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Florham Park – This might sound like a case of stating the obvious, but while it might be obvious to some, to a certain degree, it’s been lacking in Florham Park in recent years . . .
The late Robin Williams had a comedy album in 1979 called, “Reality, what a concept.”
It is a great concept, and it’s something that football decision-makers need to keep in mind at all times.
One of the most important things Jets fans can hope for from the team’s new brass of Mike Maccagnan and Todd Bowles, is for them to deal with reality, every minute of every day.
Don’t look at things how you want them to be, look at them how they are.
Rex Ryan had a major issue with this with the Jets, and it continues in Buffalo.
Early this week on WGR Radio in Buffalo he said about cornerback Stephon Gilmore, “Gilmore is going to be one of the elite corners in this league. I believe that. Where people miss it sometimes is, how many balls get caught on him? They don’t complete passes on him.”
“Now, he might not get all the interceptions… [but] they’re not completing balls on him. And so to me, he has got that kind of ability. We’ve got to catch the ball a little bit, sometimes go up and get more picks, but this guy’s an elite guy, there’s no question about it.”
Gilmore is an elite corner? I must be missing something. He’s solid, but don’t you think that if he was going to emerge as an elite corner, it would have happened already? He just finished his third season in the league.
But Rex thinks his words can will people to perhaps be better than they are.
Some might call this “The Power of Positive Thinking,” to borrow a catch phrase from Dr. Norman Vincent-Peale.
But you know what, sports, where it’s all about winning and losing, you better darn well deal with the absolute reality of your roster.
View it the way it is.
Early this past season, the Arizona Cardinals benched guard Jonathan Cooper, their 2013 first round pick. He was replaced by Ted Larsen, who is more of a center.
But it didn’t matter to Bruce Arians that Cooper was the 7th pick overall in the 2013 draft. He didn’t like how he was playing.
Late in the season, Arians was going to start Logan Thomas at quarterback, but didn’t like how he practiced, and switched to Ryan Lindley late in the week. How many coaches would do that? Announce a quarterback change, and then switch later in the week, based on practice.
How many teams would bench a guard picked 7th overall (very high for a guard) early in his second season?
Arians is Todd Bowles-mentor. So the Jets have hope on this front.
No more “Rex-Ray Vision.”
Don’t worry about what some of the media’s reaction will be to benching a high draft pick (if you don’t think this is a factor with some coaches and GM’s, you are kidding yourself).
Bill Belichick certainly never worries about.
I’m sorry, but Rex’s world view of player personnel can be counterproductive to winning.
And one of the reasons he needed to be replaced.
Because even though he didn’t have final say on roster decisions, he decided who played on game day.
He decided to start Dee Milliner and Calvin Pryor WAY before they were ready, and it impacted the results of game.
His Pollyanna mindset was a huge problem.
I can’t understate it enough.
So if the new brass wants to be successful, this sort of thinking has to stop.
My gut tells me it will.
February 13, 2015
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