By Rich Cimini ESPNNewYork.com FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- Now it's official: The New York Jets' locker room is fractured. Veteran guard Brandon Moore, taking offense to Santonio Holmes' latest criticism of the offensive line, fired back at the wide receiver Friday, telling ESPNNewYork.com that Holmes is creating a rift by throwing teammates under the bus. "He's obviously got the green light to evaluate every position on the team," Moore said. "I just didn't think captaincy entailed that. I've never seen a captain do that. That's not leading. That's not being a leader. It actually fragments the locker room. It's not productive." Moore, the longest-tenured player on the Jets' sputtering offense, is regarded as one of the quiet leaders on the team. That he decided to speak out against Holmes is an indication of the current state of team chemistry. "Obviously, it's OK to do that," said Moore, alluding to Rex Ryan's freedom-of-speech policy. "This organization lets you say whatever you want. There's no muzzle. But as a professional, there are some things you do muzzle. I've muzzled my mouth numerous times. It's called being a pro. It's called taking care of your brothers in the locker room, the guys who fight for each other." On Thursday, Holmes called out the offensive line for the second time in two weeks, saying the line is the root of the unit's problems. He made critical remarks after the Jets' Week 3 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, and he followed that up Thursday, by saying, "I may be criticized again for saying it, but it starts up front. The big guys know it. If they give Mark (Sanchez) enough time to sit in the pocket and complete passes, I think everything changes." Now the big guys are ticked off. Guard Matt Slauson declined to comment on Holmes' remarks. Center Nick Mangold had this to say: "Santonio's very competitive. He's a great guy, a good teammate. And a lot of times that competitiveness, that drive to do well and do great, it happens. It's just one of those things you move on, you don't worry about it too much." The other two starting linemen didn't show up in the locker room during the media period. Moore was asked if others share his sentiment. "I don't know, some guys might side with (Holmes), that attitude of, 'I'm doing everything right and the blame goes on everybody else.' I'm sure guys are thinking like that, the selfish guys." Asked if he's upset, Moore said: "Yeah, I am. I've just never seen anything like this." Ryan refused to criticize Holmes for his latest shots, saying he doesn't like to restrict players from speaking their mind. He also suggested that Holmes' comments were taken out of context. "I'm as guilty as anybody, sometimes when you make comments, maybe things aren't interpreted exactly how they show up on black and white," Ryan said. "The thing I can tell you about Santonio is ... nobody is more supportive of his teammates than Santonio. These comments, you can interpret them any way you want. I don't think he planned on it being a negative, how it came out." Ryan said he doesn't think his offensive linemen were bothered by the comment. "No," the coach said, "they've got skin like an armadillo." Moore was obviously bothered, however, with the comments and the fact that Holmes was allowed to utter them. "Somebody at the top is telling him it's OK," Moore said. Turning sarcastic, he added, "He's the captain. If that's how the captain feels about things, that's the psyche of the offense, I guess. Everybody takes their marching orders from that." Before the season, Ryan named Holmes and Sanchez the team's offensive captains. Moore said it was "the fourth or fifth time" that Holmes criticized a segment of the offense. He mentioned the AFC Championship Game in Pittsburgh, when Holmes criticized offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer. This latest back-and-forth between Holmes and Moore comes at the worst time for the Jets (2-3), who are mired in a three-game losing streak. On Tuesday, they traded wide receiver Derrick Mason to the Houston Texans, a move that wasn't popular among his fellow receivers. Rich Cimini covers the Jets for ESPNNewYork.com.
IMO this is serious. A divided house can not stand. Rex must do something to quiet the team down and play with a unity of purpose: winning a Super Bowl. Egos must be checked at the entrence to the Jets clubhouse. This is a TEAM game and Santonio must be a part of it.
The O-line is just the scapegoat here. Yes, there are certainly problems that exist up front. But it should come as no surprise to Rex, or Tannenbaum or anyone else in that damn franchise since they've done nothing to address the glaring holes that were staring them straight in the face. Sadly, the ignorance of Holmes and Mason has drawn all the attention to the O-line and none to the coaches or management. Woody needs to really evaluate the people he chosen to run this team. Yes, the players are at fault, but some of these players do not belong in the NFL, so who's fault is it for putting them on the roster?? Thanks Tanny. Schottenheimer has been the problem for this offense since before Sanchez, and as long as he stays, the offense will do nothing but sputter. Which is all it has done since he took over. Once again, he escapes the blame as all attention gets shifted to the O-Line. And now his excuse for his gawdawful play-calling will be that he had to continue to call plays to the outside and dink and dunk it as if we had Chad Pennington still behind Center because the O-Line couldn't provide his QB with enough time. BS!! Cam Newton is tearing it up with a team that is horrendous, on paper and on the field. Yet, he still has his team in games. Funny how everyone was ready to write him off as another Vince Young. So can one player take the reins of the team and make things happen even if the rest of the team is failing, certainly. Unfortunately another poor draft choice in Sanchez by Tanny, that was hyped up, just like this team has been for the past several years, is not the guy to do it. Maybe he's just not that good. But if that is the case, isn't someone's job on the line for selecting him, or selecting Ducasse?
Stripping Santonio of his captaincy would at least send a message that the Mason trade apparently did not. Let Mangold be the offensive captain, he or Sanchez are pretty much the only ones worthy of that at this point. Hell, Moore comes off as more of a leader than the rest of the babies here in as much as he has a point.
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Rex needs to address this, and not just dismiss it like it's nothing. He might as well come out and say Santonio is right, all our problems stem from the shit ass OL. Even if it's at least partially true, it's bad news. I know he came from a team (The Ravens) that it was common occurance that the defensive players trashed the offensive players in public, and as DC it wasn't his problem to deal with. But as HC you can't have this stuff going on. That's why teammates should pick their captains and not the HC. I wouldn't want this asshole as the captain of my squad.
I hope Jets lose actually - and not because playes fuck it up. Then the whole world will know what kind of shitbag Schottenheimer is. *Like how he managed to fuck it up at Oakland, with TJ running like a raging bull and still losing the game.*
i'm not going to say, "the '78 yankees say 'hi'," because that "blah-blah says hi" shit is really irritating. but the late 70's yanks (and early 2000's lakers teams) persevered through serious internal conflict. then again, those teams also had transcendent talent.
Manchester United won the Premiership and the Champions League with a pair of centre forwards who hated each other so much they wouldn't say hello to each other (Sheringham and Cole).
Moore, Mangold and even Ferguson are leaders of this team... I'm sure they will have a "talk" with Holmes... us fans will never know how it goes but I'm sure this situation will be taken care of.
