New York Jets’ Owner Woody Johnson Opens Mouth and …..You Know the Rest

Jan 8, 2013; Florham Park, NJ, USA; New York Jets owner Woody Johnson reviews the 2012 season and address changes for 2013 at the New York Jets Training Facility. Mandatory Credit: Jim O

Our owner never has met a camera he didn’t like, has he? Don’t get me wrong, it’s Woody Johnson’s football team and has the right to do whatever he wants. It just seems that what he wants to do is talk. And talk. And talk.

In the “Hard Knocks” show, we heard quite a bit from Mr. Johnson. He talked a lot about his experience with contracts, in relation to the Revis situation at the time. Nothing too bad there, but when you put it with everything else…oh boy. Remember how he was the one who wanted a second crack at “Hard Knocks”, even though nobody else did? He made it clear that was just what he wanted.

What about the political appearances? Again, if he wants to throw his support to Mitt Romney, or anyone else, go ahead and do it. But don’t go out and say that, and continue by diminishing the importance of your football team. Fans are not going to take it well when you say you would rather see Mitt Romney win than the New York Jets. Just not smart.

Like I said, Woody Johnson opens his mouth, and then it gets ugly.

And then we had his affinity for a certain backup quarterback that I am not going to say the name above. His name makes me twitch so I need to avoid saying it at all costs. But when he was here, Woody Johnson had no problem talking him up. He had that now famous quote about “never having too much” of him. For all of his faults, it was quite noble of Mike Tannenbaum to take responsibility for the situation, but I don’t think anyone believed him.

We know that the owner wants PSLs to sell, and his comments belie anything Mike tried to do there.

Now, after hearing from Woody yet again yesterday, I have come to the conclusion that he should either wear a muzzle, or at the very least, hire a speech writer.

He was talking yesterday about the current Mike Goodson situation. You know the particulars by now, he was arrested on Friday morning on drug and weapons charges, including the carrying of hollow point bullets. There has been a lot of debate on how the Jets should handle it including on this website.  However, we learned from a team statement that they were going to let the legal process play out, and make a decision at that point.

That would have been just fine, provided that was all.  But, Woody found a microphone again.

Yesterday, he talked about being on a “fact-finding” mission with regards to the Goodson case. Look at what Mr. Johnson had to say after:

We’re trying to win games and do the right thing,” Jets owner Woody Johnson told reporters. “Truth, justice and the American way. We live by it, we really do. We have a strong credo, very proud people, very intelligent people that work in our building. We want to avoid the avoidable and I think we do a good job.”

Does Woody have a rule that if he is going to talk about the team, he has to sound ridiculous? “Truth, justice and the American way”? Excuse me, this is not the justice league, this is football. This one wasn’t a controversial statement or anything, it was just weird. Time and time again, Woody Johnson makes it clear that he doesn’t know how to handle the public questions.

Therefore, it’s time for Woody to stay away from the mics. Make your thoughts heard through team statements, where the PR department can edit them for you. If not, at least have Bruce (PR director) write what you are going to say. You have to get sick of opening your mouth and tasting your foot, don’t you?