Content available exclusively for subscribers
We have talked about a Jets culture change, and that is underway, but there is still a lot of work to do, and this isn’t just about the roster.
I saw something today on the Jets’ website that really surprised me.
They had an interview with New York Daily News NFL columnist Gary Myers.
Headline – “Gary Myers: Young Roster Is the Way to Go.”
Subhead – “Team Contributor Ethan Greenberg Talks with NY Daily News Columnist Gary Myers About the Jets’ Roster.”
This is shocking to me.
Has anybody bashed the Jets more than Myers over the years?
Recently, he predicted in the Daily News that the Jets will go 0-16.
That is correct, he predicted the 2017 Jets will go 0-16.
How many teams in sports world would interview a sportswriter for their website who predicted that club wouldn’t win a game this year?
This is flat-out bizarre to me.
And honestly, if I were the coach or GM, I’d be pissed, but I don’t get the sense that Todd Bowles or Mike Maccagnan really give a hoot about what the team’s website is doing.
But maybe they should to a degree. I understand a lot of you are probably thinking that these two guys have much bigger fish to fry than worrying about the team’s website.
But what kind of message is your organization sending to players and coaches when your website does an interview with a cat who wrote your team is going 0-16?
Let me tell you something about guys like Nick Saban and Bill Belichick – they are aware of everything going on – from the kind of job the cleaning service is doing to the team’s website. Bill Parcells and Bill Polian were the same way.
What is more important website content or organizational pride?
Look, I’m not even picking on Gary here. This isn’t about him. He’s a tabloid write trying to hold on to his job at a dying paper with white knuckles. That 0-16 article was probably done to get clicks and sell papers.
And honestly, I’m sure Gary was as shocked as I am that the Jets’ team website would want to interview him.
But can you imagine the reaction of a Saban, Belichick, Parcells or Polian-type to a team website interviewing somebody who predicted their club wouldn’t win a game?
So my point here is simple.
The Jets’ culture change isn’t just based on better play, leadership and so forth, but also how the behavior of everybody in the building.
And interviewing somebody who predicted you won’t win a game this year for your website is a bad cultural move.
There are some things more important the website clicks.
If I was running the Jets, I would not allow this kind of stuff.
In fact, I wouldn’t want any of the media that covers the team on that website (and the writers shouldn’t want to be on their either).
Now while they usually tone down their rhetoric when doing these interviews, that doesn’t make the vitriolic stuff in the paper or on websites disappear.
Where is your dignity and self-respect putting video on your site of a man who said you’d go 0-16?
This was a no-no.
July 21, 2017
Premium will return by Monday at 9:30.