National Football League

Tripping out about Jets' sideline incident

Published Dec. 15, 2010 12:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

Former NFL linebacker Zach Thomas suggested pretty strongly on a Miami radio program Tuesday, and reiterated in an appearance on FOX, that "Trip-Gate," the despicably misplaced-but-intentionally-bent-knee by New York Jets strength coach Sal Alosi during Sunday's loss to the Miami Dolphins, was an orchestrated event.

A few hours later, noted journalist and New York radio personality Chris "Mad Dog" Russo told David Letterman that he "had heard" that the practice of running a "gunner" out of bounds and then somehow deterring his progress up the sideline — as Alosi did with Dolphins coverage man Nolan Carroll in the most egregious way — was a fairly common and often-coached occurrence in the league.

We're hardly as experienced in NFL subterfuge practices as Thomas. But in 33 years of covering the league, we've never heard, much less witnessed, the gunner-gutting ploy. Which either means we're naive or the practice simply doesn't exist.

Except maybe in locker-room rumor lore.

Again, with naivete a distinct possibility, four special-teams coaches contacted this week claimed they had no knowledge of the gunner-aimed gambit on a league-wide basis. The very real possibility exists, of course, that they were just covering their own butts or rigidly adhering to some silly NFL code of silence. But these are all good guys and longtime friends and, hopefully, the relationship honed over years of mutual trust, even with a media hack, was enough to compel them to tell the truth.

Which leaves the possibility Alosi acted on his own, that he lost his sanity for a split moment and forfeited the kind of expectation for rational behavior that we all have a right to command from coaches. Or that he got caught up in the bravado the Jets emanate, the "anything goes" mentality that seems to have overcome the once-staid team, and considered the indiscretion part of the job.

The Jets don't walk softly, but they do carry a big shtick, and they take their lead, it seems, from the outspoken guy at the top. Rex Ryan, or "Coach Blowhard" as he has been termed by this columnist, has imbued a sense of entitlement with his club. That isn't to say the Jets expect to have things handed to them — they work as hard, in fact, as any team in the league — but they do play with excess hubris.

Every team expects to win. At least that's what we've historically been told should be the prevalent mind-set in the league. But with the Jets, it seems to go beyond an expectation and is almost considered a birthright.

New York has gone "all in" on winning this season. General manager Mike Tannenbaum, one of the NFL's good guys, has pushed all his chips to the middle of the table. Owner Woody Johnson, previously considered a bit of a milquetoast in NFL circles, has gambled his reputation for an opportunity at a Vince Lombardi Trophy. Via the HBO show "Hard Knocks," the Jets have advertised to the world, and not just the NFL, their intentions for 2010.

Riding a two-game losing streak and headed to Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, a tough venue in which to play, the Jets are suffering some hard knocks — certainly some hard times — of their own. Anything less than a Super Bowl XLV victory for this bunch will be considered a failure.

But in another sense, maybe, the Jets have already been losers.

Alosi's inexplicable action on Sunday might well have been just a knee-jerk reaction. Or maybe we can eliminate the knee, and just be left with the jerk part, huh?