The End: Jets season & Mark Sanchez era

The burning image of how this Jets season came to an end is so fitting, so much so that Monday Night Football play-by-play man Mike Tirico summed it up this way: "That's the way this game should end. That's the way this Jets season should end. Ugly and a loss!"

Play-by-play guys don't typically opine but in this sense it was brutal truth. One that was so clear you'd have been remiss not to say.

Mark Sanchez fumbling a low snap to seal defeat.

The quarterback who has had so many problems holding onto the ball again couldn't Monday night. Now he will no longer hold onto the starting job. 

An ugly performance from the Titans gave the Jets opportunity after opportunity to capitalize. It was never more put on a platter than after the shanked punt that gave the Jets the ball back at the Tennessee 25 with 47 seconds left.

That's when Sanchez lost the ball and the game, just as it seemed he had the drive before with his aimless heave down the field that Tennessee safety Michael Griffin pounced on.

Sanchez had plenty of those types of throws, picked off four times. He threw 28 passes and completed just 13 of them for a measly 131 yards.

The Jets, the team that hasn't just had nine lives but 11 or 12, had it all so tellingly wrapped into Monday night's loss, which was really a microcosm of a whole season in one game.

Tennessee played such an ugly game that over and over again the Jets were given new life. Mark Sanchez was given the ball not once but twice with a chance to win the game, set up so beautifully that all he had to do was be careful, making one or two good throws. 

Now, though, the end is here for the enigmatic fourth year quarterback from USC who has proven he is just flat out bad. There are no more excuses or support to be given for Sanchez. His quarterbacking has been so utterly painful to watch it makes you yearn for the days of Brooks Bollinger or Kellen Clemens. At this point, Greg McElroy sounds like Joe Namath in comparison.

As the Jets defense does its best to keep a game within reach, the stagnant offense sputters and worse so, Sanchez makes their rest on the sideline a short one. 

It really is amazing that the Jets were not officially eliminated from playoff contention until this Week 15 embarrassment. Truth be told, the 14 weeks preceding it were not very much to write home about.

The Jets reached a climax in a Week 1 beatdown of the Bills and spiraled downward from that point on, somewhere along the way festering in a place just better than the NFL's most hapless.

Finally though the hammer dropped after weeks of this ongoing charade. Any logical observer knew full well the lifeless Jets team that lost in Seattle was not going anywhere. With an offense this bad, the playoffs would have been a joke. 

Somehow though, in typical Jets fashion, they clung to life for a few weeks, stringing you along into a false belief of hope. They gave you the inkling to care again after disconnecting weeks earlier. Should've known better than to commit again, but like someone burned by a guy or girl over and over, who just can't get enough, you go back for more.

You want to remember the good times with Sanchez, the playoff and comeback wins, but you need to be slapped back to reality if that's the only way you can see it now. 

Roping you in is what the Jets do best on a yearly basis, no matter who the head coach or general manager or quarterback is. 

New pieces are put in place with the same result, a vicious cycle of failure. Getting rid of offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer did nothing to change the offensive pitfalls, just like getting rid of Paul Hackett injected no new life nearly a decade earlier. From Herm Edwards to Eric Mangini now to Rex Ryan and Chad Pennington to Brett Favre to Mark Sanchez, the end has always been the same - the guys in green and white walk off the field losers, hoping for better luck next year. 

That still has not come. 

Monday night, the Jets reached another ending point, not just of a season but an era. 

Most teams are defined by their quarterback, the league's glamour position. Nothing about Mark Sanchez's play is glamorous. It has become downright putrid.

Photographic learners remember things based on pictures. I'll remember this season for a few very similar ones: Sanchez strip-sacked in overtime to lose the game in New England, "butt-fumbling" on Thanksgiving night to lose his dignity and Monday night in Tennessee finally fumbling away his job.

Pat Shurmur: 'We did some fun stuff,' as Browns crush Chiefs

Fun was the adjective the Browns used to describe their victory over the Chiefs Sunday. 

That’s right, fun, not nail-biting, stressful or squandered. Pure, unadulterated entertainment was on display at Cleveland Browns Stadium, with trick plays abound in the Browns’ 30-7 win. 

“The flow was really, really good especially on those drives where we were able to get points,” quarterback Brandon Weeden said. 

