Upon further review, New York Jets linebacker Calvin Pace made an incredibly stupid mistake

July 3, 4:01 AMNew England Patriots ExaminerSean Crowe

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(AP Photo)

While making the long trek from southern New Hampshire to the White Mountains, I started thinking about Calvin Pace's suspension. I just can't get past the fact that, even after all of the suspensions over the last few years because of "tainted supplements" an NFL player would take ANYTHING that isn't approved by the NFL.

Especially someone as important to his team as Calvin Pace is to the Jets.

If we've learned anything from the StarCaps case, it's that NO over the counter supplement is safe for an NFL player to take. It doesn't matter what's on the label. It doesn't matter if some doctor tells you it's OK. If the supplement is tainted, you're going to be suspended.

Supplements are not regulated. There's no governing body making sure what's on the label, and only what's on the label, is inside the bottle. There's no acceptable reason for an NFL player to be taking any over-the-counter supplement not provided to them by the NFL.

Any player who does is so insanely irresponsible that I'd rather not have him on my team.

I'm sure Calvin Pace is a really good guy. I know he's a very good player. But I'm sorry, if he took a tainted supplement he's insanely stupid in a "if he looks up during a rainstorm he might drown" type of way.

The Jets are a fringe playoff team. They can't afford to give away games if they want to achieve the lofty goal their loud-mouthed rookie head coach has set for them. Pace's suspension doesn't eliminate their ability to make the playoffs, but it certainly doesn't help.

The Jets will likely struggle on offense early in the season given the fact that they're starting a rookie quarterback, so they'll be relying heavily on their defense. A defense that will be missing it's best player against the following four offenses:

Houston
New England
Tennessee
New Orleans

All four of those teams were among the best in the league offensively last season. The Jets would have had trouble stopping those four teams with all hands on deck. Now, because of Pace's ignorance, they'll be short-handed against the toughest stretch of their schedule.

I spent most of the ride up to the White Mountains listening to the NFL channel on SiriusXM radio. The host (I think it was Ross Tucker) made some good points about players using the tainted supplement excuse every time they fail an NFL drug test.

There's basically two excuses every player uses for failing a test. There's the Rodney Harrison "I only did it to help myself heal faster" excuse and the tainted supplement excuse.

As Ross Tucker said at some point during my long ride north, no player has ever or likely will ever come out and say "Look, I took it to make myself bigger, stronger, and a better football player."

Of course, that's the real reason an NFL player takes anything, whether it's a PED or a supplement they think is legal.

The NFL doesn't release the substance the player tested positive for, which allows players like Calvin Pace to use the PR-Friendly "tainted supplement" excuse even if they tested positive for something that couldn't possibly have been administered through anything but a needle in the butt.

I'm not saying that's what Calvin Pace did here, but if I were a Jets fan I'd feel a little better about a guy trying to get an edge (albeit an illegal one) than I would about a guy dumb enough to take a tainted over-the-counter supplement.

For more on the New York Jets, check out our two New York Jets Examiners: Angel Navedo & Tyson Rauch.

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Questions? Comments? Insults? You can email them to Sean Crowe at scrowe@gmail.com.

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