The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Good

I had a number of ideas for the good section this week: Bradford getting his first win as a rookie without Stephen Jackson, Unsung running backs such as Peyton Hillis, BenJarvus Green-Ellis and Kenneth Darby, all contributing to their teams in big ways, but then I came across a story on NFL.com this morning and had to post it here.  I don’t like taking stories from anywhere else (even though ESPN just posted a story strikingly similar to mine regarding the 3-4), but this story belongs this week. 

The NFL just received the highest grade ever for racial diversity in hiring.  This proves that the Rooney Rule* is helping increase the number of minorities that are hired in the league.  The league received a lower grade for gender diversity but that area has improved over the last decade.  Plus, considering football is one of the only sports that is played predominantly by men, it can be understood somewhat that SOME men are better suited for SOME positions due to the fact that they have played the game before at high levels. 

Props to the NFL for putting a premium on equality.

Here is the link to the full article on NFL.com:

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d81aee8b1/article/nfl-receives-high-marks-for-racial-diversity-hiring-from-study?module=HP_headlines

*The Rooney Rule requires all organizations to interview at least one minority candidate for vacant coaching positions. 

The Bad

I know the Jets are trying to embrace their ‘hardknock’ image and be the bad boys of the NFL but at some point enough is enough.  I don’t fault them for taking chances on players such as Santonio Holmes nor do I have a problem with the language Rex Ryan uses.  It’s a tactic he employs to fire up his team and you could argue that his attitude is an integral part of building his defense and the way it plays.  That being said, at some point the organization needs to take a stand when their players continually find themselves in trouble with the law.

Braylon Edwards was charged with a DWI last weekend (by the way he was still on probation for an altercation at a Cleveland night club in 2009).   Instead of suspending him for an extended period of time, the Jets decided to only sit him for the first quarter of the Sunday nighter in Miami.  From a football standpoint it seemed to be a wise decision as Edwards scored a 67-yard touchdown. 

What kind of message are you sending to your players if the only punishment the team hands you is a one quarter sit down for something as serious as a DWI?  What kind of message does this send to young fans?  For a role model, the Jets should look at how the Pittsburgh Steelers conduct business.  They essentially gave up the Super Bowl MVP Santonio Holmes for nothing after he could not avoid legal troubles (the Jets were the ones who acquired him).  The argument that the Jets are focused on winning and don’t want to concern themselves with off-field issues is bogus.  Last time I checked the Steelers have won six Super Bowls to the Jets zero in the last 40 years.  Rex Ryan needs his team to play with an edge on the field, but it’s time he forced them to act like men off it. 

The Ugly

Nothing frustrates a football team more than having a kicker miss a field goal that by all accounts they should make.  Players that sacrifice their bodies for sixty minutes should not be forced to watch as a win or loss rides solely on the leg of a guy who sees the field for a total of 45 seconds per game.  You can imagine what it felt like to be Drew Brees, Pierre Thomas and the rest of the Saints offence this week when Garrett Hartley missed a 29-yard field goal in overtime that would’ve given the Saints the win.  Thomas ran like a man possessed in the second half and fought for extra yards on every carry, only to see his hard work go up in smoke as Hartley’s kick sailed wide left.

Just to the west, Oakland’s Sebastian Janikowski caused the same frustration when he missed a 32-yard field goal, which would’ve been the game winner, with time expiring.  Bruce Gradkowski drove the team down the field and set-up what should’ve been a chip shot for the big-legged Janikowski.  We rarely get to see Janikowski in pressure situations because of how bad the Raiders have been during his time there.  Looks like he’s doing everything he can do avoid those situations.

With kickers missing more and more often, it does make games more exciting for the fans.  We can never expect that even the shortest of kicks are a guarantee.  But this isn’t about the fans.  It’s about the players.  These guys lay it all on the line every week.  They play through pain for their teammates and for true fans, it’s painful to see the looks on their dejected faces when their kicker blows the game.  Perhaps for every brutal miss, the kicker should have to return a live kick against it’s own special teams unit in practice.  At least then players would have some form of poetic justice.