Steelers running back DeAngelo Williams took some criticism on Monday for breaking up the near-unanimous praise for the retiring Peyton Manning by tweeting that Manning stunk last year. A day later, Williams sees no reason to back off his claims.
“He was garbage last year,” Williams said on Mike & Mike.
Williams claimed that some people have taken his tweets out of context, but he said his tweets about Manning being terrible last year were 100 percent true.
“I stand behind all my tweets. If I tweeted it and I said it, I am not apologizing for it,” Williams said.
There are two issues with Williams’ criticism of Manning. The first is whether it was accurate. The second is whether the day of Manning’s retirement was the right time for it.
On the first, Williams is right: Manning stunk last year. It was by far the worst season of Manning’s career, and he was one of the worst starting quarterbacks in the league.
But on the second, Williams’ timing was odd: On a day when everyone was celebrating one of the all-time great NFL careers (and perhaps the greatest retirement speech since Lou Gehrig’s), it just felt like the wrong time to unleash a barrage of tweets criticizing Manning. Williams, however, seems to be enjoying the social media attention.