Thomas Jones blasts Brett Favre for interceptions, says 'team doesn't like it'

Thomas Jones blasts Brett Favre for interceptions, says 'team doesn't like it'
January 1
New York Daily News
"Brett Favre is worshipped by owner Woody Johnson and widely respected in the Jets locker room, but that doesn't mean he is immune to criticism. The first dose comes from an unlikely source - Thomas Jones.

Appearing as a guest Tuesday on New York's Hot 97 FM, Jones sacked his quarterback, hinting that Favre should have been benched during his three-interception nightmare in the season-ending loss to the Dolphins. That defeat, the final insult in an epic late-season collapse, may have sealed Eric Mangini's fate.

"We're a team and we win together ... but at the same time, you can't turn the ball over and expect to win," Jones said in a videotaped studio interview. "The other day, the three interceptions really hurt us. I mean, that's just reality. If I were to sit here and say, 'Oh, man, it's okay,' that's not reality.

"The reality is, you throw interceptions, I'm (ticked) off, I don't like it. You know what I'm saying? I don't like it, I know everybody else on the team doesn't like it."

At that point, the show's host, Angie Martinez, asked the AFC's leading rusher if teammates start to look "funny style" at a player that makes that many mistakes.

"If somebody is not playing well, they need to come out of the game," Jones replied. "You're jeopardizing the whole team because you're having a bad day. To me, that's not fair to everybody else. You're not the only one on the team."

"So it gets like that?" Martinez interjected.

"It definitely gets like that," Jones said. "You're playing to win, you're playing for the Super Bowl. That's what you do all this work for ... So when you get to the wire and somebody is just giving the game up, I mean, it's just not (fair)."

Ouch.

Throughout his up-and-down season, Favre never was ripped by Mangini or any of the players, at least not publicly. That the first shot was fired by Jones is a surprise, because Jones isn't a big talker. There might not be a more respected player in the locker room than Jones, whose teammates voted him the Jets' MVP.

For Jones to make those comments means that Favre's late-season slump chafed players more than they were willing to admit. During the Jets' 1-4 slide, Favre threw nine interceptions, finishing with a league-high 22 - the most by a Jets quarterback since Vinny Testaverde's 25 in 2000.

In fairness to Favre, he did play hurt over the final month of the season. A few days before the final game, he finally acknowledged what had been speculated for weeks, that his throwing shoulder was sore. On Tuesday, Favre had an MRI exam that revealed a torn biceps tendon that may require arthroscopic surgery, but not major surgery, ESPN reported."
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