The New York Jets may have been the most disappointing team in the NFL this season, and a lack of locker room cohesiveness had a lot to do with their shortcomings. According to Darrelle Revis, a verbal confrontation between two fellow veterans helped contribute to the downfall.
After the Jets’ 30-10 win over the Buffalo Bills in their season finale, Revis indicated that the locker room altercation between Sheldon Richardson and Brandon Marshall in Week 3 had a lasting effect.
“During that game, we wasn’t on the same page as players. It happened on the sideline and it trickled into the locker room after the game,” Revis said, via Daniel Popper of the New York Daily News. “It just left a dark cloud over our head.
“Adversity always strikes for a team. And we tried to nip it in the bud. We actually did move forward and we thought we were OK because we thought we had the guys that were mature enough to handle the situation and move forward. But eventually, it unraveled for us.”
Though his opinion is almost certainly biased, Richardson disagreed that his spat with Marshall contributed to the locker room unraveling.
“I wouldn’t say a dark cloud. A cat’s true colors came out,” he said of Marshall. “That’s pretty much that.”
Richardson also described the chemistry among the Jets as “pretty high,” and said the minor disagreements among teammates behind closed doors are only magnified by losing.
One thing we can say for certain is that Richardson and Marshall never kissed and made up after their Week 3 argument. Richardson made that clear when he unloaded on Marshall after New York’s blowout loss to the Patriots on Christmas Eve.
The Jets announced that they are bringing back head coach Todd Bowles in 2017, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be significant changes. Guys like Revis, Marshall and Richardson could all end up being moved, as the team is in need of a culture change and roster shakeup.
