Jets Coach Suspended for Remainder of Season
(CBS/AP) The New York Jets assistant coach who tripped a Miami Dolphins player during a game has been suspended without pay for the rest of the season, including the playoffs, and fined an additional $25,000.
Sal Alosi, the Jets' strength and conditioning coach, will begin serving his suspension immediately and have no access to the team's practice facility.
General manager Mike Tannenbaum said Monday that Alosi will also not be allowed to interact with any players or coaches "as it pertains to his job function."
Tannenbaum says the team spoke with the NFL about the incident throughout the day, and the league will issue no further discipline. Alosi said earlier in the day that his "actions were inexcusable and irresponsible."
During a 3rd-quarter punt return, Alosi stuck his knee out as Nolan Carroll ran up the sideline, tripping up the Dolphins' rookie cornerback, who went down hard and appeared to hurt his knee on the play.Not surprisingly, both the NFL and Jets announced Monday morning that they were reviewing the incident, which was caught on tape for all to see.
He also apologized to Jets owner Woody Johnson, GM Mike Tannenbaum and head coach Rex Ryan.
"I accept responsibility for my actions as well as any punishment that follows," he added.
The incident provides Jets-haters, eager to take down a notch a team that's seen by many as more bluster and braggadocio than true championship material, even more ammunition.
The Dolphins' Channing Crowder summed up that feeling of resentment for the Jets after the game.
"They do what they do," he said. "They cheat and they talk junk and do all that stuff, but we beat the hell out of them today, so they can trip all the people they want to. I'll tell 'em to trip me. I would have broken that old man's leg."