The autopsy of the Jets’ 2012 season continued yesterday with former special teams coach Mike Westhoff calling the Tim Tebow situation an “absolute mess.”
Westhoff, who retired after the season, criticized the team for the way they used — or didn’t use — the most famous backup quarterback in the world.
“It was a mess, an absolute mess. I was very disappointed,” Westhoff said in an interview with Joe Rose on WQAM Radio in Miami.
Westhoff was one of Tebow’s biggest supporters in the organization. He spoke glowingly of Tebow’s work ethic and his willingness to play personal protector for Westhoff on the punt team.
Like most of the people following the Jets, Westhoff is still baffled why the team even made the offseason trade if they were not going to use Tebow in the offense as they talked about.
“To be honest, I don’t think anyone has really answered that question: Why didn’t we do it?” Westhoff said. “I don’t think anyone has answered that question. I don’t know why. I know we didn’t practice it. We didn’t practice it in training camp. We were going to unveil it. Well, I am still waiting for the unveiling.
“It was a distraction and really a shame because that’s a hard-working young man if you ever saw one.”
Westhoff did a series of other interviews throughout the day, but toned down his comments from the morning. The longtime special teams coach is hoping to get a TV job and this may be his way of kick-starting it.
Westhoff acknowledged Tebow has deficiencies as a quarterback, but thought the Jets had a plan of how to use him in other ways.
“If you throw him in the middle of a dropback quarterback offense, he will look very, very average at best,” Westhoff said. “But if you incorporate him in different facets of your offense, he can be a factor. That’s what I felt we were going to do, but we never did it.”
The Jets traded for Tebow on March 21, acquiring him from the Broncos for a fourth-round pick and cash. Jets coach Rex Ryan spoke of using Tebow in a variety of roles. Tebow never got a chance to play much and was passed over in December in favor of third-string quarterback Greg McElroy when starter Mark Sanchez struggled.
“You saw a demeanor change, you saw that swagger go out from him a little bit, and that was very disheartening to see that,” Westhoff said. “And I just encouraged him to keep his head up and that his opportunity would come.”
Westhoff did not limit all his criticism of the Jets to just Tebow. He also took some shots at Ryan’s defense. Westhoff said the unit had “weaknesses” in the middle of the field.
“But what would happen when our defense played on a long field, they are a little suspect in the middle,” Westhoff said. “Everyone saw that and people moved the ball up the field on us. On a shorter field, our corner play constricted and played very well and held people.
“Then they would punt it and Mark Sanchez would come out on the 10-yard line. There’s plenty to blame here, plenty to go around. To throw it all on Mark is a mistake because the defense is involved, too.”
The Jets finished ranked eighth in defense, but their ranking rose when they faced several bottom-feeding offenses at the end of the year.
“You can say all the ranks all you want, but I want to stop teams in the Top 10, not the bottom five. Please, you can take it however you want,” Westhoff said.
You can bet Ryan won’t take that well.
— Additional reporting by Justin Terranova