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Premium – Ben Kotwica leaving the Jets for the Washington Redskins shouldn’t come as a surprise. Let’s break this down . . .
First of all, he had no contract.
He was offered something, but the terms were unclear, and Washington Redskins’ offer was clearly better.
Secondly, in my opinion, I don’t think Rex Ryan’s leadership style jibed with Kotwica’s.
I watch a lot of practices.
Kotwica is a drill sergeant when conducting the special team’s part of practice – yelling, screaming, reprimanding.
Ryan has a more laissez–faire approach.
Kotwica is a West Point graduate, who few Apache Helicopters during Operation Iraqi Freedom II. He flew over 1,000 combat hours in support of five brigades.
Kotwica was awarded with the Army Achievement Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal and the Bronze Star.
He is a no-nonsense guy, a no-nonsense coach.
Ryan is so not West Point.
I will give you an anecdote from a late season practice that kind of points out what I’m talking about.
The Jets were conducting a special team’s drill involving kickoffs.
And in the middle of the drill, Rex attempted a kickoff. The ball didn’t go very far. But that isn’t the point.
He was doing it for comedy.
Do you think Kotwica is into comedy?
There are limited reps in practice.
Look, there are different ways to skin a cat.
Players play hard for Rex Ryan, they really do, but I just don’t think he was Ben’s kind of coach. They are from different worlds.
Ben is all about discipline.
The Jets led the NFL in pre-snap penalties.
Look, I’m not putting Kotwica in Canton as a coach. He’s still a young coach, and aside from a few categories, like field goal kicking, the Jets’ special teams were mediocre this year.
But I will cut him some slack.
He wasn’t dealt a great hand from a personnel standpoint.
First of all, John Idzik kept three offensive linemen at the end of the roster – Oday Aboushi, Will Campbell and Ben Iljalana, who were inactive every game this year.
Look, you could understand “redshirting” one young offensive lineman at the end of the roster, but three. One or two of those guys belonged on the practice squad.
And by burning three roster spots at the end of the roster for developmental linemen, you could make a strong argument that hurt special teams. At the end of the roster, you can certainly help yourself with special team’s players.
The Jets return personnel was pedestrian this year. First of all, at the beginning of the year, Clyde Gates was the kick returner. He’s not a good kick returner. He might have world class speed, but is a finesse player, and goes down too easily to be an NFL kick returner. You need to break tackles.
Mike Goodson did it briefly, but got hurt.
Kyle Wilson and Antonio Cromartie were also in the mix, and neither one of them is a great returner. Cromartie is a one-trick pony – if there is a big seam, he can run through it, but he’s not great at changing directions with his long legs. Changing directions is a big part of kick returning.
I know Joe McKnight can be flaky at times, but cutting him turned out to be a mistake. He was a terrific returner for the Jets, and the hodge-podge they replaced him with, didn’t work out that well.
Punt returning wasn’t much better.
Kotwica is gone.
And it shouldn’t come as a surprise.
While Ben and Rex got along fine, they certainly had different world views, that’s for sure.
January 15, 2014
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