The talk-up-Tebow-talk-down-Sanchez tour expanded recently to include former Jets punter and current Giants punter Steve Weatherford.
Weatherford, appearing on the Cover Two podcast, questioned the maturity of Sanchez.
Since then, Weatherford has questioned the maturity of those who believe he was questioning the maturity of Sanchez.
In a stream of tweets posted after the podcast hit the fan, Weatherford insists his words were taken out of context, and that he didn’t “rip” Sanchez. At one point, Weatherford “retweeted” (I really do despise that word) an observation from Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News that what Weatherford said isn’t all that different from what people like G.M. Mike Tannenbaum have said.
So I listened to the Weatherford interview, and while Weatherford indeed praises Sanchez, calling him at one point “obviously the future of the franchise,” Weatherford said what he said about Sanchez and maturation. Thus, while the ESPNNewYork.com headline that “Weatherford rips Sanchez” may have been a bit too strong, Weatherford definitely expressed criticism of the Jets starting quarterback.
Regardless of whether Weatherford didn’t think anyone would be paying attention to anything a punter had to say or that it really wasn’t anything all that controversial, he said what he said. And what he said likely has something to do with the team’s decision to bring Tim Tebow to town, in the hopes that having a true threat to Sanchez’s job status will expedite the maturation process.