So after all the sturm und drang about Jets wide receiver Braylon Edwards not being suspended for a game after being arrested for drinking while driving, the Jets, with Edward's help, beat the Miami Dolphins in a nail biter down in Miami. It was a big win, the Jets needed Edwards and they knew it so a ridiculous punishment dance played out all week long. Listening to new york sports radio last week was like rehashing the OJ murder except no one was murdered. "He's gotta be made an example of!" Most of the chattering class screamed. "It sets a bad example to your other players!" Maybe so, but is sitting a player for Game really a punishment or does it just hurt the whole team in the name of good, and essentially meaningless PR? If he had beaten his wife would he have sat out a game? Probably but is wife beating worse than possible vehicular homicide? yes. One is hypothetical one is a fact. Just because you drive drunk doesn't mean you're automatically gonna kill someone, it just means the risks are much greater which makes it crazy dangerous and stupid. Does playing a guy somehow condone the crime or does it just deal with the reality of the NFL being a business and the business requires teams to put their best team they can on the field in order to win regardless of whether or not the player is a scumbag. Will benching someone make other players think twice before they do something stupid? "I was gonna bring my gun to the nightclub but I might sit on the bench." I don't think that's how these guys think. This whole thing got so stupid that the jets brought it to a new level of dumb. With all the media pressure to punish the guy yet knowing they needed him, they put forth a punishment joke. The Jets looked like assholes for "benching" him for one quarter and calling it a punishment. Talk about meaningless PR. It was a pointless pretend nod to the pro punishment crowd. "See? He's sitting on the bench for 15 minutes, he's been shamed. Can we play him now?" It was silly. I'll never drink and drive again. I sat out a quarter.Now since Rex Ryan has been the jets coach there has been one Jet arrested, Braylon Edwards. In the same time frame there have been 6 Miami Dolphins arrested, 5 Buffalo Bills and 1 New England Patriot. Not exactly a crime wave in New York. All the other starting players in the NFL that have committed the same crime in the last 2 years have all played in the next game. The jets are no different. In a perfect world would the jets have punished him more? Yes, but with each week in the NFL being do or die they had to play the guy. In the end Braylon edards has fucked himself plenty. He's a dumbass who got behind the wheel of his car while drunk and got arrested before he could kill someone. OK, good, the cops got the guy, and whether or not he was benched for a week, the guy is gonna pay in a lot of ways.
Free agency- he will lose money on the free agent market for being a trouble maker, plenty of teams won't want to sign him, he's been arrested for drinking and driving and for a fight outside a nightclub. Some teams won't care about his record, they just want a big, fast receiver but most won't want to put up with his bullshit. He just lost millions.
The press: the guy is being raped daily by the press in the media capital of the world. Now you might say that's not a real punishment but having your ass kicked 24/7 by radio, newspapers and TV can't be any fun.
The Police: Sooner or later he's gonna have to deal with the actual crime which will mean fines, possible jail time, license suspension, probation. All the joys of being arrested for a felony.
The NFL: When the NFL finishes doing their work on this, Edwards will be suspended and lose more money. I doubt too many players want this to happen to them. He's already an example without being benched in a meaningless attempt to "punish" the guy
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