Are we sure Brian Schottenheimer was really a Jets coach for six years?
Now the Rams offensive coordinator, Schottenheimer steadfastly refused to throw gas on the big, green dumpster fire his former team has become.
“[A victory Sunday] wouldn’t count twice, but would I enjoy it?” he said, via Bart Hubbuch of the New York Post. “Absolutely.”
That was about as inflammatory as it got, as Schottenheimer fired no shots in advance of Sunday’s game against his old employer.
“If there’s one thing I learned growing up in a coach’s family, it’s that stability in this business is crazy,” he said. “We enjoyed six amazing years in New York. We were so close to getting to the Super Bowl, and I wish we would have had a chance to finish it. But there comes a time when it’s time to make a change and move on, and I’m thrilled to be a St. Louis Ram.”
Schottenheimer also escaped a stormy tenure with the Jets with his reputation intact, with Rams head coach Jeff Fisher saying “His opportunity to be a head coach is not far away.”
“I really don’t,” Schottenheimer said, when asked if the criticism he took was unfair. “When you’re a coordinator in this league, you’re going to take bullets. I always appreciated how passionate the fans were back in New York, and it comes with the territory.”
Maybe the physical distance or potential next job — or simple human decency — explains why he takes no comfort in the Jets struggles to move the ball, after many made him the scapegoat for it in the past.