Travis Benjamin catapulted it all, answering a big bang 80-yard touchdown run from Jamaal Charles on the Chiefs’ opening play from scrimmage with a 93-yard punt return, setting a Browns record.   

Benjamin switched spots with Josh Cribbs on the play called 'Bonsai,' where Cribbs moves up to try to block the punt. Instead, it sprung a touchdown.

“It’s a very dangerous duo knowing that me and Cribbs are back there,” Benjamin said. “They're gonna try to kick it away from Cribbs so I have to build the momentum and build my name.” 

Trent Richardson described Benjamin as "the fastest man I’ve ever, ever seen in person.” Weeden called Benjamin’s return the biggest play of the game. Up 10-7, the Browns went on the attack, opening up the playbook. 

“We did some fun stuff and it worked out. We could’ve run two wildcat plays and you guys would’ve been happy,” Shurmur said to the press. 

Shurmur’s usually answering questions about 3rd or 4th and short playcalling decisions but this week they were about new offensive formations. So why the wildcat 14 weeks into the season? 

“We just thought it’d be fun,” Shurmur said.

Fun - that was the buzzword after all. 

The offensive chicanery gave Weeden a chance to try some different stuff, like blocking from the receiver spot. The “trick plays" got the Browns to the doorstep, Josh Cribbs coming up short on a snap from the wildcat and Greg Little on a toss from the backfield, places the two aren’t typically lined up.   

“Anytime you do plays like that it’s tough on defenses,” Weeden said. 

Cribbs and Little, as well as Josh Gordon, became part of what Shurmur jokingly coined the “tackled on the one” crowd. 

“They all had their shots. I’m sure they’re gonna try to let that nickname go away,” Shurmur said. 

Their work didn’t go for naught though, setting up Trent Richardson at a place where he can excel. 

“When you have a running back that has a nose for the goal line, you want him to have those opportunities,” Shurmur said. 

Richardson seized those, reaching paydirt twice and earning a Browns milestone, tying Jim Brown’s franchise record of nine rushing touchdowns as a rookie. 

“Something like that is an honor. Jim Brown is an icon and always will be. He’s one of those guys you wanna follow in his footsteps every which way you go in the football division,” Richardson said. 

Those two scores aided what became a Browns blowout, the defense suffocating Brady Quinn, last week’s AFC Offensive Player of the Week, and the Chiefs offense once Dwayne Bowe left the game with a rib injury. Come the fourth quarter, the Browns had a big lead and that was a new feeling. 

“I’m not used to that math,” Shurmur said teasingly, the Browns up three scores. 

For now, the Browns remain mathematically alive in the playoff race, clinging to life at 5-8. They’ll need help but they have a shot. 

“We’re just thinking about winning. We’re still in the hunt,” Montario Hardesty said after one of his best games of the season. 

“Guys are excited," Weeden said. "We realize we’re in a tough spot but we still have a chance. Crazy things have happened.” 

Crazy as it might be, it’s not impossible. December is here and the Browns won’t just be playing the role of spoiler, at least not next week, with playoff implications for both them and their opponent the Redskins.

Kent St hurt in sham of bowl system

It's a seasonal ritual as predictable as Aunt Cathy wearing a cheesy sweater to your annual family Christmas gathering.

Each and every December, the selection of bowl games is just as mind-boggling as the year before and the one before that. It almost certainly leaves your head spinning. Even when there's no controversy over the two teams playing for the title there is still plenty that simply doesn't add up.

Example one in 2012: the local feel-good story Kent State Golden Flashes, a top 25 team that lost just two games. After one of its best seasons in school history, there's no doubt the players will, and should, revel in going to a bowl game, the program's first in 40 years. But they deserve more. 

A loss in the MAC Championship game, in double overtime, does not warrant the massive freefall that college football's haphazard system perpetuates. Ranked 17 in the BCS coming into the game, a win for  Kent State would have in all likelihood propelled them to the top 16 and a spot in the Orange Bowl, especially after Nebraska and UCLA losses. 

The Flashes lost to top 25 Northern Illinois in a valiant effort on the doorstep of an unprecedented feat. Their reward for that is a trip to the GoDaddy.com Bowl against Arkansas State of the Sun Belt. They don't get a shot to be a Boise State and become national sweethearts. 

Instead, Kent State is buried away in one of the post-New Year's Day games without prestige. No trip to Miami and a date with the ACC champion Florida State. 

