The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Jets defense all in their feelings
Team has report to keep players from being too sensitive to criticism
There’s no place to hide anymore. If you have thin skin, you’re likely not long for this place.
Gregg Williams has hammered home one nonnegotiable point during this offseason: Nobody is above criticism.
So, Gang Green has posted a “Feelings Report” in the defensive meeting room, a list comprised of guys who took umbrage with getting called out in front of the class.
“I think it’s great,” Adam Gase said Wednesday. “Sensitivity is out the window. He’s not afraid to say anything to anyone. I think guys are hardened to it. It’s a good thing. We all get criticized in this business. We all get picked apart. You got to have thick skin. By doing that, at least it’s holding guys accountable. There’s no sacred cows.”
“We’re the same way,” Gase added with a smile about how he handles his offense. “We just do it a little different.”
Williams is definitely one of a kind. His players have embraced the nononsense approach.
“Basically, if you get
upset that someone calls you out, it’s a sensitivity fine,” Pro Bowl safety Jamal Adams said. “We don’t tolerate that as a defense. We communicate. We hold each other accountable. As long as we’re on the same page, we’ll be fine. We’ll give ourselves a chance.”
The penalty for landing on the Feelings Report is relatively harmless: Pushups most of the time. It’s a way of taking care of each other and realizing that you should never take anything too personally.
“If you’re sensitive, I’ll put you on the Feelings Report,” Adams said. “Put you on the board. Your name will be up there. Ev
erybody sees it. You don’t want to be on there. You’re sensitive. Your feelings got hurt. If you throw a fit (like), ‘Oh man, I don’t believe!’, that’s a sensitive fine.”
It’s a way of life for Williams, who doesn’t tiptoe around anything. When watching the tape of practice, a mistake like refusing to give maximum effort will draw the defensive coordinator’s ire.
It’s been that way everywhere Williams has been in his career. There’s no better fix to the mistake than confronting it head on in front of everyone in the room.
“It’s been that way for my whole life,” Williams said. “I say what I mean, and I mean what I say. You can’t
BS players. You can’t BS that. When you go to a new place, find the best guy there and make him do it and everybody else says, ‘Uh oh.’ Mom and Dad didn’t make you do that stuff. Mom and Dad couldn’t play either.”
Players are all human, so nobody is immune to having their name on the Feelings Report. “Sometimes,” Adams said, “I’m on there.”
But the larger point is to learn from mistakes rather than justify them.
“All joking aside, it’s just holding each other accountable and not making excuses,” Adams said. “And not getting in your feelings . because everyone wants to hold each other accountable. Because at the end of the day, we want to win.”