Scandal, pure speculation, and just something to mull over with your Sunday morning coffee.
Is Vernon Gholston actually injured?
Over the past week or so, I have quietly been thinking this to myself, only when I branched out and shared this idea did I realise that I was not alone in my superstition of the Jets franchise and the mysterious injury that Vernon Gholston acquired prior to the Jacksonville game.
If we think back to the Miami game (shudders), we will remember that Rex took a lot of heat post performance for selecting Vernon Gholston ahead of a special teams player that maybe could of prevented one or both of the Ginn touchdowns.
Prior to the game against Jacksonville, in talking with some Jaguars fans, I made the comment that I would not be surprised if some 'injury' occurred to Gholston that would take the selection headache out of Rex Ryan's hands. The very next day we hear that Vernon Gholston had sustained a hamstring injury, and that he was out for the game against Jacksonville, sustained a hamstring injury in a team 'walk through'.
Now lets look back on a comment that Rex made when he first took over as head coach of the New York Jets
If he can't do it for me and for this team, he's never going to do it."
Here we are in week 10 of the NFL season, and Gholston has 11 tackles, 0 sacks, 0 INT, 0 FF, so if he hasn't been doing it for Rex perhaps the 'bust' label can be firmly applied and concluded. However maybe Rex is not ready for that yet, but realises that right now, his place in the team is hurting rather than helping the performance on Sunday.
However Rex also understands that presenting Gholston as a healthy scratch pretty much seals that comment, admitting that he is not doing it for him and not doing it for the team. Which back handedly also admits that Gholston can't do it anywhere
Simple solution is to present him as injured while we are still sniffing the play-offs, if we lose today, and our play-off hopes go down the drain, don't be surprised to see a miraculous recovery by Gholston next week.
The odd thing is, that when Gholston was playing and starting, he was actually starting to improve, however once Pace returned to the line-up and Gholston was demoted to the bench he again became invisible, much like the entire 2008 season.
However if we are not ready to admit failure, then perhaps down the stretch, it's more beneficial to this team to have Gholston start in place of Bryan Thomas, after all Thomas is hardly lighting the stat sheets up either, 20 tackles and one sack in 9 starts, compared to Gholston's 11 tackles and 0 sacks in 4 starts. If Vernon starts the other five games, I find it hard to believe as disappointing as he has been, that he would not of accumulated similar of not better stats to Thomas.
So what do you think?
1) Is Vernon Gholston actually injured, or is it a face saving move by the franchise?
2) If the play-off hopes go down the drain today in NE, should we start Gholston in place of Thomas?