Amaro raises the curtain

Jace Amaro is the first guy to come out and address an issue that was problematic in the past, and perhaps needed to have light shed on it.

Rex Ryan didn’t hold his players accountable enough.

I have touched on that a great deal here, but no player, or reporters has brought this to light.

I’m not looking for a pat on a back. Not at all.

What was at work here was a love affair between the media and Rex. So many reporters loved how he treated us, and the content he provided, so they kind of took it easy on him (and focused their venom on John Idzik, who was of no help to the media.

Also, so many players loved the loose ship lollipop, and even though a lot of them knew the approach wasn’t ideal, they weren’t going to complain – they loved Rex too much.

Finally a player showed some ankle, gave fans a glimpse at an inherent issue at One Jets Drive the last few years.

Amaro didn’t mention Rex by name, but it’s pretty clear who he was talking about.

“[Todd Bowles] is not really playing around with everyone being late,” Amaro said on SiriusXM NFL Radio. “We had an issue with that last year. Guys just weren’t accountable last year as much as they could be. I think that’s the biggest thing. [Bowles is] making sure everyone’s gonna be 100 percent in or he’s not going to be on the team.”

Now perhaps you could say Amaro, who had issues with drops last year, shouldn’t cast stones from his glass house.

But regardless of that, the man is right.

The problem is Rex, who is a very nice guy, seems to have an insatiable desire to be loved.

I’m sorry, that isn’t an ideal characteristic for an NFL coach.

I’m not saying you need to be a martinet. That approach isn’t the way to go in this day and age.

Running around screaming and yelling at players these days is a bad idea. Society has changed since, “The Junction Boys.”

But you need to hold your guys accountable. When you starting quarterback misses a meeting the night before a game in San Diego, you bench him. And you certainly don’t name him the starter for the following game, right after the Chargers’ debacle, following missed meeting.

I keep bringing up this anecdote, but it’s illustrative of what we are talking about.

There was a game this year where Saalim Hakim, committed two special team’s penalties. After the second one, he walked back to the sideline, walked right by Rex, and I mean right by him, and the coach didn’t say a word.

This is problematic.

These are teachable moments. You need to stop him for a second, and say something.

Perhaps, “Son, we can’t have that. If it continues, we aren’t going to have you up on game days.”

That is kind of tame, but you get the point.

I remember players used to take the long way home to the sidelines after penalties under Bill Parcells. They didn’t want to go anywhere near him. They knew they were going to get an earful.

And when you know you are going to hear it from the coach after a penalty, perhaps you try even hard to avoid them. Like Pavlov’s Dogs.

Of course all teams are going to have penalties, even under the strictest coach, but maybe you focus a little harder on your technique, to avoid flags, if you know the coach is going to make you pay – bench you, cut you, whatever.

Amaro is right. There wasn’t enough accountability under the previous coach.

And that is one of the reasons Steve Biscotti didn’t hire Rex after firing Brian Billick in Baltimore. He went with John Harbaugh. There was sense Rex didn’t hold his defensive players accountable enough in Baltimore, with CB Chris McAlister being an example.

Rex is a heck of a guy, but he doesn’t hold his players (and some times his assistant coaches) accountable enough.

It’s something he needs to work on.

April 7, 2015

Premium will return by 9:30 pm on Wednesday.