The New York Jets reportedly filed a tampering charge to the NFL league office against the New England Patriots on Tuesday
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The Jets-Patriots rivalry has long been a bitter one, preceding even Rex Ryan and his time as head coach of the Jets. In fact, Patriots head coach was once the Jets coach, and the two franchises have shared many other coaches as well.
But on the field, it’s been fun and competitive for several years now, even when the Jets have been less competitive against other teams. But tampering has become the newest form of bitter hatred between the two rivals.
The Jets reportedly filed a tampering charge to the NFL against the Patriots on Tuesday, following comments that Patriots owner Robert Craft made on Monday at the NFL Owner’s Meetings.
Kraft was pretty adamant that the Patriots wanted to re-sign cornerback Darrelle Revis, “We wanted to keep him, we wanted him in our system. We had hoped it worked out. It didn’t.”
He continued, “Bill (Belichick) wanted him. When you’ve got a budget, there’s certain things you can’t do, and we have a budget. And in the end we’ll judge it by what the results are. I think each side in the end did what was right for them.”
Somehow, the Jets organization took those comments as tampering. But Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk passed along some context to help understand the Jets’ thinking.
“In December, Jets owner Woody Johnson publicly expressed interest in bringing back cornerback Darrelle Revis, who at the time was under contract with the Patriots.”
The Jets, then, could be punished somehow, someway if the NFL determines that Johnson was indeed tampering in regards to the then-Patriot Revis.
New York Daily News Jets columnist Manish Mehta expressed his thoughts over the recent development, in light of the Jets’ potential discipline.
Mehta is correct. It is a smart move by the Jets, and will continue to grow the bitterness of the rivalry. If the Jets are going to be penalized, finding a way to penalize the Patriots should be their primary concern.
The Jets are trying to catch the elusive Patriots in the AFC East, who have won all but two division crowns since 2001. The Jets have only won four division titles–the last coming in 2002.
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