Northern Illinois gets a trip to the BCS. Kent State goes to Mobile and a bowl named after a website that lets you create a website. Not the way their season should come to a close. A cruel system it certainly is. 

It's not just the proverbial little guys that get the shaft either. Take example two this bowl season, Georgia. A heartbreaking, close loss to Alabama moves the Bulldogs from a potential chance at a title to the Capital One Bowl.

The 'Dawgs don't even get to play in one of the top BCS games. Losing a de factor national semifinal minimizes them to a matchup with a team that just gave up 70 points to a five-loss team in their conference championship game. Some reward, eh?

Again the BCS has failed to give fans the best matchups. Northern Illinois justifiably earns a spot by finishing in the top 16 and ahead of an automatic-qualifying conference champion. Yet they do not take the place of that team, unranked Louisville, defeating any value of the provision. 

It doesn't make sense. The BCS and bowl system have long been full of these ludicrous inequities. 

Continually lost in this is a fulfilling end to one of sport's most exciting regular seasons. Bowls often fall flat because they fail to capture the unpredictability and excitement of the games that precede them. 

Unlike college basketball where 68 teams have a shot at a championship, just two do in college football's final stanza. The rest of the games are just cash cows full of sometimes nice vacations for players depending on a bowl's location and pride. Stakes are diminished. The little guy rarely gets a shot to slay the Goliath. 

When they do, like in the case of Northern Illinois this year, pundits gripe about why that's the reason the system is flawed. 

But really that's where college football fails.

Kent State should have a shot to take on one of the establishment powerhouses. The Flashes deserve a shot to make a splash, like Ohio did in basketball upsetting Georgetown and Michigan in two of the past three seasons in the NCAA Tournament.

Georgia deserves a shot at a bigger game in primetime on the national stage. But they won't get that either. 

Big or small you're always at risk of getting screwed in this system where too many have to feign excitement when really they're not getting their just due. Months of buildup end in a payoff that leaves you feeling empty, kind of like clicking a broken link, especially when it comes to Kent.

Time for NFL to tackle issues head-on after Jovan Belcher murder-suicide

The NFL has a problem and it's one that not only can no longer be ignored but has to become a focus. Substance abuse, depression and head trauma are all possible factors leading to violent repercussions in the lives of the league's athletes and those close to them.

Again, a player has committed violence upon himself or others in a tragic and rattling incident. Jovan Belcher was 25, his girlfriend who he allegedly murdered was 22. Their daughter is only three months old. She is now an orphan, a child whose life is forever changed and she's too young to even know it yet.

Belcher killed Kasandra Perkins before going to Chiefs facilities and taking his own life Saturday, according to police.

A Deadspin report attempts to shed some light on the situation and not shockingly head trauma is part of the discussion. A friend of Belcher told Deadspin that Belcher was "dazed and confused, suffering from short-term memory loss" after taking direct hits to the head in the last game he played in on Nov. 18 vs. the Bengals.

The friend also claims that Belcher was abusing alcohol and prescription medications, a toxic combination of factors that led to this senseless ending.

It should never come to this. But this issue is not a new one for players who have been a part of this game. It's becoming a trend and a scary one at that.

In May, former Chargers linebacker Junior Seau committed suicide, shooting himself in the chest. Seau's former teammate Gary Plummer told USA Today he believes Seau suffered more than 1,500 concussions in his career. An autopsy concluded that there were no obvious brain problems or drug abuse, however tissue from Seau's brain will be researched by the National Institutes of Health at the request of his family.

Last year, former Bears player Dave Duerson also shot himself in the chest, and left behind notes telling his family to donate his brain for research. Scientists at Boston University's School of Medicine found he had "moderately advanced" brain damage and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) related to blows to the head.

Thousands of lawsuits from former players accusing the NFL of hiding information that connects head injuries to further brain damage and illness were consolidated into one major one.

That alleged connection is still not certain and remains a controversial subject. There's evidence for and against it. A Slate article disputes the link citing research that says suicide among former NFL players is below the national average.

However, concussions continue to be rampant throughout the NFL. CBS Sports put together a list of team-by-team concussions through Nov. 16 that included 77 players.

