Getty A New York Giants star received major backlash on Twitter after trolling Indianapolis Colts head interim coach Jeff Saturday.
Rookie defensive end of the New York Giants Kayvon Thibodeaux didn’t show the best sportsmanship in Week 17, celebrating a sack with snow angels next to injured Indianapolis Colts quarterback Nick Foles.
Thibodeaux also hasn’t done himself any favors in the aftermath of the incident.
In response to Colts interim head coach Jeff Saturday calling the snow angel celebration “tasteless” and “trash,” Thibodeaux told the media he doesn’t care about Saturday’s opinion because he “doesn’t know who he is.”
“Anybody who comments on it, unless I know who they are, it doesn’t really affect me,” Thibodeaux said. “That’s it.”
As one could expect, that comment didn’t go over so well on social media.
Former ESPN host and NFL personality Trey Wingo was one of the more boisterous critics of those comments on Twitter. In 160 characters, Wingo provided Thibodeaux the Colts’ interim head coach’s resume.
“Let me help you out Kayvan,” Wingo wrote on Twitter. “He’s [Saturday] a 13 year veteran, Super Bowl 41 Champion, 5 time Pro Bowler and a 4 time All Pro .. who snapped for Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers.
“All after being undrafted. If you’re lucky you’ll have his career.”
This response from Thibodeaux came two days after Saturday ripped the edge rusher for celebrating a sack next to an injured Foles.
“Tasteless from the celebration afterwards.” Saturday told the media on January 2. “Just trash. Not a fan of it at all.”
Kayvon Thibodeaux snow angles next to a dead Nick Foles is messed up but really funny
Wingo Defends Saturday’s Credentials
Saturday hasn’t proven to be a great NFL head coach. He’s led the Colts to a 1-6 record, which includes six straight defeats, including three of the last four by double digits. Indianapolis’ lone loss in the past four games that wasn’t by double digits was the biggest blow lead (33 points) in NFL history.
It’s easy to troll Saturday the head coach. But Saturday the player? He’s a lot harder to criticize, and a player who flat out says he doesn’t know him is just being ignorant.
Saturday may very well be the best undrafted center in NFL history. In 2010, Bleacher Report’s Adam Lazarus ranked Saturday the ninth-best undrafted player of the Super Bowl era.
He played in 211 games, making 202 starts, which is an incredible feat for an offensive lineman, drafted or not. From 2000-11, he missed only six games for the Colts.
Wingo got some of Saturday’s stats wrong, but his overall point was correct — Saturday was a tremendous player. He made two first-team All-Pro squads and six Pro Bowls. From 2005-07, there wasn’t a better center in the league.
There’s a reason why the Giants drafted Thibodeaux fifth overall in the 2022 NFL Draft — he’s tremendously talented. He has the potential to be a great player like Saturday was.
But he isn’t there yet, and won’t be for awhile. It would take playing every week through the 2034 season for Thibodeaux to surpass Saturday in NFL games played.
Wingo’s Previous Relationship With Saturday
While Wingo’s defense of Saturday was justified, it’s not surprising it came from the former ESPN host.
Saturday and Wingo both worked at ESPN from 2013-20, sometimes sharing the same desk on NFL Live. Saturday remained at ESPN until the Colts hired him as interim head coach on November 7.
Wingo left ESPN in 2020, but obviously, he still holds an affinity for the Colts legend.
Saturday going from ESPN commentator to NFL head coach was an interesting transition for more reasons than one. Perhaps the most underrated aspect of the switch was how The Worldwide Leader in Sports was going to cover Saturday because the analysts at the network were so recently Saturday’s colleague.
But in this case, the Colts interim head coach deserved to be defended not just by friends but also fans of NFL history.
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Giants Star Facing Major Backlash After Trolling Colts, Jeff Saturday