Michael Carter clears up sideline argument with Taylor Embree: ‘I do have to keep my cool’

Frustrations can easily boil over when a team isn’t living up to preseason expectations for one reason or another and players feel they aren’t getting their fair share. Case in point: CBS cameras found Jets running back Michael Carter in what seemed like a heated argument with running backs coach Taylor Embree.

Perhaps Carter was just frustrated with his usage during the 15-10 loss to the Patriots. Carter had all of one touch of the football during the game, a three-yard reception. He didn’t receive a single carry while Breece Hall had 12 and Dalvin Cook had eight.

Carter explained that incident with Embree to the media after the game:

“We’re just two competitors that really love to (expletive) win,” Carter said. “We want to go win. And we want everything to be perfect. So it was just a miscommunication on something that happened during the game. We hashed it out right away. We continued playing on. That’s what happened. It’s not as big of a deal as it looked.

“I’m 24 years old, I gotta control myself a little bit better. Also I want to say that there’s people that are going to say whatever they want about me and whatever they want about the game. But they’ve never strapped it up and played NFL football. You really got to live this life and they can’t relate because it’s an emotional game. When you really love what you do, it means everything. That being said, I do have to keep my cool.”

Through three games, Carter has three carries for 14 yards and has caught four passes for 18 yards. Carter went from being potentially — at least speculated — being on the trading block to being a safe roster lock to being invisible from the offense. It doesn’t help that Dalvin Cook has been a big disappointment through three games as a Jet (25 carries, 58 yards, seven catches, 42 yards).

Maybe this incident is nothing in the end. But reading between the lines, Carter can’t be too happy with his role so far and with the offense and coaching as a whole.