A particularly jarring example this season came when Bears quarterback Jay Cutler suffered a concussion and continued playing for that series and the next before leaving the game at halftime and missing the next game. The team said Cutler's symptoms were not immediately visible. 

The Browns have been in this firestorm too. Last year, Colt McCoy was not properly checked for a concussion after being illegally hit by James Harrison and was put back in the game. It prompted the NFL to assign concussion-specific trainers to each team's sideline.

Last week, Brandon Weeden suffered a concussion after his head slammed into the lower body of Joe Thomas. The Browns had to hide Weeden's helmet to keep him from trying get back on the field. He was cleared by team doctors and started against the Raiders Sunday.

Now 49ers quarterback Alex Smith has said, "I feel like the only thing I did to lose my job was get a concussion." It makes you wonder if players will hide concussions in fear of losing their spot. Do they realize the potential long-term severity of a head injury? It's not like a knee injury where you can't walk or return to the field. The effects are not as obvious to the naked eye but the potential impacts are just as dangerous, if not more.

What is certain is that the NFL needs to continue increasing support for its players. The institution of the concussion spotters on the sidelines is a good step.

It extends beyond just concussions though. Players are suffering through substance and prescription drug abuse. It is unimaginable the pain that a player endures week after week of bone-crushing action. When most retire in their 30s or early 40s, many give up all they've ever known, what made them important and gave them a sense of belonging. Just like that, it's gone.

Since April, four former or current NFL players have committed suicide. It spreads to team employees too, a member of the Browns staff found dead from suicide in Berea this weekend. Depression is an illness that too often goes untreated, men particularly too afraid to come forward and admit it.

It's not something to be embarrassed about. Like any other disease it's a sickness that has to be treated. NFL players and staff need to know that. All of us do.

The NFL has to make sure its players know it. Their new wellness program is another positive step in that direction. They need to provide that support and make it more than just a website or phone number to call.  Even more so, we need to be there for each other.

Chiefs quarterback Brady Quinn summed that up eloquently Sunday.

"We have contact with our work associates, our family, our friends, and it seems like half the time we are more preoccupied with our phone and other things going on instead of the actual relationships that we have right in front of us," Quinn said.

Paying more attention won't alone end tragedies but you hope it can help decrease incidents like Saturday's murder-suicide.

Maybe you can't always stop them but it's worth trying.

Caring - genuinely caring - for people is worth it.

Because a little girl shouldn't be left alone in this world in a couple pulls of a trigger. Violence shouldn't alter lives if there's a chance to prevent it. Life is precious. Shattering it is too easy and picking up those pieces is grueling.

In a race to find a rationale, to make sense of a senseless tragedy, we can't try to make it black and white. You can't boil this down to solely a gun or a hard hit or a prescription drug. It's much more complex than that.

There's not an easy solution or quick remedy. But we can all do a little more - or at least try to - as individuals. The NFL must make sure it does too.

Spurs fined: Popovich's role players no 'disservice' to NBA

Some rules seem made up, so arbitrary they only emerge at the most case-specific time. It's like when a kid eats cake for breakfast and mom scolds them. Why? Because she said.

The latest policy seemingly crafted from this logic is cited as the grounds for David Stern's $250,000 fine of the San Antonio Spurs after they benched starters Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Danny Green for Thursday night's game vs. the Heat.

Stern's statement reads as follows:

"The result here is dictated by the totality of the facts in this case. The Spurs decided to make four of their top players unavailable for an early-season game that was the team's only regular-season visit to Miami. The team also did this without informing the Heat, the media, or the league office in a timely way. Under these circumstances, I have concluded that the Spurs did a disservice to the league and our fans."

The league further said the Spurs rested players in a manner "contrary to the best interests of the NBA."

Stern's ruling is a slap in the face to the little guys, a staunch but indirect way of telling them they don't matter. 

What Stern essentially sets forth is that no one wants to see you, Tiago Splitter or Boris Diaw. You guys starting a game (gasp) is a "disservice" to the fans. 

But see, a funny thing happened Thursday night. Gregg Popovich's backups almost beat the vaunted superstars of the Heat, who squeaked by 105-100 in a game that came down to the final minute.

It was no disservice to competition. The fans in attendance didn't see Duncan or Parker take on LeBron but they saw a good game. Encouraging the effort of the Spurs' role players against the defending champions is what actually should have been done.

