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I'm all for discipline. I'm all for strict enforcement of club policy. Let's not confuse the two though. Disciplining players who are acting up or appearing to be insubordinate through their comments to the press does not exonerate bad coaches and bad GM's for doing poor jobs. Period. The only way discipline holds weight is when it is doled out by clubs who do other things right as well. Like win games, and maximize their talent.
I'm not talking about Adam “Pacman” Jones and players who have already been suspended for behavior issues as well as legal troubles. I'm talking about Plaxico Burress, Larry Johnson, and now Kellen Winslow. These three have been put on the sidelines this season by their clubs for failing to follow team rules. Each case is unique yet all three deserve to fall under the same scrutiny. Were they attempts to divert attention away from poor decision making?
The Giants. OK, well they DID win the Super Bowl last year. Were undefeated at the time of their decision to leave Burress off the field against Seattle. As a result however, they were out of sync in Cleveland. The riff continues to this day, with Coughlin and Burress. No player is bigger than the team. And Plax SHOULD HAVE called in before choosing to miss the day. However, from the sounds of his answer a week later, it didn't appear that the Giants gave any credence to Burress' issues at home at all. Not everyone lives the Ward and June Cleaver lifestyle in his or her houses. A lot of these players have had it hard growing up, many repeating the behavior they saw as kids, now as adults. Again, not to wipe the Burrress situation under the rug, but maybe the club might have been better off keeping this one quiet, and in house, like they ask their own players to do after tough losses. Not run to the media to air it out in the way Jeremy Shockey used to do and still does in New Orleans. Had the Giants chose an alternative say, just a fine, they would not be trying to figure out why Eli Manning is starting to look like Eli Manning circa October of 2007. Confused and lacking confidence in his reads and throws, he needs Burress focused and happy. Burress was insulted and embarrassed by the suspension. He ought to take responsibility for letting his team down. Maybe he should apologize, since he never has. On the other hand the team ought to consider why they had to lay such a heavy hand in that situation. Was it worth it? Suspending Plax was not a cover up but may become a problem that could have been avoided with a softer punitive approach.
Larry Johnson acting like an idiot off the field deserves no comment. Starting up with a woman in a bar is inexcusable. Granted. But let's not take the GM or coach Herm Edwards off the hook in Kansas City as a result. Please. The Chiefs are so awful they are hard to watch. Of course letting your top pass rusher leave to Minnesota, going into the season with USFL quarterbacks and not knowing how to use a top five running back in Johnson is the primary cause for things going the way they have in KC. Blame the guy who couldn't wait to hire Edwards after legend Dick Vermeil stepped down. Why? Because Herm Edwards is the perfect example of the “Rich Kotite” theory. A coach who signs on to a club with a solid base then makes it progressively worse each season as he puts HIS OWN stamp on things. Edwards is a poor game planner, from what I remember in NY a pathetic clock management guy, and says, "You play to win the game" yet really coaches not to lose the game. GM Carl Peterson ought to step up to the mic and explain why he thought it was OK to go into the season with Damon Huard and Brodie Croyle before he or anyone tries to tell us the reasons why LJ will sit this Sunday in the Meadowlands. The Inmates are running the jailhouse in sports too much these days. I realize this. Yet are they running things any better than unqualified coaches are getting re hired over and over again?
Now to the Dawg Pound. First of all, what the hell is a staph infection? Sounds like something that keeps a kid home from school for two weeks. And why have a million Browns had this over the past year or so? Sounds like we're in medieval Ireland over there by lake Erie and the potato famine breakout is upon us. Maybe an Obama victory can help the Browns with a government subsidized health care plan they can afford to cover this madness. Anyway, Winslow gets sick, is told to keep the potato famine thing hush hush, gets mad after a loss, calls everyone out, and gets suspended. The team that threw the most talented receiving TE in years on special teams his rookie year for an onsides kick so his leg could get broken in a pileup, is now laying down the law. Great. Good for them. They're right. Players DO need to shut their mouths. Not arguing this point. What I will argue is that this should provide ZERO shelter to Romeo Crennel whose 2 and 5 team has been a shadow of their 2007 model. QB Derek Anderson is off. WR Braylon Edwards, other than the Giants game, can't get open. Crennel's work weeks ago before the end of both halves against Pittsburgh was proof that he himself enrolled in the Herm Edwards clock management school over the summer. Go ahead discipline Winslow, Romeo. You better start winning though. There will be no scapegoats for you if the Browns go 5-11.
There will be no scapegoats for Edwards either. The time to get LJ on track with a real QB has already come and gone. The time to get Winslow going was months ago. Coach Coughlin we'll give you the benefit of the doubt, but you ought to practice what you preach. Keep things that belong in house, well, in house. It's too bad we can’t discipline coaches for prolonged careers of mediocre coaching. We'd have to bring back Wayne Fontes then, just to suspend him for a game. In the end, Disciplining out of line players is fair. It should not cover up bad decision making on and off the field by teams looking to cover their you know what’s.
(Eds. Note) TJ Rosenthal is one of our newer writers at Football Reporters Online. To say that he is opinionated would be an understatement.
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