The New York Jets are a team that can’t help but create distractions, and Brandon Marshall implying race had something to do with Tom Brady winning his appeal to lift his suspension doesn’t help the team focus on football.
Marshall has never been one to mince words, and said there are a lot of players out there that believe white players — specifically, at the quarterback position — are treated differently while appearing on Showtime’s “Inside the NFL”. Head coach Todd Bowles, beginning his first regular season as the team’s head coach, was hoping to focus just on football instead of race comments made by one of his most important offensive players.
I read what he said, I heard what he said. Me and Brandon had a talk about it. We’re both fine. He’s fine. The team is fine. I think his opinion is well-warranted in what he said. I’m sure we had cases back when I played. I’ve seen some things, just like he’s seen some things. I’m not on that platform; he is. He has to be smarter. You can say things, but they come out a different way than what you mean. He has to be smarter that way. We talked about it in-depth like two grown men, and we let it go. He understands where I’m coming from, I understand where he’s coming from.
It’s not just Bowles who isn’t happy with what Marshall said. Willie Colon, the team’s offensive lineman, thinks it causes a distraction as well.
Any time you bring up race, it’s never coming back to you positive. Bottom line. So, Week 1, when all eyes should be on us playing football, you figure there’s maybe another time you can use that type of forum for that. I don’t think Marshall was wrong for what he was saying, but maybe, just the timing was bad.
Whether the Jets are bad or good, they show up in the national media. They’re a New York team, so everything gets magnified and dissected. In the last few years, their lack of success and lack of star players has often made it more interesting to zoom in on the non-football stuff.