“Mr. Johnson, I’m Dianna Russini, from The Athletic.”
“Oh, you’re the one who wrote that article. You killed me.”
This was my first face-to-face conversation with Jets owner Woody Johnson since my colleagues and I published that story 10 months ago.
That deep dive into the Jets’ dysfunction included the unforgettable detail that Johnson’s teenage sons were giving their dad feedback on players based on Madden ratings.
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But to his credit, Johnson didn’t turn down my request for some time. He didn’t dodge the conversation or offer a PR-filtered smile before vanishing behind a hotel door. He stayed, he talked and he wanted to be heard as we spoke after the NFL’s fall league meetings in midtown Manhattan. Hours earlier, Johnson had told a group of reporters that he stood behind his first-year head coach, Aaron Glenn. Then he took a not-so-subtle swipe at his quarterback, saying if the Jets offense could “just complete a pass, it would look good.” Yikes.
So, as he made his way out of the InterContinental, I offered him the chance to clarify his criticism of Justin Fields.
Stick with me, it gets better.
Because I didn’t spend 48 hours pacing (and occasionally sprinting) around the hotel lobby, powered by bad coffee and worse lighting, just to talk about a team that has yet to win a game … and Johnson wasn’t the only owner talking. There were real conversations happening about head coaches, quarterbacks, trades and the state of the league.
Here’s what I heard on:
Why it’s always dramatic in Philadelphia
Jerry Jones’ trade deadline plans
Woody Johnson on the record
The 10-day sprint to the trade deadline
Jimmy Haslam’s Shedeur Sanders experience
Mark Davis not moving his star
Goff guff gone too far
An intriguing potential head coaching candidate
A.J. Brown’s frustration is loud, but Jeffrey Lurie’s message is louder
The defending Super Bowl champs are getting phone calls and interest in wide receiver A.J. Brown, but for now, the Eagles want him on their team.
That’s despite Brown’s ongoing social media gripes after wins and losses, including his latest after a 121-yard, two-touchdown performance in a win over the Vikings, when he captioned his Instagram photos with: “using me but not using me.”
Translation: The Eagles are using him when they are in trouble, but not involving him consistently enough for his liking.
He’s clearly losing patience.
Brown — who will miss Week 8 with a hamstring injury — is loved in the Eagles’ locker room and even has a lengthy personal history with his quarterback, Jalen Hurts, but it’s obvious some
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