Are you a football fan?
Do you think Aaron Rodgers should go to the Jets?
Do you think the Jets should go after Aaron Rodgers?
The consensus amongst the delusional is that he should.
Obviously I do not agree.
Currently, Mike Greenberg and Rich Eisen are on pins and needles hoping that the Jets take Aaron Rodgers. That should tell you all you need to know that the Jets should not take Aaron Rodgers – at least not without thinking first.
I’m going to tell you why.
Teams that are always reaching for the brass ring never get the brass ring.
Just in case you are too young to know, the brass ring was what you reached for as you went around a merry-go-round. The goal was to reach out for the brass ring and grab it.
I have no doubt that Aaron Rodgers is a great quarterback.
He is a great quarterback.
He would help the Jets immensely.
The problem is that Aaron Rodgers is 39 years old.
The other problem may be whether Aaron Rodgers fits into the Jets long-term goal that will work for the Jets.
It’s not a matter of getting into the playoffs for one or two years.
What a team wants is a consistent identity that can prosecute a football program that will continually put them in a position to win for decades into the future.
To accomplish that, a team must first sit down and take a counter-intuitive approach to football.
The first thing that the Jets need to do is consult average New Yorkers, historians, sociologists, and ask them the following: What is the essence of a New Yorker?
What makes New York tick?
How do we define New York?
What are the hopes and aspirations of your average New Yorker?
What does he or she expect out of life?
What motivates the New Yorker?
What gives the New Yorker an erection?
What do you New Yorkers not like?
What are the values of a New Yorker?
What makes a New Yorker distinct?
Then, someone on the Jets needs to compile all this information and write a one page essay on the essence of a New Yorker.
Once that is done, the Jets then need to gather together their board of fathers who are responsible for the caretaking of the Jets.
These people would include former players, former coaches, and other prominent people who are emotionally tied to the New York area. It may even include sportscasters who cover the New York area.
These people then, from that one page essay, need to define the type of team that the Jets should have predicated upon that sociological context that was defined on that one page essay.
In other words, this board of fathers will ask what identity do we want the Jets to prosecute into the future for the next 20 years?
What kind of team do we want them to be?
Do we want a clever team?
Do we want a dirty team?
Do we want an intellectual team?
Do we want a rough and ready, beat the shit out of them team?
What will be our trademark?
What will be our brand?
Then someone on the Jets needs to write a one page essay based upon the discussions of this board of fathers.
This one page essay will be the guiding force of what kind of offense you’ll run, what kind of defense you’ll run, the types of coaches that you will hire, the types of players that you will employ.
The draft choices, and the trades that the Jets engage in will be predicated upon that one page essay.
And it will make drafting and trading so much easier. It will make them easier because you will be able to immediately see who fits into your sociological context and who does not.
After this is done, the general manager, his administrative staff, and the coaches who are to be selected must conform to this one page essay.
Everybody on the Jets team, including the front office, must buy into this identity. They must be coached into this identity.
It’s not just the players who must be coached. The coaches must be coached. The general manager must be coached. The general managers assistance must be coached.
All promotions must occur from within the organization.
The days are over when the California huckster rolls into town on his Conestoga wagon selling his pots and pans and liniments.
There will be no West Coast offense.
There will be no Tampa 2 defense.
What there will be is a Jets offense and a Jets defense that is 100% unique – uncopiable.
The players naturally will be totally indoctrinated into the Jets culture.
When this is accomplished, the Jets will be far better off than reaching for a brass ring that will never come.
Yes, the going will be a little bit slower in the beginning, but in time generous dividends will be received.
Now, it may very well come to pass that Aaron Rodgers does come to the Jets.
If so, let it be because you measured twice before cutting.
Sincerely,
Archer Crosley
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