Cris Carter Talk to Jets Locker Room

This is a very interesting read. Check it out:

"On Tuesday, Hall of Fame wide receiver Cris Carter spoke to the Jets’ players. Coach Rex Ryan mentioned this speech a day later, and raved about it. Considering how well Carter’s talk was received, could it spark the 2-8 Jets to more wins after the bye week?

If it does, the Jets can chalk it up to Carter’s brutally honest tone. Carter went on ESPN radio in New York on Wednesday with Mike Lupica, and revealed what he told the Jets. (You can listen to the Carter-Lupica interview here.)

In addition to his speech, Carter also took questions from the Jets’ players. One of the questions resulted in Carter harshly criticizing the Jets, right to their faces.

“They were very, very receptive,” Carter told Lupica. “Even one of the players, frankly, just asked me what I thought about the Jets and their season. He was a veteran player. He is an offensive lineman. I told them flat-out what I thought. I thought that they didn’t play like the Rex Ryan teams that I used to know. I told them they make too many mistakes. They turn the ball over. I said they don’t have no identity.

“I said, ‘Now, the defensive front seven, the defensive line, if I had a hat on, I’d take it off to you, because you guys do play hard and you have played well.’ I said, ‘But the intensity for which you’re playing together, I don’t see that to (the level of) the Jets teams that went to the AFC championship several years ago. I don’t see that.’

“I said, ‘Y’all can say what you want, blame what you want to. But man, you turn the football over, your chances of winning in the NFL, they go down. I said, ‘You’ve got to make plays offensively. The secondary ain’t making plays. And wide receivers, you’ve got to make more plays.’ I said, ‘That’s what this is about.’ I said, ‘People are paid money to work jobs, but in the NFL, man, you get paid to win. This ain’t no fun when you ain’t winning.’”

Carter clarified that he did not question the Jets’ effort, just their execution.

“I wasn’t even speaking on what I thought wasn’t trying hard,” Carter said. “I’m talking about going to extreme measures. Man, when Rex took over the Jets, the Jets played with a different type of intensity. They played with an edge. They played with a cockiness, with a confidence that most NFL teams play with.

“I also told them that, ‘The talent in this room is not that much different than the other 31 teams. So if y’all think y’all got less talent, stop making excuses.’ Has it been tough conditions y’all was put under with (general manager John) Idzik and Rex and the contract and all that talk? Yeah. But if you make plays, that will all go away.”

Carter said that, for most of his session, he spoke only to the players.

“The coaches and some of the people in the front office, I asked them to leave,” Carter said. “I feel like I can accomplish more just talking to the players, and them feeling like I’m not with the NFL or the team brought me in. I’m really here for the players and to help the players.”

The team did bring Carter in, of course. He said the visit had been scheduled for some time, and that his speech did not touch directly on the Jets’ season, but rather, on broader issues about playing in the NFL. During the question-and-answer portion, though, Carter got to his thoughts on the Jets’ miserable season.

“The reason I was there was not because of how their season was going,” Carter said. “Rex was in contact with me, and has been for a number of years. I was scheduled to talk to the Jets at this time either way. For me, it’s more about what’s going on in the league right now. It really wasn’t really specifically oriented to their team right now. How to be a player in this league, how to be a veteran in this league, how to be a leader. You will be held accountable for everything that you do. What are the expectations that we expect from the current players? Are they going to leave the game in a better state than when they came into the game? Those were some of the topics.”

One portion of the speech that both the coaching staff and players heard involved Carter’s recollections about playing for Ryan’s father, Buddy Ryan, with the Eagles. Carter spent the first three years of his career with the Eagles, 1987-89, and then Buddy cut Carter because of his alcohol and drug abuse. Carter later credited this moment as helping him turn his life around.

In his interview with Lupica, Carter said that on Tuesday, “I wanted to tell a story to the team about Rex and his dad and his mom and what it meant to me in my life, and I told that story.” Then Carter said he had the coaching staff leave the room, so he could speak directly to the players.

The story about Buddy Ryan and his wife is presumably the one Carter told last year when he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. In Carter’s Hall of Fame speech, the story went like this:

“Buddy Ryan drafted me, and he tried to grow me up in the league. What Buddy Ryan did was the best thing that ever happened for me when he cut me and told me I couldn't play for his football team. (Buddy) told me the night before (the cut), he went on and talked to his wife (Joanie), and he asked his wife what he should do. And his wife told him, ‘Don't cut Cris Carter. He's going to do something special with his life.’ So Buddy Ryan and your lovely wife, I thank you. You're going into the Hall with me tonight.”"

http://www.nj.com/jets/index.ssf/2014/11/cris_carter_jets_speech_message_hall_of_fame_receiver.html

 

First thing that came to my mind also

 

There was a lot to it that was said without anyone in the room but the players. Much of which was likely not said on here.