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Darron Lee and Muhammad Wilkerson sat vs. Chiefs because they broke team rules

Atlanta Falcons v New York Jets Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images

The start of Sunday’s game between the Jets and the Chiefs was notable because the Jets were without two starters on defense. Muhammad Wilkerson sat out the first quarter, while Darron Lee was not even active.

Todd Bowles provided some information after the game.

Connor Hughes discovered some of the specifics.

Discipline is always a difficult balance for a coach. If things like this don’t work out, the coach gets accused of being too heavy handed and making mountains out of molehills. If the coach doesn’t address lateness, people complain there is no accountability on the team. Fortunately for the Jets, they won this game without Lee and Wilkerson (for a quarter).

It is disappointing to see this happen with Lee. Hopefully he learns going forward.

For Wilkerson we are past teachable moments. This is the third consecutive season in which he has been benched for the first quarter of a game for being late to a meeting. He is almost assured of being a cap casualty after the season for performance issues, and this is another argument for the move.