Jets’ C.J. Mosley: It’s on us to earn opponents’ respect

C.J. Mosley knows that the disrespect he has felt the Jets take from opponents this season won’t disappear overnight or just by talking about it. 

But the linebacker and captain does “expect there to be a response” from the Jets starting Sunday against the Saints as they try to bounce back from another rough performance last week against the Eagles. 

“That’s on all the players, the captains and leaders and that’s on everybody on the team — we all have to play a part in being successful,” Mosley said Thursday after practice. 

“If we’re not doing the right things, then we open the gates for the disrespect that happens, we open the gates for the blowouts that happen, we open the gates to get laughed at and get humiliated on the field and off the field. So in order to change that, we gotta change our mindset, we gotta do the right things on and off the field and win games.” 

That didn’t happen last Sunday in the Jets’ 33-18 loss, after which Mosley spoke at length about the lack of respect from opposing teams — which he admitted was “well-deserved.” The veteran cited the Eagles’ captains not shaking hands with the Jets’ captains after the coin toss and Eagles defensive tackle Fletcher Cox laughing at Robert Saleh when the Jets coach was trying to fight for a call. 

Mosley said Thursday that his message was not directed specifically at the Eagles or Cox (who took to Instagram after the game with a picture of Mosley hugging him at the coin toss and a caption that said he will always “respect the game”), but instead about the Jets themselves. 

“It was just more so that we gotta earn the respect or take the respect,” said Mosley, who added that he had not spoken with Cox after the game. “At the end of the day, that comes with performing on the field and winning games. At the time, it happened to be the Eagles and it happened to be one player, but it could have been any team and any other player. Saying his name wasn’t really the point of my conversation. It was more to the point that this is going to keep happening if we don’t change the narrative, if we don’t do something about it.” 

Since Mosley, a four-time Pro Bowler with the Ravens, signed with the Jets on a five-year, $85 million contract in 2019, they have gone just 12-32. Because of an injury in 2019 and opting out of last season due to COVID-19, he has only been on the field for 13 of those games, in which the Jets have a 3-10 record. 

Sunday was a particularly frustrating game for Mosley and the defense — they could not get off the field in the third quarter, allowing backup quarterback Gardner Minshew and the Eagles to run all but three of the offensive snaps — and it won’t get any easier this weekend against Alvin Kamara and the Saints. 

But Mosley, who on Thursday was named the Jets’ nominee for the Art Rooney Sportsmanship Award, said only the Jets can change their current plight and how teams view them. He also disagreed with the idea that they shouldn’t care what the Eagles think. 

“I care when people laugh at my brothers,” he said. “I care when we get blown out on the football field. So yeah, I care. When somebody laughs at my coach or my team or when we’re not playing and doing what I feel we need to be doing to win, I’m going to be upset. It don’t really matter if it’s the Eagles or anybody. If you was disrespecting us, I’d be looking at you funny too and trying to figure out a way when we play you again or look at you again, how we’re going to beat you. That’s just my attitude.”