KEEP 'D' PEACE
For Bowles to ease hostility, he must appeal to both sides of ball
OFFENSIVE players have a different makeup than defensive players. They think differently. Their objectives are different and neither likes to feel less important than the other. It’s an oilandwater cocktail that somehow has to jell into a cohesive unit.
The Jets haven’t been particularly good at that in recent years, beginning with the decline of quarterback Mark Sanchez and the struggles endured during two seasons of Geno Smith. Too often the defense felt sabotaged by an offense that seemed more prone to turnovers than points. It also didn’t help that under Rex Ryan, the Jets head coach was clearly a defensive guy, who consistently bragged about that unit while taking a handsoff approach to the offense.
Losing added to the friction between units, creating a culture where team unity was a constant work in progress. That’s why any lingering rift between the offense and defense is a wound that new coach Todd Bowles needs to heal. That might be easier said than done.
Bowles had to stop practice on Sunday to punish his players for getting into a pair of scuffles where offensive players went at defensive players and vice versa. Bowles made his players run five gassers the width of the field and back. With temperatures in the 90s, the sprints were torturous.
Afterward, players and coaches chalked up the scuffles to the hot temperatures and the dog days of training camp.
“It’s just part of the game,” said Jeremy Kerley.
That sounds logical. But it was interesting Bowles had warned his players before practice to keep it clean or run sprints. Yet, they chose to ignore his warning and fight anyway.
First, offensive lineman Breno Giacomini, an ornery sort on the field to begin with, roughed it up with linebacker Quinton Coples. Later, linebacker Jason Babin and center Dalton Freeman began wrestling on the ground. In each case, offensive players in white jerseys rushed to the defense of their player, while the defensive players in green jerseys converged to protect their player.
Bowles specifically objected to some of the “cheap shots” that were exchanged.
“They can jaw at each other and as long as the hits are clean we’re fine,” the coach said. “But we’ve got to take care of each other at the same time.”
It would be no big deal on most teams, but this is the Jets, where a linebacker has already punched out a quarterback in the locker room. Bowles may not see a connection between that and his players brawling in practice on Sunday, but it suggests an usagainstthem mentality in this training camp.
A coaching change doesn’t instantly alter the culture of a team. The culture of the Jets has been defense first even when it wasn’t dominant in 2013 and 2014. Between dealing with Pro Bowl tackle Sheldon Richardson’s offthefield issues, Smith getting punched out and the fights in camp, Bowles has spent about as much time trying to change the culture of the Jets as he has getting ready for the season.
“Having bravado, swagger and everything is fine, but you have to understand situational football,” Bowles said. “You can’t fight, and be braggadocios and loud if you don’t understand what’s going on in the game. That makes you a dumb player, and we’re not trying to have dumb players.”
The defense was chirpy during the team sessions on Sunday with NT Damon “Snacks” Harrison and Coples urging on the defense, while questioning the courage of the offense. “He don’t want no more,” Harrison yelled. Minutes later, Babin and Freeman were rolling on the ground before being crushed by a pile of reinforcements.
Maybe after five gassers the Jets have gotten the message they’re all on the same team.