However, in Stern's backward perspective, this comes off as a blow to the NBA 'image,' a nationally-televised game that didn't go as planned. Their superstar-centric marketing strategy was splintered by the Spurs. 

It really always has been by Popovich, the mastermind of the inconspicuous mini-dynasty of the 2000s, his Spurs the winners of three titles in five years between 2003 and 2007. They had stars like Duncan but did it quietly with tough defense and team contribution. Not the ideal NBA model of flash and pizzaz. 

With its fine, the NBA is overstepping any reasonable bounds. There's nothing in writing that spells out the "best interests" of the league. It's simply a subjective catch-all that any logical observer can surmise is the jeopardizing of star vs. star matchups. 

Punishment was set forth for a failure to inform the Heat, according to the statement. It is now a coach's responsibility to let the opponent know their lineup and gameplan? 

If Popovich wants to bench his starters, he damn well should have permission. It's his team in a November game, part of an 82-game regular season that can look rather unimportant when teams under .500 reach the playoffs in the eight-team model. 

Popovich is being reprimanded for nearly winning without his stars because it's not what the NBA wanted. 

That's not a good precedent to set. You wonder how far the league will go to ensure its "best interests." 

Sorry Gary Neal - the commissioner doesn't respect you or Matt Bonner or Popovich and his strategy. But go ahead and please keep doing the league a "disservice." Ultimately it may do the status quo some good. 

Reaching the point of apathy

Last night, the Jets were embarrassed by the Patriots on full display for a national audience. 

But a different feeling consumed me than the usual fury or impetus to throw something at the TV. 

A controlled level of disgust came first but soon switched to an uncommon one - apathy. 

As Mark Sanchez went face first into a lineman's backside and the turnovers racked up as New England obliterated the Jets before you could digest Thanksgiving dessert, I didn't feel anything. 

Have the Jets made me into a football Grinch?

Has my heart shrunk a couple sizes watching this team year after year? 

Maybe I've just become desensitized to this type of disaster.

I read a post on a message board tonight that outlined the failure and closed with: "One bright spot is that something good always comes from something bad. And it couldn't get any worse than last night."

As much as I'd like to buy into this notion, I can't. Not with the Jets.

It always "can't get any worse." That's what was said after the 45-3 Monday Night Football catastrophe against the Patriots in 2010. Same for Rex Ryan's self-proclaimed "ass-kicking" at the hands of the 49ers earlier this season. 

For the Jets, it always does get worse. That's the root of this newfound apathy.

Don't get me wrong - I don't like it at all. I want to care. But in this lost season I can't bring myself to anymore. I didn't expect the Jets to beat the Patriots,who are absolutely rolling. They're better in every facet of the game and possess a much more talented roster.

What makes no sense is this Jets team very well should have beaten the Patriots in New England two months ago. Thursday night they looked like a pee-wee team trying to compete with NFL players. Touch football players put on better shows in their backyards than the guys in green at MetLife Stadium. Put Mom at quarterback against Uncle Joe and her numbers probably trump those of Sanchez.

But what's the point in caring? At seven losses, playoff hopes are a heartbeat from extinction. That has been a seemingly inevitable descent for weeks now. 

There was nothing heartbreaking about the 49-19 whooping. Unlike the first meeting between these two teams, the Jets didn't give you hope then slowly rip it away. This time they just flat out sucked. 

Usually I find myself fuming after a bad Jets loss. But when I woke up this morning, it was just a devoid feeling. I had no desire to write a scathing critique. Maybe I've done that too many times this season. It has all been said. When the Jets lose, they get walloped. I've written that blog too many times before this season.

So what has happened to me? I'll call it a reverse Whobilation. The Jets have bought me a one-way ticket to Mount Crumpit with no timetable for return. 

By the second quarter Thursday night, it was over. At 21-0, I flicked away to college football. I never do that. 

My phone started going off, not a text but a score update, then another. 28-0, then 35-0 - dreadful.

I watched the 45-3 MNF game to the bitter end. Same for the San Francisco drubbing earlier. But this time, I didn't have it in me. It was over and I didn't care to see how bad it could get. 

I'm not happy about it. This is a depressing point to reach - that of apathy. By season's end it will probably evaporate. I'll watch this mess play out and get excited again come draft time. 

Trust me, I want to care again. Apathy is a lonely feeling, distanced from emotion. It's one I don't want to linger but it doesn't feel fleeting with this team.

