For the past two years we’ve heard a lot about how much the Jets feel like family and how much they love to play for Rex Ryan.
They’ve talked about how they are accountable to each other and have each other’s backs regardless of circumstance. Those are easy things to say when a season is going well and optimism is high.
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But now that the Jets have crash-landed in the AFC Championship Game for the second straight year, we’ll see this offseason just how much they love their coach and love playing for this team.
This offseason promises to be a test of the Jets’ true commitment to each other, an offseason that can either solidify their bond as a franchise or reveal the kind of selfish interests that can create dysfunction.
The unsettled labor situation in the NFL was the elephant in the Jets’ locker room yesterday as players collected their belongings after Sunday’s 24-19 loss in Pittsburgh. They bid each other good-bye not knowing exactly when they’ll see each other again.
All of them hope negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement are quickly resolved. But all left knowing the potential for disaster is real. After all, this is a dispute between players and ownership, and eventually the harsh feelings could trickle down to a locker room.
“My gut belief is it’s going to be hardball,” linebacker Bart Scott said of the negotiations. “It’s business. There’s nothing pleasant about business. I think we’ll be locked out for a certain amount of time. Hopefully, the pressure from fans will force both sides to come to an agreement.”
Antonio Cromartie used the same word he used a couple of weeks ago to describe Tom Brady to describe the chief participants in the labor standoff.
“I mean, you’ve got our head union reps acting like an a- -hole, and they got their guys acting like a- -holes,” he said. “They just need to get their s- -t together and get it done.”
The Jets’ feel-good family vibe could be threatened by the escalating rhetoric. The Giants were a dominant Super Bowl team in 1986; the players went on strike in 1987 and the Giants missed the playoffs. They didn’t get back to the Super Bowl until 1990. It took time for the labor wounds to heal.
As both players and coaches mentioned yesterday “livelihoods are on the line.” A looming lockout this spring could ultimately create harsh feelings between players and management. It’s no longer all-for-one and one-for-all.
Even Ryan admitted he has no idea whether he’ll have offseason training activities or even a full training camp.
“To be honest I don’t know what to expect,” he said.
Fewer OTAs means more of chance for players not to stay in football shape. Ryan bragged all year about how there was “100 percent attendance” in the offseason program last year. This year there could be zero attendance.
In his final team meeting, Ryan put the onus on his players to “hold each other accountable; to talk to each other and stay in touch.”
The labor situation also will impact the laundry list of free agents the Jets have on their roster, including starters like Cromartie, Braylon Edwards, Santonio Holmes, David Harris, Eric Smith, Shaun Ellis and Drew Coleman, just to name a few. Ryan said he’d like to keep all of his players, but that’s not feasible if all want top dollar.
If they truly love being Jets and they truly love playing for Ryan, they can prove it by taking less money to remain on the team and try for another Super Bowl next season. Conventional wisdom says that won’t happen. Conventional wisdom says players go to the team that offers them the most money regardless of who the coach is.
Players can talk about how much they like playing for Ryan and the Jets, but when money and livelihoods are on the line this offseason, we’ll see how they really feel.