FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- Shonn Greene was shocked when he checked the Yahoo Sports! story a friend sent him yesterday. The headline was: "Jets RB Shonn Greene is right: Time for team to hand ball to 'terrible' Tim Tebow."
Greene What I said was, we're 3-6 and things need to change. I said nothing about changing quarterback, nothing about any single person on this team. I've been here four years. I've never once said anything about anybody on this team.
-- Shonn Greene
Greene was emphatic that he didn't say it, and he doesn't believe it.
"What the quotes were was completely out of context," Greene said. "What I said was, we're 3-6 and things need to change. I said nothing about changing quarterback, nothing about any single person on this team. I've been here four years. I've never once said anything about anybody on this team."
In the story, Greene was quoted as saying he thought Mark Sanchez needed to sit.
"You feel bad for Mark, but at the same time you want to win games." Greene was quoted in the original story as saying. "We're not here to protect people's feelings. If you want to win games, you've got to try something. If somebody's not getting the job done, you see if somebody else can do it."
The author of the story, Mike Silver, tweeted that he quoted Greene accurately. "I stand by my column 100 pct," Silver posted on his verified account.
"The article was supposed to be on me It was supposed to be a feature on me and where I'm at right now," Greene said. "And how it turned into me saying this about this person and that person I don't know."
Is Rex Ryan's Job Safe?
If the Jets fall to the Rams on Sunday, they would be 3-7 through 10 games. Of the last four times the Jets have won three or fewer through 10 games, they've gone on to make a coaching change twice.
Jets with 3 or fewer wins,
1st 10 games since 1990
Year W-L Final
W-L Coach Change?
2007 2-8 4-12 No
2005 2-8 4-12 Yes
2003 3-7 6-10 No
1996 1-9 1-15 Yes
-- ESPN Stats & Information
For Greene, it was a bump in a day that included another jarring story, one in which anonymous Jets for the most part piled on backup quarterback Tim Tebow. The fallout was felt from the moment coach Rex Ryan told players they need to put their nam on a quote.
"First you get yesterday and now today with me and then it's just like, c'mon, really?" Greene said. "We just want to play football."
Greene sent a text right away to Sanchez to try to clear the air. But he said there was no issue between them and they are preparing as usual for a game on Sunday. Just another brush fire in Florham Park.
"It's been like this," Greene said. "We're worried about in-house and we want to win football games."
Greene wasn't the only Jets player to go on the defensive.
Linebacker Bart Scott and cornerback Antonio Cromartie both refuted the opinion of former teammate LaDainian Tomlinson, who had said in his SiriusXM radio show Wednesday that he believed the two players were responsible for some of the anonymous quotes belittling Tebow in a New York Daily News story that caused the uproar that has engulfed the Jets' complex since Wednesday.
"That can't be farther from the truth," Scott told the New York Post. "One thing about me is I ain't ever hid behind [junk] that I've ever said. I'm not afraid to put my name to it, go to a person and say it to them."
Cromartie, on Thursday, dismissed Tomlinson's comments as well. The cornerback was a teammate of Tomlinson's on both the Jets and Chargers.
"I heard it, but I have no response for a retired player. Y'all know me. If I say something, I put my name on everything I say. I really don't care if I hurt somebody's feelings," he said. "That's not me. For me to sit here and talk about a teammate, nah. If I'm going to talk about a teammate, I'm going to tell him in person. I'm not going to go to the media and say I'm an anonymous-type person. I'm not that kind of cowardly person."
