New York Jets

Todd Bowles drops the ball in handling Sheldon Richardson

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 6:39 p.m. ET

Fansided, Luis Tirado Jr./FanSided via The Jet Press

As the New York Jets have just two more games left in the regular season, they continue to drop the ball in many key areas. Especially with accountability and doing what is right in the grand scheme of things.

In case you haven’t heard, defensive end Sheldon Richardson got into a whole bunch of trouble with a recent Snapchat video he did right before last week’s game. It sparked a ton of outrage among fans of the New York Jets for his vulgar comments and how he doesn’t seem all that motivated to even be on the football field.

Head coach Todd Bowles earlier in the week said it would all be taken care of internally. Of course, we’ll never know what was said or even what kind of accountability is coming, but Bowles dropped the ball in how he handled everything.

Courtesy of the Media Relations Department of the Jets, here is what Bowles had to say about the incident and how he viewed it:

On the perception that Richardson’s behavior is recurring…

It’s not a recurring thing. Again, we don’t condone what he did. He didn’t go out and rob a bank. He didn’t shoot anybody. He said two foul words on Snapchat. In the day of Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, anything you say in the line of business we are in is detrimental to the team. We don’t condone it. We don’t want it. It was a mistake on his part. He understands that. He was remorseful. We handled it internally. That’s the best I can give you.

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While Bowles more than likely issued some kind of accountability for Richardson, to say what he did to the media doesn’t make sense at all. What should have happened was what exactly handed to Richardson, a public apology by him, and then it would have made sense for everyone to move on.

That isn’t the case as more than likely, Richardson will probably be suspended for Saturday’s game against the Patriots or maybe for the final two games. Richardson made a dumb move for what he said in that video but again, it’s the classic case of a professional athlete doing whatever they want and not being held accountable by their team.

Either way, it would have made more sense to simply say what the consequences of Richardson’s action led him and the organization to do. Other coaches do it but not in this case, which again, comes down to the inability of Bowles to keep his locker room in check.

Accountability is huge but not being clear as to how he handles his players so everyone knows he means business shows that it’s not consistently happening. All throughout the season, players were tardy for team meetings and look like they don’t even want to play come game day. These are all signs of bad coaching and while Jets Nation waits to see what exactly happens to Richardson this holiday weekend, it’s easy to see why many consider Bowles on the hot seat heading into the offseason.