On Thursday night, the New York-Denver game was over in all but name. There was under a minute on the clock, the Broncos had the ball, and their lead was comfortable. The New York Jets, however, had some timeouts left. They forced the Broncos to run the ball and committed two personal fouls in a row. Denver coach Vic Fangio, already known as tough and even rude, did not shake hands with the other players and coaches; instead, he and Garrett Bolles led the team directly into the locker room. He later explained that the players on his sideline were ticked off, and he didn't want a confrontation.
This is not the first time this sort of nasty play has followed current Jets DC Gregg Williams. In 2012, it was revealed that he was paying his players to deliberately injure opponents. A shocking recording is more specific: he asked players specifically to go after a receiver with a history of concussions and to tear Michael Crabtree's ACL. This was only a few months before Junior Seau's brain-damage-related injury. The effect of concussions on players' long-term mental and physical health were already well-documented. Gregg Williams ordered subordinates at his company (an NFL franchise is a company) to give a specific man this specific injury, and promised monetary compensation if they delivered. People have been charged with conspiracy to commit murder for far less.
The title of this post is not so much asking "Why does Gregg Williams still have a coaching job?" as it is asking "Why does Gregg Williams still have any job at all?" What kind of creep gets together with men half his age and tells them to hurt other men half his age and make it look like an accident, and convinces them that it's just in the nature of competitive sports? Here is what separates the NFL from the gladiators: the goal is not to kill, the goal is to perform great acts of athleticism at the risk of serious injury, avoid the injuries, and come home to your family at the end. When we see a player go down on the field, clutching his knee, we wince and wish him the best. When Gregg Williams sees it, he congratulates the player who caused the accident with a thousand dollars. Williams is, in a manner of speaking, two thousand years behind where social progress is concerned. We would not hesitate to punish a doctor who uses leeches, a manager who refuses to hire people of color, or a man who does not allow his wife to leave the house. But Gregg Williams probably makes more money than you, the reader.
I know he "apologized," and I know he was suspended for a year. But an apology after it all comes out is better described as damage control than contrition, a statement that you regret being caught. I can't claim to speak for him, but when people around the league say you've been doing it for years, a sudden change of heart when the ink on the newspapers is barely dry is fishy at best. Even if he is absolutely sincere, apologies from the rich and famous are too often umbrellas to protect them from the consequences of their actions. Williams must be held accountable—at the very least, he must be ostracized from sports. He shouldn't be working with competitive young men any more than a violent criminal of the mundane sort should be employed at a gun shop. After that...well, I wouldn't hire him, anyway, but that's his problem.
This is not the first time this sort of nasty play has followed current Jets DC Gregg Williams. In 2012, it was revealed that he was paying his players to deliberately injure opponents. A shocking recording is more specific: he asked players specifically to go after a receiver with a history of concussions and to tear Michael Crabtree's ACL. This was only a few months before Junior Seau's brain-damage-related injury. The effect of concussions on players' long-term mental and physical health were already well-documented. Gregg Williams ordered subordinates at his company (an NFL franchise is a company) to give a specific man this specific injury, and promised monetary compensation if they delivered. People have been charged with conspiracy to commit murder for far less.
The title of this post is not so much asking "Why does Gregg Williams still have a coaching job?" as it is asking "Why does Gregg Williams still have any job at all?" What kind of creep gets together with men half his age and tells them to hurt other men half his age and make it look like an accident, and convinces them that it's just in the nature of competitive sports? Here is what separates the NFL from the gladiators: the goal is not to kill, the goal is to perform great acts of athleticism at the risk of serious injury, avoid the injuries, and come home to your family at the end. When we see a player go down on the field, clutching his knee, we wince and wish him the best. When Gregg Williams sees it, he congratulates the player who caused the accident with a thousand dollars. Williams is, in a manner of speaking, two thousand years behind where social progress is concerned. We would not hesitate to punish a doctor who uses leeches, a manager who refuses to hire people of color, or a man who does not allow his wife to leave the house. But Gregg Williams probably makes more money than you, the reader.
I know he "apologized," and I know he was suspended for a year. But an apology after it all comes out is better described as damage control than contrition, a statement that you regret being caught. I can't claim to speak for him, but when people around the league say you've been doing it for years, a sudden change of heart when the ink on the newspapers is barely dry is fishy at best. Even if he is absolutely sincere, apologies from the rich and famous are too often umbrellas to protect them from the consequences of their actions. Williams must be held accountable—at the very least, he must be ostracized from sports. He shouldn't be working with competitive young men any more than a violent criminal of the mundane sort should be employed at a gun shop. After that...well, I wouldn't hire him, anyway, but that's his problem.
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