The Jets may have suspended strength and conditioning coach Sal Alosi for tripping Nolan Carroll during Sunday’s game, but this story still has legs, apparently. On Miami radio yesterday, former Dolphins linebacker Zach Thomas accused the Jets of forming a human wall on their sideline to restrict the space of the gunner running up the sideline to get to the punt retuner.
“But there’s more to it because I’m telling you, the only thing [Alosi] did wrong was intentionally put that knee out there. If he just stood there, there would never have been a problem, even if the guy got tripped. But there’s more to this: He was ordered to stand there. No one is foot to foot on the sideline in the coach’s box.”
Thomas repeated his speculation in a FoxSports Radio interview that Alosi was following orders to be a part of that human wall.
“That’s the reason the guy didn’t get fired,” Thomas said. “There was somebody that ordered that for the sideline.”
Mike Westhoff said that he didn’t instruct anyone to form a human wall, while Rex Ryan also denied that the Jets intentionally lined up along the sideline. For what it’s worth, however, replays showed that the Jets were lined up in a similar fashion on the previous punt, as well. And ESPN New York also spoke to an opposing personnel executive who said that the Jets had been doing this sort of thing for weeks now (minus the tripping, of course).
Meanwhile, Alosi’s trip made him the subject of last night’s Late Show Top Ten List. (The No. 7 Jets Coach Excuse: “The WikiLeaks guy made me do it.”) See the entire list in the clip below.
Tripgate Continues With Accusations, Comedy