Thread: Suck it Favre

it might have been

Thanks to the media and idiot fans, Favre is a probowler. I have 2-1 odds that favre skips the prowbowl.

Thomas Jones Calls Out Brett Favre, Another Teammate Calls Him 'Distant'

Posted Jan 1st 2009 1:00PM by Ryan Wilson (author feed)
Filed under: Jets, AFC East, NFL Fans, NFL Coaching
Brett Favre probably should've taken the $20 million. Instead, he un-retired, strong-armed his way out of Green Bay, and landed in New York to lead the Jets back to the playoffs. That was the plan, anyway.

Feuding Teammates



Al Pereira, Getty Images


Thomas Jones wasn't amused by Brett Favre's three-interception game in the regular-season finale. During a radio interview recently, the Jets rusher said Favre should have pulled himself out of the game.

In reality, the Jets performed well enough to win the division but Favre's Favre-ness played a nontrivial role in the team's 1-4 finish and another offseason of organization-wide introspection.

And unlike Green Bay, where Favre could go Natural Born Killers on his way to work and the locals would just assume the victims had it coming, Jets fans tend to be more cynical. Teammates too, apparently. Running back Thomas Jones, one of the quietest, most respected players in the locker room, took some not-so-subtle jabs and Favre during a Wednesday radio appearance:

"We're a team and we win together ... but at the same time, you can't turn the ball over and expect to win ... The other day, the three interceptions really hurt us. I mean, that's just reality. If I were to sit here and say, 'Oh, man, it's okay,' that's not reality." ...

"If somebody is not playing well, they need to come out of the game ... You're jeopardizing the whole team because you're having a bad day. To me, that's not fair to everybody else. You're not the only one on the team." ...

"You're playing to win, you're playing for the Super Bowl. That's what you do all this work for ... So when you get to the wire and somebody is just giving the game up, I mean, it's just not (fair)."

As the New York Daily News' Rich Cimini writes, Favre played the last few weeks of the season with a torn bicep muscle that will require surgery, but as Jones pointed out: if you're hurt -- and more importantly, hurting the team -- you shouldn't even be on the field.

But it gets worse: Favre's other teammates aren't that jazzed about him, either, and it had more to do with his off-field persona than his on-field shortcomings (although I suspect that didn't help):

The 39-year-old quarterback is not as welcome with his teammates, according to this veteran. After the Jets traded for Favre Aug. 6, the sure Hall of Famer made no effort to ingratiate himself with the already assembled team, the veteran said. He said Favre spent most of his down time at the practice facility in an office specially designated for him near the equipment room, not with teammates in the locker room, even after the media departed.

"He never socialized with us, never went to dinner with anyone," the player said. Asked to describe Favre in a word, he said: "Distant."

So, unofficially, Favre has exactly one supporter in the organization: the owner. I have no idea how this ends up, but given that guys are turning down the chance to interview for the vacant head coaching position because of a certain 39-year-old quarterback, I'd think that Favre wouldn't be back in '09.

Last offseason, Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy made that mistake and spent the rest of the year living down the decision to trade him. Thing is, they were right to unload Favre on the first willing sucker and give the job to Aaron Rodgers. It seems that everybody but Woody Johnson thinks the Jets should do the same.

Jones sorta back tracked...

Friday, January 2, 2009
Jones: 'I've got most respect for Brett'

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ESPN.com news services

New York Jets running back Thomas Jones clarified on Friday his critical comments of earlier this week on Brett Favre, saying he would expect the record-setting quarterback to answer questions the same way about him if he had performed poorly.

"I've got most respect for Brett," Jones said in an interview on ESPN's "First Take." "He's one of the best quarterbacks of all time. He's a great teammate, you know, he brought a lot to our team this year."



Jones said his aim in doing a radio interview Tuesday with New York's Hot 97 FM wasn't to talk about Favre or the Jets but to promote his music business.

"I didn't go up there [to] participate in Brett Favre questions," he said. "So when she asked me the question about interceptions, I answered it, as far as how I felt from the game -- the Miami game."

Favre threw three interceptions in the Jets' season-ending 24-17 loss to Miami that clinched the AFC East for the Dolphins. The Jets' 1-4 finish kept them out of the playoffs and helped trigger Eric Mangini's firing as coach.



"The other day, the three interceptions really hurt us. I mean, that's just reality," Jones told the radio station. "If I were to sit here and say, 'Oh, man, it's OK,' that's not reality. ... I don't like it, I know everybody else on the team doesn't like it.

"If somebody is not playing well, they need to come out of the game," Jones told Hot 97 FM. "You're jeopardizing the whole team because you're having a bad day. To me, that's not fair to everybody else. You're not the only one on the team. So when you get to the wire and somebody is just giving the game up, I mean, it's just not [fair]."

Favre threw nine interceptions and only two touchdown passes in the Jets' final five games.

On Friday, Jones said his interview with the radio station "got chopped up."



"I'm not the type of person that goes out there and just throws people under the bus or make comments about people," Jones said. "Either I answer a question honestly, realistically, or I don't answer it at all."


Jones said he limited the scope of his remarks to Favre's Sunday turnovers.

"The only thing that I could give my opinion on was the interceptions. And that's what I did," he said. "As far as him coming out of the game, that's not my call just like if I'm [in] the game and I'm not playing well, and I have two or three fumbles, that's not my call."

The nine-year veteran said he hasn't discussed the comments with Favre but likely would.

"I'll talk to Brett. Everything is cool with me and Brett. He's a great guy," Jones said. "We have a lot of fun over there at work. I answered the question. I would expect him to answer the question the same way about me if I had two fumbles and it was a situation where I wasn't playing well and he answered the question the same way. I wouldn't look at him any different. I wouldn't be sensitive to the answer because we all know in this league you have to protect the football to win."


Jones, who finished the season with 1,312 yards -- 23 yards short of his career high set with the Chicago Bears in 2005 -- was held to 23 yards Sunday on 10 carries. Leon Washington led the Jets on the ground with 60 yards.

"Bottom line, we make a lot of money in this league to go out there and make plays and win football games, and as a team everybody has to be accountable," Jones said. "I have a great relationship with Brett."

Jones said the team as a whole was ultimately responsible for Sunday's loss.

"We were driving and we were in position a couple of times. ... And it didn't work out," he said Friday. "Nobody's perfect, trust me. I'm not perfect by any means. Brett Favre's not perfect by any means.

"There's not one person on that team when we win a game. Everybody on that team contributed. The trainers, the practice squad guys, everybody on that team contributed. When we lose a game, everybody's included. Everybody could always do something better.

"So of course when things aren't going the way you want them to go it's not a personal attack on that player as an individual performance. We get paid a lot of money to make plays."

AZ gave up on TJ b/c he was having a bad career. I think he knows from first hand experience what constitutes benching =)

Cutlers agent is Bus Cook, is also the agent for long time Bears foe Brett Favre. There are reports out there, that because Favre had such a horrible time playing for Eric Mangini that Cutler's agent Cook flat out said that Cutler was the one place he would not go.

So maybe because of Favre's complaining to Cook, Cutler is here. He may have at least played a minor role.


Even if we do owe him a small thank you, he is still an POS and a sheep fawker