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What a long, strange trip it’s been for the Jets and Sal Alosi this week as Trip Gate has taken on a bizarre life of its own.
As the struggling 9-4 Jets prepare for Sunday’s survival game against the mighty 10-3 Steelers in Pittsburgh, general manager Mike Tannenbaum said he learned that Alosi, the Jets’ strength and conditioning coach, instructed four inactive players to join him to form a human wall along the sideline on opposing punt plays.
That damning information was enough that the Jets yesterday made Alosi’s suspension “indefinite, pending further review.”
And two of the players standing next to Alosi — defensive lineman Marcus Dixon and tight end Jeff Cumberland — said Alosi has instructed them all season to form the wall in an effort to deter opposing punt coverage players from running up their sideline to avoid blocks.
“We always stand up there on [opposing punts], but not to hurt anybody,” Dixon said. “[Alosi] gathered us there. This was not done by us to intentionally hurt anyone.”
Dixon, who was standing directly to Alosi’s right, said when he saw Dolphins gunner Nolan Carroll running right at the wall, he turned his shoulder slightly in case he was going to be hit. “I saw [Carroll] fall, but I didn’t know Sal stuck his knee out.”
“We’ve been doing that since the beginning of the year,” Cumberland said. “Sunday was not the first time that we’d been doing that. [Alosi] never really just gave a reason. He just said during punt returns, ‘You just stand right here by this line, everybody just stand right here.’ There wasn’t really a reason why. But we kind of figured just in case somebody ran over here.”
Dixon said the reason was obvious.
“We were standing there because gunners always use that as free access to get down the field,” Dixon said. “You want them to have to run around you.”
On Monday, Alosi was suspended by the Jets without pay for the rest of the season and fined an additional $25,000 for purposely sticking his left knee out and tripping Carroll.
Now it seems only a matter of time before the Jets fire Alosi altogether. That may not have been done yesterday because Tannenbaum and owner Woody Johnson are in Dallas for NFL meetings.
Tannenbaum, speaking to reporters via a conference call yesterday, hinted that a more definitive decision would be made when he and Johnson returned from Dallas and reviewed all the facts.
Asked directly if Alosi would be fired, Tannenbaum said, “All options are certainly on the table. I’m not ruling out any options moving forward.
“We just want to review everything thoroughly and then make the best decision,” Tannenbaum said. “[When we get back] we’ll sit down with Rex [Ryan] and we’ll go from there. This is where we are as of [now].”
Tannenbaum said after his investigation, which included poring over tapes, he realized how suspicious that human wall, beginning with Alosi, looked so he asked the players who were standing next to Alosi if they were instructed to do so. There was a lot of damage control going on yesterday as Ryan and special teams coach Mike Westhoff both denied knowledge of Alosi’s instructions, and Westhoff saying he’s seen the rival Patriots do the same thing.
“I know one thing — I don’t teach it, I don’t coach it and I’m not aware that it was happening,” Westhoff said.
Westhoff then proceeded to throw the Patriots under the bus, saying that after watching film of all the Jets games to see if this practice was occurring in every game he noticed New England personnel standing in line up close to the sideline during opposition’s punt plays.
“Were they teaching it?” Westhoff said. “I have no idea. But when they punted, were they back [off the sideline]? Yes. When the other team punted, were they up tighter? Yes, absolutely. I’m not accusing the Patriots of doing something wrong. Maybe they’re doing something smart.
“Does it serve a purpose to line them up? I really don’t think it does.”
To Westhoff, the entire incident was about Alosi making an egregious error in judgment.
“They were all standing there and one guy makes a dumb mistake for which he’s paying very dearly for,” he said. “I feel bad for him.”
Ryan reiterated that he had no knowledge of Alosi ordering this practice.
“I wasn’t aware of it,” he said. “I don’t think anyone was aware of it.”
What makes this entire episode so curious is how difficult it is to imagine that no coach on the sideline would know this practice was taking place, particularly when there are some players who’ve been instructed to form that wall.
Who could have predicted that the names Sal Alosi and Nolan Carroll would become so prominent in relation to this Jets season that began with “Hard Knocks” and is supposed to end in the Super Bowl?
Strange trip, indeed.