Mike Westhoff no longer coaches for the Jets and Steve Weatherford no longer punts for the Jets. But Weatherford now kicks for the Giants (he has a Super Bowl ring to prove it), and Weatherford talked recently about his relationship with Westhoff.
“I didn’t get along with Mike,” Weatherford told Boomer Esiason and Craig Carton of WFAN, via Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News. “Mike was a really difficult person to play for. He’s a guy that kind of harped on the negative a little bit, and life’s short, man. I’m trying to have fun. And nobody works harder than me, so you can’t say anything like that. It was just difficult. . . . I don’t know exactly why we didn’t get along, but it was a mutual parting of the ways.
“I liked being a New York Jet, and everybody treated me well there, but I felt like there was just maybe a little lack of respect. I’m 30 years old, I’m a father of three and he just didn’t treat me that way. It was frustrating because I wanted to be great for him, but he made it a very difficult workspace.”
Westhoff made no apologies for his crusty, Parcells-style attitude. And that kind of demeanor is destined to rub certain people the wrong way.
It surely didn’t help the relationship that Weatherford once decided to call a fake punt on his own. On fourth and 18.
Still, it’s not the first time Weatherford has teed off on Westhoff. Weatherford complained about his former coordinator prior to Super Bowl XLVI. Twice.
As far as we know, the irascible Westhoff has yet to respond to any of Weatherford’s criticism. Which possibly bothers the punter more than anything Westhoff could actually say.