Only an organization as dysfunctional as the Jets could have one of their star players make headlines for going bowling on a Saturday night.
News broke on Tuesday that running back Le’Veon Bell went bowling hours after he was ruled out for New York’s Week 14 matchup with the Miami Dolphins. Bell isn’t in trouble for his night on the lanes, but this is an issue that is much bigger than just one player.
Whether or not there’s really an issue with what Bell did is up for debate. What’s not up for conversation is the direction the Jets are trending in from a behavioral standpoint. Time and time again, members of the organization make questionable decisions that paint the organization as a circus.
Considering some of the things that have transpired in the past year, calling the Jets a circus might be putting it nicely. Let’s rewind to the offseason in order to appropriately recap New York’s dysfunction. A head coach won a power struggle with a front office executive and forced him out of a job. That’s not a never seen before occurrence in sports, but it’s a rare one nonetheless.
Despite Adam Gase’s victory over Mike Maccagnan, the damage was already done in terms of free agents that Gase was never behind in the first place. New York’s first-year head coach didn’t want to break the bank to bring in Bell. In what looks like an effort to prove his point, Gase has not altered his offensive scheme to fit Bell’s running style in the slightest. He has seldom used him in the passing game as well.
In other words, Gase has essentially gone out of his way to prove his point to ownership. He’s the smartest guy in the room and he’s going to do things his way with the personnel that he, not general manager Joe Douglas, feels is the best fit for his team. Based on his behavior, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say Gase is sabotaging the operation just to prove to Christopher Johnson that he is the alpha dog in the organization.
There have also been a series of specific leaks to the media that makes you wonder what’s going on behind closed doors at One Jets Drive. It’s not a coincidence that Bell’s night at a bowling alley or Sam Darnold’s escapade at a club after a win were leaked directly to one media outlet. Whether it’s Gase behind it or another member of the organization, it’s a concerning pattern.
And all of that is to say nothing of the injury disputes involving Kelechi Osemele, Luke Falk and Quincy Enunwa. Or the trade rumors that swirled around Bell and Jamal Adams. The Jets realize future prospective players can see this all from afar, right?
It’s almost as if the Jets go out of their way to put themselves in the news at this point. Almost nothing is kept in-house at One Jets Drive. Leaks are inevitable in today’s world, but why does almost every other organization in the NFL limit what information gets made public, while everything the Jets do is on display for the world to see?
It comes back to the same old Jets mantra. Nothing will ever change if the organizational higher-ups don’t take a look in the mirror and right some blatant wrongs. Until then, there’s no doubt that New York’s alarming pattern of questionable behavior will continue for the foreseeable future.