It's up to the green and white now. Getting hooked in again isn't difficult. They'll most likely find a way to win against Arizona and show some semblance of respectability. Nights like Thursday make it difficult though to want to bother. 

Jets reach new locker room low bashing Tim Tebow

Tim Tebow is not a consistent, viable starting NFL quarterback. Most football observers and analysts would agree the numbers bear that out.

We didn’t need the Jets to tell us. Turning on an innocent teammate is wrong and doing it anonymously is cowardly.

That’s just what this group did, a defensive starter who chose not to be named calling Tebow “terrible,” according to The Daily News.

It’s indicative of a pervading cancerous culture in the locker room.

It was evident that dysfunction prevailed last season, as LaDainian Tomlinson and others said captain Santonio Holmes quit on the team.

Bringing in Tebow was seen by some as a way to repair or bring leadership to a fractured group. In Denver, the Broncos came together and elevated their play as a whole once Tebow took the reigns from Kyle Orton. In New York, this cast of characters has made him their new outcast.

“We have Greg . . . and we have an athlete,” offensive lineman Matt Slauson said about the Jets' backup quarterbacks.

At least he had the guts to put his name on it.

Tearing apart Tebow, who has barely seen the field, is a new low for a team that seems to set the bar lower each week. Their only consistency besides poor performance is an inability to shut up.

As if Wednesday wasn’t enough, Shonn Greene added more fuel to the fire Thursday, quoted by Yahoo Sports saying: "You feel bad for Mark, but at the same time you want to win games. We're not here to protect people's feelings. If you want to win games, you've got to try something. If somebody's not getting the job done, you see if somebody else can do it. It's the same with coaching, or any position. You don't mean to belittle someone or say 'he sucks.' That's just the harsh reality."

As the Jets head to St. Louis, they are in a state of chaos, floundering on the field and falling apart off of it.

In my last post Sunday, I wrote about how this team needed to be quiet. It took just a few days for a new string of quotes to explode. Last week, it was Antonio Cromartie saying the beleaguered bunch would make the playoffs. Now, the Tebow firestorm.

The scary part is the Jets seem to operate in an alternate universe where delusion is the reality.

“I believe this team is together, will continue to be and maybe even become tighter,” Ryan said Thursday, as it is more and more apparent he has lost control.

As a fan of Ryan, this is alarming. The fourth year head coach’s record is solid, with two AFC Championship appearances in his first two seasons. But his ability to steer his team through adversity is now coming into question after it was a strength in the past.

The dysfunction seems to emanate from even higher up though, all the way to the top. In 2008, owner Woody Johnson and GM Mike Tannenbaum reportedly pushed for the trade that brought Brett Favre to the Jets against head coach Eric Mangini’s wishes.

Reports (albeit unsubstantiated ones from “sources”) say Johnson could push for Tebow to start at quarterback. It wouldn’t be shocking, considering something prompted the Jets to jettison Drew Stanton, who they had already signed to be their backup QB, when the possibility of Tebow presented itself.

The amount of coverage Tebow reaps is undoubtedly over the top. But now he has become a victim outrageously ripped for nothing of his own doing.

Tebow and the Jets were never a good fit. From the moment the trade went through you were left scratching your head.

Bringing Tebow into the mix didn’t push Sanchez to play better. He hasn’t breathed life into the stagnant offense. His acquisition has created even more dissension and controversy for a team that needed none of that on the heels of last year’s meltdown.

No true franchise quarterback has donned the green and white since Joe Namath. That’s no coincidence as the Jets do a better job at destroying quarterbacks than developing them. They sucked the life out of Chad Pennington, a strong-armed college quarterback at Marshall, in Paul Hackett’s vanilla west coast offense.

They’ve surrounded Sanchez with “skill players” that a Jets official called “garbage” in the Daily News story and seemingly shattered his confidence along the way with the Tebow move.

Now, even Tebow, who thrived in an offense catered to his skills in Denver, is in danger of being sucked into the vortex of vitriol.

It’s sad really. A split with Tebow is the move that needs to be made come season’s end. Give him a shot somewhere else. He’s just a distraction in New York - and the Jets need no more of those.

When it comes down to it, the players can talk all they want during the week but they can’t be anonymous come Sundays. Their play speaks for itself.