Over his 12 years as owner of the New York Jets, it has become apparent there are two Woody Johnsons. There was the Woody Johnson who was a hands-off owner who hid in the background from 2000-2006 when he let the likes of Al Groh, Herman Edwards and Eric Mangini do their jobs.
Yet, once the 2007 season came and went in a horrific 4-12 disaster, the other Woody Johnson was revealed. This is the Woody Johnson who thinks and acts like Jerry Jones. From Brett Favre to Rex Ryan, and now to Tim Tebow, Johnson has done everything in his power the past five years to keep the Jets in the subconsciousness of football fans everywhere, for better or worse.
He transformed from quiet owner who let the football people do their jobs to Mr. Hands-On. The result has been a debacle of the first magnitude.
This week, Johnson had to defend himself against claims that he cares more about selling PSLs rather than winning.
"This, I really want to clean up,” Johnson said. “You guys have been accusing me — this phony story — about me being more concerned with PSLs or cash or something else. My job 1, 2 and 3 is to win games. That’s why I got into football to begin with. It’s to win games. It’s not to sell PSLs or anything else. My job is to win games. That’s what my passion is. That’s what I want to do. That’s why I’m spending all this time in this organization. It’s not to sell PSLs or to sell hot dogs. It’s to win games. That’s my job. I take it very seriously.”
The simple fact is the Jets have been one of the worst teams in the NFL in attendance. Their games have seen a nearly 2/3rds full stadium. They have failed to fill the seats, and the PSLs have been an abysmal failure in every sense. Earlier this year, MetLife Stadium was filled to the gunells by 49ers fans during San Fran's 34-0 slashing of the Jets earlier this year!
With three home games remaining on the season, the Jets have over 10,000 seats available for each game, according to the Jets schedule on ESPN, so, even though Johnson has done everything in his power to sell fans on sexy big names, it has not worked since fans would rather see a winner every Sunday.
Johnson ruled out the idea that he pressured the Jets front office to acquire Tim Tebow back in March, but this is a guy who, a few weeks ago, said that he expects Tebow to be in a Jets uniform for the next three seasons! This is also the guy who ok'd a five year extension, including $11 million guaranteed for Mark Sanchez, and the same guy who loves his bombastic coach Rex Ryan.
Nevertheless, the record speaks for itself, and the problem goes far beyond the 3-6 record for the Jets this season. Johnson is a guy with a trigger finger. He not only wants to win games on the field, he wants to win headlines. If the Jets continue to go down the proverbial toilet, don't put it past Johnson to make a move that goes beyond removing Mike Tannenbaum as General Manager.
Rex Ryan could be on notice soon.
With the way this franchise is run, no big time coach or GM is going to want to be associated with this team. The persona of the Jets around the NFL is that of a circus clowns. They are what the Cincinnati Bengals were the past decade, and what the Oakland Raiders have been since the mid 1980s -- a complete joke.
“I didn’t sign up for a 3-6 season,” Johnson said. “We haven’t had one of these in a while. I’m not happy about it. Yet, I am optimistic that some of these things can be corrected."
Those changes could be coming on New Year's Eve. Send in the clowns.
Yet, once the 2007 season came and went in a horrific 4-12 disaster, the other Woody Johnson was revealed. This is the Woody Johnson who thinks and acts like Jerry Jones. From Brett Favre to Rex Ryan, and now to Tim Tebow, Johnson has done everything in his power the past five years to keep the Jets in the subconsciousness of football fans everywhere, for better or worse.
He transformed from quiet owner who let the football people do their jobs to Mr. Hands-On. The result has been a debacle of the first magnitude.
This week, Johnson had to defend himself against claims that he cares more about selling PSLs rather than winning.
"This, I really want to clean up,” Johnson said. “You guys have been accusing me — this phony story — about me being more concerned with PSLs or cash or something else. My job 1, 2 and 3 is to win games. That’s why I got into football to begin with. It’s to win games. It’s not to sell PSLs or anything else. My job is to win games. That’s what my passion is. That’s what I want to do. That’s why I’m spending all this time in this organization. It’s not to sell PSLs or to sell hot dogs. It’s to win games. That’s my job. I take it very seriously.”
The simple fact is the Jets have been one of the worst teams in the NFL in attendance. Their games have seen a nearly 2/3rds full stadium. They have failed to fill the seats, and the PSLs have been an abysmal failure in every sense. Earlier this year, MetLife Stadium was filled to the gunells by 49ers fans during San Fran's 34-0 slashing of the Jets earlier this year!
With three home games remaining on the season, the Jets have over 10,000 seats available for each game, according to the Jets schedule on ESPN, so, even though Johnson has done everything in his power to sell fans on sexy big names, it has not worked since fans would rather see a winner every Sunday.
Johnson ruled out the idea that he pressured the Jets front office to acquire Tim Tebow back in March, but this is a guy who, a few weeks ago, said that he expects Tebow to be in a Jets uniform for the next three seasons! This is also the guy who ok'd a five year extension, including $11 million guaranteed for Mark Sanchez, and the same guy who loves his bombastic coach Rex Ryan.
Nevertheless, the record speaks for itself, and the problem goes far beyond the 3-6 record for the Jets this season. Johnson is a guy with a trigger finger. He not only wants to win games on the field, he wants to win headlines. If the Jets continue to go down the proverbial toilet, don't put it past Johnson to make a move that goes beyond removing Mike Tannenbaum as General Manager.
Rex Ryan could be on notice soon.
With the way this franchise is run, no big time coach or GM is going to want to be associated with this team. The persona of the Jets around the NFL is that of a circus clowns. They are what the Cincinnati Bengals were the past decade, and what the Oakland Raiders have been since the mid 1980s -- a complete joke.
“I didn’t sign up for a 3-6 season,” Johnson said. “We haven’t had one of these in a while. I’m not happy about it. Yet, I am optimistic that some of these things can be corrected."
Those changes could be coming on New Year's Eve. Send in the clowns.
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