The Jacksonville Jaguars haven’t done much right on the field this season, so it makes sense that they decided to continue that trend when firing their head coach over the weekend. Not surprisingly, some of the players did not appreciate how the team handled its business.
Gus Bradley was relieved of his duties after the team blew a lead and lost to the Houston Texans. If it wasn’t bad enough that some Jaguars players found out about the firing on social media, Bradley then had to fly back to Jacksonville with the team. Defensive tackle Sen’Derrick Marks thought that was a cold move.
“Yeah, that sucked,” Marks said Tuesday, per Mike DiRocco of ESPN.com. “If I had an opinion on if I thought that was the right move, I don’t think that was the right way to do it. He had to ride the plane home back that way, but that ain’t my call. They did it. They made the move.
“Gus was very cordial about it. Spoke with everybody. Came through the plane shaking hands and just talking with people. Gus has always been a great person in that aspect, but I don’t think we as players were in the mood or were ready to actually see that at that moment.”
The right move would have been to fly back home and then fire Bradley. Even if he knew he was a goner, it saves him the embarrassment of having to board the plane when he is no longer employed by the organization.
We have seen firings in the past that were far more awkward, but there’s no debating the Jaguars could have handled Bradley’s dismissal in a more respectable manner.
