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We have not covered it much here but one of the hot topics all week has been the New York Jets postgame show after Week 17.
To sum it up as neutrally as possible, the three postgame analysts — ex-Jets players Willie Colon, Bart Scott and Leger Douzable — were criticized fiercely by fans for labeling Zach Wilson’s fourth and two quarterback sneak as “ego,” “selfishness,” and hero ball. Scott even went as far as stating that the rookie has a “character flaw.”
New York Post beat reporter Brian Costello — who is by no means a Wilson apologist — then wrote a column after taking exception to what he deemed as a mischaracterization of the first-year QB. Costello took issue with Scott’s “character flaw” comment in particular, which he felt was hypocritical. The veteran journalist then listed several locker room moments where the linebacker displayed questionable character toward the media or teammates.
Head coach Robert Saleh also gave his take on this controversy, stating: “I don’t know about that one.” Both Saleh and OC Mike LaFleur took full responsibility for the miscue during press conferences.
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Colon Joins ‘Gang’s All Here’
After first explaining his postgame comments with WFAN’s “Carton & Roberts,” Colon then joined Costello on the “Gang’s All Here” podcast on January 6.
Co-Host Jake Brown moderated the first interaction between the two sides of the debate. Unfortunately, Scott must have been unavailable because things could have gotten really interesting if he sat down with Costello after the NY Post rebuttal.
First, we have to separate Colon from Douzable and Scott. The former offensive lineman has remained adamant that nothing he said was a personal attack on Wilson. His comments about ego and selfishness were directed at that particular decision from the rookie, not his overall persona. Scott’s determination is a discussion for another day.
Having said that, Colon has not backed down during either of his radio/podcast appearances. “When we started the postgame [show], we reacted,” Colon began, explaining that they thought Wilson had an “amazing” outing before faltering at the finale.
Colon also reiterated that he and his fellow analysts’ opinions were based on Saleh’s initial postgame explanation and their football acumen. In layman’s terms, the three ex-players didn’t believe there was any way Wilson could get that obvious of a pre-snap read wrong, which lead them to believe that he wanted the glory of earning the first down himself.
“In my eyes… we felt like hey, he had to keep that ball thinking he was going to be the hero at that time. Instead of handing the ball in which we felt like he was told to, we felt like he went rogue and kept the ball. So that’s why we called him selfish, we called him selfish on that particular play because it just doesn’t make sense — football sense,” Colon voiced to Brown and Costello.
The former NFL player did note that he was surprised these critiques went viral as “Zach slander,” adding that if Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers can get “dragged through the rakes,” Wilson shouldn’t be “off-limits.”
He also made a point to reinforce that their comments had nothing to do with Wilson’s race, which was in response to a portion of fans on Twitter who accused them of catering to “black quarterbacks” like Justin Fields. Colon called these remarks “disheartening.”
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Costello Defends Stance, Backs Wilson
This was a much more civilized debate between Costello and Colon than anything we’ve seen this week on Twitter or in newspapers, but neither of the two gave an inch despite the mutual respect.
Costello has been around the game a long time and he’s commonly bashed by fans for being too harsh on Wilson and Gang Green. In this case, he was praised as the “hero of Jets Twitter” by Brown after fans lauded his defense of the rookie.
On “Gang’s All Here,” the beat reporter justified his opinion based on the “elaborate story” told by Saleh and the coaching staff. “I bought their story… because why come up with a story and not just say, yeah guys we called [a QB sneak] and that’s it?”
Costello continued: “I think the play was designed for a fourth and half a yard, and in that instance maybe he could get it, and they called it on fourth and two, and that’s where they screwed up. And they should have told him — hey, the check to the sneak is off here, forget about the sneak. I think they didn’t think it through properly… he’s a 22-year old rookie playing his twelfth game and I think the problems we’ve seen with Zach this year have largely been [that] he’s trying to be a robot and do exactly what he’s told to do, and not playing free and loose. And that’s what he’s done better in the last few weeks in my opinion, he’s kind of become himself a little more.”
At the end of the day, one thing was agreed upon: Wilson screwed up.
Whether you’re of the mindset that his mistake was motivated by personality flaws or lack of experience, that may be the only fact that we take away from this mess.
As for the future, Colon made it clear that he, Scott and Douzable want Wilson to succeed, adding that their criticism stems from being passionate Jets supporters. The O-lineman touted his New York ties going back to his Hofstra days.
Here was the last word on the subject from Colon: “I’m always going to be a passionate guy — I love football, football is everything to me — I wish no ill-will towards the kid, there’s no agenda. Me calling him selfish was how I felt like he approached the moment in the play. I don’t know the kid, I’ve never met him. Now, hopefully, I get to meet him… I got a lot of love for everybody in that building and by the way, it won’t be the first time we’ll be here, we’re probably going to say something else [that upsets fans].”
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