Locker room drama, finger pointing, name calling … no, this isn’t another Friday afternoon at Fenway Park, it’s the fallout from New York Jets wide receiver Santonio Holmes, who made headlines this week for sacking the team’s offensive line.
Simply put, Holmes is dissatisfied with the amount of protection quarterback Mark Sanchez has received in New York’s shaky 2-3 start to the 2011 season.
Jets offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer had a chance Friday to respond to Holmes and told media members that not only is he taking responsibility, he’s ready to roll up his sleeves and get back to work.
"I think obviously Santonio is a guy (who is) very competitive. Sometimes when things are said in the media, they don’t always come off the way you say them. But again, those are the situations where we don’t worry about it. We know we’re professionals. We’re all going to work through it. We need to win a game, and we realize that. We want to win a game. We’ve been through this before, a couple years back we went through hard times and it’s not a lot of fun. But, there’s only one thing you can do, and that’s roll up your sleeves and get back to work … There’s plenty of blame to go around. There’s certainly things that we need to execute better. There are certainly (times) that I’d like to have calls back. You can’t put a percentage on it. So ultimately, when you sit in my chair, you take the responsibility."
While Schottenheimer is no stranger to receiving personal fouls from both fans and media when the team doesn’t produce, not everyone in Gang Green believes he’s the one who should be getting the flag.
Running back LaDainian Tomlinson supported Schottenheimer on Friday.
"It’s unfair because (Schottenheimer) is not the one that is out there throwing the ball, catching it, running it, blocking. He can’t do any of that. All he can do is gameplan for us and put us in the right position and hopefully we execute and make the plays. So a lot of that is unfair. The kind of person (Schottenheimer) is, he understands that. That’s part of the territory that he’s going to get blamed for a lot of stuff. I tell you what, the guy hasn’t blinked. He’s come to work every single day and he’s put together game plans, looked us square in the face and taught us what I think needs to be taught at this time going forward."
Of course, most of this will go away if the Jets are able to run roughshod over the winless Miami Dolphins on Monday night. And in this case, the best defense will be a good offense.
Mark Sanchez, the floor is yours.
For a closer look at the Jets Vs. the Dolphins game check out our Monday night preview here and get up to speed on all the week six news and notes with Gang Green Nation/