Culture Club

The culture was in need of great repair, and that fix is in progress right now, and a player just signed is going to help on this front.

The Jets football culture was awful last year. Awful.

They weren’t a true team. They were a pickup team.

They were loaded with individual contractors and hired guns.

They had a real mess to clean up this off-season, and I have to say, I think they were doing a decent job of doing that. The proof will be in the pudding when the season starts.

There was too much drama in Florham Park last year. As a beat-writer it was tedious. I can only imagine what it was like for the players. One fire had to be put out after another.

Brandon Marshall won the media “Good-Guy Award” and he earned it. His quotes were amazing and were the gift that kept on giving to the press.

All these great quotes were great for the media, but not necessarily for the team.

At one point, of all people, Sheldon Richardson, got tired of his verbosity.

Jets need a little less conversation, a little more action, so while they were miss Marshall’s talent, they won’t miss his colorful quotes and personality. The 2017 Jets need to be boring has heck with the media. They need to be as vanilla as possible.

Darrelle Revis was bad for the Jets’ culture. Having a veteran player, who is supposed to be a leader, making so many excuses for why he was struggling, was bad for the Jets’ karma. Also, when the highest paid player on team, plays like the lowest paid player on the team, that is awful for a clubhouse. The resentment was off-the-charts.

Ryan Fitzpatrick is a really good guy, but his contract dispute, and then his war of words with the Jets brass, after his benching, was a distraction, as was the holdout.

So with Marshall, Revis and Fitzpatrick gone, the Jets are a lot more boring now and that is a good thing.

If they can trade Richardson, who is very talented, but can be a distraction at times, and has some off-the-field issues, that will further reduce the drama.

The 2016 Jets were a mess and the culture broke.

Changing the vibe in a major way is the additions of Josh McCown, who if there was a poll for the best teammate in the NFL, he might win.

This is a salt of the earth guy, the consummate teammate.

I can’t tell you how many times this guy got a raw deal in QB situations, where he supposed to start, but things changed for various reasons, but he never said a bad word. Whatever role he was asked to do, he did, and never made waves.

I will give you an example of this man’s character and integrity.

The summer of 2010, McCown signed with Hartford of the UFL. Right after he signed with that fledgling league, he received an offer from the Chicago Bears, but said he was going to stay with the Colonials.

“It just didn’t sit well with me. It would be a bad example to my kids to give your word to somebody until something better comes along and then break that,” McCown said.

This guy is going to be great for the Jets’ locker room and culture. Players around the league rave about this guy.

And I do think he can still play. Remember, while he will turn 38 this summer, he was started just 59 games in 15 years. So we aren’t talking about a player who might be totally worn out from several hundred games, like Peyton Manning at the end of his career. He’s a pretty fresh 37.

And like I said yesterday, quarterbacks in their mid-to-late 30’s can do some of their best work because they have seen some much, at a position where experience means a lot.

If McCown can stay healthy, I think Jets fans will be pleasantly surprised at what he can do. He’s not a bad player.

And an even better person.

March 21, 2017

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