They laughed at Herman Edwards. You guess they did. All these years later, you may nonetheless hear the responses and the replies to Edwards, whose second season on the helm of the Jets, in 2002, had quickly disintegrated into an unsightly 2-5 mess.
Throughout a Wednesday press convention at Hofstra a number of days after his crew had misplaced a depressing sport to the Browns, 24-21, Edwards was requested if he was frightened that a few of his gamers may select to mail in the remainder of the season. Edwards’ eyes narrowed. He took a number of deep breaths. And shortly his inside preacher was on full show.
“Not on my watch, they gained’t do this,” Edwards mentioned. He was simply warming up. “It’s inexcusable. That’s unthinkable to me.” There was extra: “You don’t stop in sports activities, you retire.”
After which the cash shot:
“That is what the best factor about sports activities is: YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME. HELLO?! You play to win the sport. You don’t play to only play it!”
Oh, they laughed at Herm all proper.
However a humorous factor occurred a number of days after that. The Jets flew to San Diego, the place they have been anticipated to get blasted by the 6-1 Chargers, and as an alternative they annihilated the Bolts, 44-13. They gained 4 in a row, seven of their ultimate 9, and once they beat the Packers in Week 17 and received assist from the Patriots storming again to upset the Dolphins in Foxborough, they'd their second (and most up-to-date) AFC East title for the reason that merger.
Then, for good measure, they obliterated Peyton Manning and the Colts, 41-0, within the first spherical of the playoffs.
Nobody was laughing by Jan. 12, 74 days after “You play to win the sport!” when that pleasure journey of a season lastly resulted in Oakland.
That’s the factor about coaches who use their weekly podiums and bully pulpits to get a different-sounding message throughout. It doesn’t need to age poorly.
Which brings us to Robert Saleh’s Herm Second this week, on Monday, when he defiantly declared: “We’re all taking receipts on all of the individuals who regularly mock and say that we ain’t going to do something. I’m taking receipts, and I’m going to be more than pleased to share them with all of y’all when it’s all mentioned and performed.”
And right here’s the factor: If the Jets can get this circled, even a bit of, then he can current these payments to whomever he was referring to, primarily these of us within the media who had our share of enjoyable with that one. He’ll be entitled. And we'll all look again to that because the second Saleh arrived as a head coach, perhaps the second the Jets arrived as a viable crew.
However you must win now.
You win, these phrases develop into legend, the way in which Joe Namath’s did in January 1969, on the Miami Landing Membership Dinner, when he responded to a heckler a number of nights earlier than the Jets performed the Colts within the Tremendous Bowl: “I’ll let you know what, we’re gonna win the sport, I assure it.”
You win, they develop into the primary paragraph of your obituary, as occurred to Jim Fassel (who really scored the larger native headlines the day Herm mentioned “Howdy!” as a result of that was the day he eliminated Sean Payton’s play-calling obligations). However two years earlier, the Giants have been coming off back-to-back losses and have been scuffling at 7-4.
“This can be a poker sport, I’m shoving my chips to the center of the desk,” Fassel mentioned, “I’m elevating the ante, anyone desires in, get in. Anyone desires out, get out. OK? This crew goes to the playoffs.”
The Giants didn’t lose once more till working into Ray Lewis and the Ravens in Tremendous Bowl XXXV. And, sure, when Fassel handed in June 2021, that quote was proper in each lead.
In fact, there's additionally the cautionary story of Joe Decide, who spent numerous final 12 months fertilizing notebooks with defiant observations — my private favourite was, “This ain’t a crew that’s having fistfights on the sidelines. This ain’t some clown-show group or one thing else. OK?” — and couldn’t ever get out of his personal method earlier than the Giants mercy-fired him.
All of us had a bit of enjoyable at Robert Saleh’s expense this week, and he was honest sport. However he’s proper about one factor. He does have loads of receipts. And there’s just one technique to take most benefit of that possession, beginning Sunday afternoon in Cleveland.
Post a Comment