The Jets aren’t going to play many starters in the preseason finale, so they gave them the day off for something they could use.
A total of 19 players, including both quarterbacks Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow, were sent off-site to work with a former member of the Army Special Forces. Coaches and some of the front office went through a similar session in June, mostly team-building and leadership drills.
“When I looked at the schedule, this was really the time to do it,” coach Rex Ryan said, via Jenny Vrentas of the Newark Star-Ledger. “We just had such a great experience as a coaching staff, and I’m hoping the players had the same kind of experience we had.”
Whether Santonio Holmes would catch the offensive line at the trust fall remains to be seen, but the coaches who went through it raved about the program.
“It’s just a reminder of what it takes and how difficult the task is to all be in one accord and doing it the right way,” secondary coach Dennis Thurman said in June when the coaches went through the session. “And when you do that, that also filters down to the players. When they see we are all together, the players say, ‘OK, they’re all together.’ How can we not be all together?”
Yes, how can it not work?
It’s almost inconceivable.