Whatcha Gonna Do When They Come For You?

Who are you and what have you done with my Jets?

This is the question that I've been asking in my head over and over again with each new addition to the Jets squad. Cromartie, thank you very much. LT, with pleasure. With all of these superstar acquisitions you wouldn't be wrong to mistake the usually mediocre Jets for the Yankees?

And just when you thought the Jets were done with their offseason, they made another huge move, acquiring WR Santonio Holmes from the Steelers for a fifth-round pick in this year's draft.
One man's trash is another man's treasure. The Steelers organization have recently found their players in some sticky situations. Their star QB Ben Roethlisberger was accused of his second sexual assault. Neither of the cases made it to trial however and charges were dropped.

Then there came WR Santonio Holmes' incident in which he threw a glass cup at a woman's face after she refused Holmes' request for her to "get up" from the couch she was sitting on. Holmes has had several run-ins with the law. His first arrest came in Miami Beach in May 2006 for disorderly conduct, and less than a month later was arrested for domestic violence and assault in Columbus, Ohio. Then in October 2008 he was arrested in Pittsburgh for possession of marijuana. Holmes is probably on a first name basis with the police.

The Rooney family, who own Steelers, and are rightfully known as some of the most respected owners in sports, decided not to stand for this poor behavior. But no owner in their right mind would trade their franchise QB who's already brought two Super Bowls to the Steel City in his short six year career.

So they were left having to part with Super Bowl XLIII MVP Santonio Holmes. The Jets were more than happy to take him off their hands.

Santonio compounds to a growing theme among players on the Jets. The theme of thugishness.

Maybe thuggishness is too strong of a word to generalize this Jets team, but certainly the Jets are no group of choir boys.

Antonio Cromartie has fathered seven children by six women in five states. Shaun Ellis was charged with felony assault of a woman in April 1999 during his time as a student at University of Tennessee for allegedly hitting a woman in the head with a glass after she threw her drink in his face. Ellis was also arrested in December 2008 for marijuana possession, driving without insurance, and speeding after a highway traffic stop. Braylon Edwards was accused of assault in part of a scuffle that broke out outside of a Cleveland nightlub in October 2009. Bart Scott has a history of causing trouble on the field. In 2007 in a Monday Night Football game, Scott was penalized for unsportsmanline twice, the second flag was for throwing the first flag into the stands. Scott had to be held back by his teammates from the referee.

Three of those flour players - Cromartie, Edwards and Scott - in addition to Holmes, have all been acquired during the Rex Ryan era. Ryan himself has faced some troubles, for the infamous middle finger he gave at a MMA fight he attended back in January. These characters are a far cry from the reserved players of Jets past.

The team has gone from being filled with players like Chad Pennington and Curtis Martin, guys who rarely even opened their mouths and lived normal, quiet lives to the rambunctious Antonio Cromartie and Santonio Holmes who can't seem to stay out of trouble.

But does the bad boy theme that seems to be working its way into the DNA of the Jets correlate with their late success?

It's certainly likely. Although the players on last year's team weren't actual criminals, the team obviously had a bit of a swagger to it. Led by the boisterous Ryan, the Jets were always surrounded by some type of buzz. And they made it to only the fourth conference championship in the team's history.

It's because Ryan knows how to handle some of the larger than life personalities and egos on the team, because he is one himself. He's able to harness that swagger and cockiness into a team philosophy. The Jets are going to be loud, and if people don't like it, well too bad. The players are able to buy into the team because of their new identity as the Bad Boys of the NFL, and the belief that it was the world against them.

What the Jets have now is exactly what Miami Hurricane teams have had in the past. They're loud, they're disorderly, they're controversial, but above all they know how to win.

And in football isn't that kind of all that matters. Sure, we want our athletes to be well-rounded citizens off the field in addition to being stars on the field, but if they're not, what do we care? Let's be honest here, the one thing that we want from our athletes above all is for them to win. Even if they're nowhere close to winning a Man of the Year award, a couple of championships and a few apologies, and we're quick to forgive.

Kobe Bryant's sexual assault allegations erased from our memory with his championship. A-Rod's steroid use out the window with his World Series performance. Maybe even Tiger's scandal will seem just like a bad dream if and when he surpasses Jack Nicklaus' record for most majors won.

Wrong? Maybe. But what athletes are doing off the field doesn't really affect us, especially when it comes in the form of marijuana use and assault charges. The only thing that they do in their lives that truly affects us is the way they play on the field and do their job, and therefore that is what most sports fans care about more than anything, whether they like to admit it or not.

And that's exactly why the acquisitions of Cromartie and Holmes are going to be great for the Jets. They'll help this team win. Ryan is the perfect coach for these two guys, and the Jets are the perfect team. With a Super Bowl ring and Pro Bowl selection between them, Cromartie and Holmes should be able to perform strongly on the field as they always do, and with a coach like Ryan, they should be able to stay out of trouble for not only their own sakes but for the team's sake.

I can't believe I'm saying this, especially with all of the times that the Jets have let me down, but the switch from being the mediocre, well-behaved bunch to being the star-studded, troublesome bunch, may just be exactly what the Jets need to get that Super Bowl victory.

So with the Jets' new bad boys making a team that went all the way to the AFC Championship game arguably stronger than they have ever been, there's only one question for all of the opposing teams out there: Whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do when they come for you?