Bart Scott: LB's Fine Must Be Step 1 in Jets' Offseason Overhaul

Things are bad in New York, at least for the Jets. As was tweeted by Manish Mehta, the Jets are fining LB Bart Scott for flipping off a photographer on Monday after the team's season-ending loss to the Dolphins. That's a good start. But if the Jets are ever going to be a Super Bowl team, it can't stop there. 

The Jets are a mess. There's never been an 8-8 team that's this dysfunctional and that consistently leaves us with this much to talk about after the season ends. It certainly doesn't end with Bart Scott's middle finger. 

Let's take a look at what Greg McElroy had to say on a radio interview in Alabama, via Doug Farrar of Yahoo Sports.

"

It's definitely not a fun place to be, I can assure you...It's the first time I've ever been around extremely selfish individuals, and I think that's maybe the nature of the NFL. But there were people within our locker room that didn't care whether we won or lost, as long as they got their...they really had good games individually. That's the disappointing thing, and it's going to take a lot to kind of come together.

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 Of course, McElroy's comments are meeting the fury of some fellow NFL players. Ryan Clark of the Pittsburgh Steelers had this to say via Twitter:

He added:

On principle, Clark is absolutely right. These are not comments that an irrelevant player like Greg McElroy has any place making in such a public forum. You can't criticize athletes for being selfish while at the same time completely making yourself the center of attention. 

But just because he shouldn't have said it doesn't mean he's wrong. 

There's always been a brashness to this team that's really unprecedented. It's not that I don't have some understanding of it. After all, the Jets are No. 2 in their division behind the Patriots and No. 2 in their own market behind the Giants. It's certainly going to create a little brother syndrome. But Ryan has squarely placed a chip on the Jets' shoulder. 

The problem is that, now, Ryan doesn't have the Jets one win from the Super Bowl. Now, we've endured a season just like the first two. The same trash talk, the same brashness, the same chip on the shoulder. But it's resulted in the Jets watching the playoffs from home. 

If the same players are bringing a decrease in production over time, it means that something needs to be done. That doesn't mean fire Rex Ryan, but it does mean that this team needs to focus on being less media friendly. That means fewer interviews, fewer tweets, not going out and calling out a division rival, etc. Keep everything that's done in-house. 

When you're as public as the Jets are, comments like McIlroy's are going to happen. He didn't just go out and speak to keep his name relevant. Making these comments is a nice sign that he actually believes them. 

Should he have said them? No. But the fact that he said what he said shows that the Jets need to find a new way to attack business in 2012. They need to get rid of the people who create tension, stop being so public, not promise Super Bowls and play the game. 

The problem with being so out there is that, whenever something goes slightly wrong, it creates a state of even greater turmoil, which leads to an unstable situation. That's not an environment that's going to work in the NFL.

McElroy should be gotten rid of for what he said. But the same people and mindset that he was talking about also need to go.

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