LaDainian Tomlinson spoke his mind last night about the N.Y. Jets state of disarray and was congratulated for it.
On Showtime's "Inside the NFL", L.T. joined regulars Cris Collinsworth, Phil Sims, Warren Sapp and host James Brown, for his first visit as an analyst.
In the show's final segment Collinsworth said he was impressed with the candor that didn't smell of rancor or a personal agenda.
Tomlinson opened up about the locker room mess that spilled out onto the playing field between wide receiver Santonio Holmes and quarterback Mark Sanchez.
L.T. is not going back to the Jets which after hearing what he had to say seemed obvious.
A free agent running back in his thirties, Tomlinson is waiting to see what offers come to him, purposefully stating that a team in contention was what he was looking for.
After listening to him some teams might wonder if their dirty laundry would be hanging in the breeze should he join them.
But, if you listened carefully, you'd have heard that L.T. waited until the feud went public and was dissected in media before giving background information.
"It's as bad as I've ever been around," Tomlinson said when asked about how bad the situation was between two captains of the Jets.
It began early in the season he revealed and players did what they are supposed to in these instances -- they tried to work it out between the two, while maintaining media silence. That held for a while but without a resolution to the problem, it all went public.
"That is why it got out in the media. This is something that happened (in the) third or fourth week of the season, that was going on, and nobody knew about it because the players kept it under wraps. Until we went on that losing streak and guys started to speak up and speak out about certain things.”
.Tomlinson acknowledged that with a coach like Rex Ryan, candor is encouraged but can lead to chaos when there is no filter on voices.
GM Mike Tennenbaum and Ryan make a big personality, rough and tumble duo on a team that followed suit. When the festering sore didn't heal, the two in charge didn't or couldn't fix it.
Yet, when asked if it was fixable he held out some hope, on which he didn't elaborate. Who should go, he was asked if it is not repairable?
L.T. had already come down on the side of Mark Sanchez, joining the voice of owner Woody Johnson who refuted the "Sanchez is lazy" anonymous quote.
He didn't get into the financial aspect of a Holmes departure which might dictate the team would be stuck with him.
Tomlinson was a natural at the anchor desk, speaking easily about delicate matters with honesty. He might be starting that new career sooner than he thinks.
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