Keith Strudler: Fighter J-E-T-S

Jets fans, all five of you, here’s the good news. Gino Smith will not throw an interception for the next six to 10 weeks. That’s the good news. The bad news, and there’s plenty, is that the Jets starting quarterback won’t throw anything for six to 10 weeks, at least not wearing pads and a helmet. That’s because Smith broke his jaw this week in a locker room altercation with now former teammate IK Enemkpali. According to reports, Smith owed Enemkpali $600 for a plane ticket he never used, and Enemkpali let him know by way of a fist to the jaw. The result is one QB on injured reserve, one backup linebacker on waivers, and enough material to keep late night talk shows in business for a generation.

Now, if you're a glass half full kind of guy, then the silver lining is that few people really saw Geno Smith as the future for the NY Jets, or really any NFL team. Last season the Jets served up an anemic passing offense en route to a 4-12 record. The team would be lucky to win eight games this year, with or without Geno Smith. So perhaps this injury, if you will, can allow the team to move in a different direction. Now, whether backup turned starter Ryan Fitzpatrick is that direction remains to be seen – and to be honest, ten years into the league, we’d probably know by now. On a positive note, Fitzpatrick is a Harvard graduate and has the highest Wonderlic – aka IQ – score in the history of the NFL. So he’s probably smart enough to stay away from an angry belligerent linebacker to whom you owe $600.

There’s nothing especially new about fights in NFL training camps. Usually it’s stirred by hyper aggressive play by guys simply hoping to make, or stay on the team.  Those kinds of skirmishes are allowed, even encouraged by management. This case with Geno Smith was something entirely different. Anyone who’s ever so much as seen a stadium knows you don’t sucker punch your starting quarterback over $600. Or really anything. Quarterbacks are the Barbara Streisand of the football world – uniquely talented, but something of a diva. Where pretty much everyone else on the field gets mauled every practice, quarterbacks wear specially colored jerseys to indicate no hits. It’s like a game of touch football inside a war zone. So, hitting a quarterback in a helmet on the field during training camp is bad enough. Punching him in the mouth in the showers is downright mad.

It’s hard to take too much out of this beyond the fact that the Jets are just crazy. But we already knew that. And it doesn’t seem to matter what coach and which players. The larger question, and narrative, will be about violence in and around the sport of football. In other words, what does this particular incident say about America’s pastime and the people who play it?

First, it’s probably unfair to put too much blame on the brutality of football itself. For all insanity it embodies, this story is amazing largely because it is so unique. Of all the quarterbacks in the history of the NFL, this is first I know who’ll eat nothing but Jell-O and milkshakes because of a shower fight.

Second, there’s a difference between aggression on the field and this. When players hit other players in pads, it’s almost more ritualistic exercise than an intent to injure. Granted, a ridiculous, testosterone filled, caveman like exercise. But a ritual none-the-less. You’re more likely to hurt your own hand punching someone in pads and a helmet, which is why these fights often look like glorified WWE matches. So fights in training camp aren’t all that different than arguments at a business meeting. And at least in football, players rarely hold a grudge, which is way more than you can say for pretty much every other American workplace.

Finally, moving beyond football, this case reminds us that people often take on the ethos of their workplace. That holds true for investment bankers and teachers and police officers and so on. Part of our challenge as employees second and people first is to remember that our workplace environment and its demands can’t define us as people. So even though football is a rough sport, football players should remember that outside the lines – even just in the locker room – they shouldn’t be. That may not always be simple, just like it’s probably hard for a lot of aggressive lawyers to remember they can’t treat the rest of the world like a contract negotiation, something that’s probably the transcript of more than a few divorce hearings.

Is the case of IK Enemkpali and Geno Smith a football disease? Yes and no, I suppose. But on a positive note, this particular symptom will subside in a mere six to 10 weeks.

 
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