Zach Thomas Accuses Jets’ Coaches Of Cheating, Forming Wall To Block Gunners

“They had to be ordered to stand there because they’re foot to foot,” Thomas said Tuesday on Miami radio station WQAM. “There’s four of them, side to side -- five of them, I mean -- on the edge of the coaches’ zone. They’re only out there to restrict the space of the gunner.”

Now check the picture.

I hadn’t noticed it at the time, and watching in real-time it would be tough to tell, but something about this isn’t right. Look at the five coaches standing on the sideline as Alosi trips Carroll. They’re perfectly positioned as close to the sideline as they can be and as far down as the coaching box extended. That’s almost military precision.

Why would a coaching staff do this, though? It’s not uncommon for a gunner to be blocked out of bounds off the line, running along the sideline as they work to get past blockers. At times, the gunner will be more than a few steps out of bounds as they work their way back to the field while hunting the return man. Add a few obstacles in the way and it becomes easy to slow the gunner down. That split second of hesitation could mean the difference between a return man getting stuffed and a punt return for a touchdown.

Were the Jets’ coaches not standing in a tightly bunched formation, almost looking prepared for impact, this wouldn’t be an issue. Once Alosi stuck his foot out and brought attention to his own actions, it became a hot-button issues. Is this an example of Rex Ryan looking for any advantage he can find? He does love to push the envelope, after all.

The question is, with the staff standing within the coaches box, is aligning coaches in a formation that “squeezes” the gunner illegal, unethical or perfectly reasonable?