I think I've already said it, but up front I again want to say it was a boneheaded decision by Jaire to go out for the coin toss and nearly hurt his team when he had no business being out there. But here's the trouble I have with Jaire's suspension:
First is an issue of timing. We've heard from multiple sources at this point that "it wasn't just about the coin toss" which is fine (and more understandable, tbh) but if nothing else it at least seems to have been the "straw that broke the camel's back," so to speak, and this presents its own set of problems. For starters, it suggests that there HAVE in fact been issues going on between the team/coaching/Jaire behind the scenes for some time now, but were allowed to continue to simmer unseen for who knows how long before finally coming to a head in week 16. And then you have the fact that by all accounts nobody said a thing to Jaire at the time it actually happened (He said himself that nobody said anything about it before/during the game) and it wasn't punished until days after the fact. I don't think it speaks particularly well towards "accountability" when the team's approach seems to have allowed Jaire to have been a "problem" for who knows how long with no repercussions (or at least none that were enough to dissuade that behavior from continuing, as obviously evidenced here) and then when there's finally an incident to push things over the line it's such a big deal that you....say nothing until a few days later and claim it's about a combination of things and NOW you finally need to put forth some kind of public punishment.
Why not just bench Jaire on the spot vs Carolina? The Panthers are (or were, before facing us...) the worst passing team in the league. LaFleur continues to back Barry publicly; shouldn't he have the confidence in his DC to be able to bench Jaire vs the worst passing team in the league and come away with a win still? Sitting him in what is effectively a playoff game vs the Vikings and one of the best WRs in the league seems to certainly punish the team more than an immediate benching vs Carolina would have. Good, accountable leadership is decisive and takes action BEFORE their hand is forced. Jaire was stupid for his stunt, but we should be taking a good hard look at LaFleur and those who are meant to be holding Jaire accountable for letting things get to a point where they felt they finally had to act by suspending him 16 weeks into the season.
Second is perhaps to be taken with a grain of salt, but Jaire claimed that "the guys had my back" or something along those lines. Now I suppose it's possible he is lying, but I don't know what reason he would have to do so...it seems like none of his teammates took much of an issue with his actions in the moment, either. They knew who the captains were and they knew Jaire wasn't one of them and still nobody apparently felt it was important enough to speak out on, at best. This doesn't necessarily mean that LaFleur has "lost the locker room" but at bare minimum it should be awfully concerning. We have already heard Campbell speaking out against the coaching staff in recent weeks as well, coupled with this leads me to believe there is perhaps a bit less harmony in the locker room than we might like to think. As myself and others have said plenty of times before, you can't preach about responsibility and accountability and expect people to take you seriously if you don't follow it up with any action. Words are just words and I suspect players are beginning to notice that a lot of the talk about responsibility and accountability is just that: talk. I mean, frankly it's the height of irony for LaFleur to say "there are standards that we are all accountable for, and when they're not met, unfortunately sometimes you've got to take drastic measures" while continuing to defend Barry week after week. Get real, man!
So it is what it is. I don't have any problem with suspending a player - no matter who it is - for something that should be seen as direct insubordination. But I DO have a big problem with allowing problems to fester seemingly all season long before doing anything about it - I DO have a big problem with zero accountability or discipline at the time the action actually occurred - and I DO have a big problem with our standards of responsibility/accountability being applied EXTREMELY selectively, it seems. If you want to start holding others accountable, to a higher standard, that’s great, but don’t expect anyone to take you seriously when all season long you’ve shown that to mostly just be empty words.
