John Fox got rid of Marshall in Chicago was that TV show.
And I can’t tell you how many times Marshall said something controversial on that TV show on Tuesday, and then when he spoke to the media later in the week, he was asked follow-up questions, creating a distraction.
Jets need less drama and distractions in 2017.
March 6, 2017
Premium will return by 9:30 pm on Tuesday.
