NFL

Ticked Tebow: I didn’t ask out of Jets’ Wildcat

(Paul J. Bereswill)

Jets quarterback Tim Tebow lashed out at critics and denied telling coach Rex Ryan he no longer wanted to be used in the Wildcat formation.

Clearly annoyed with how he has been perceived since the story came out Sunday night, Tebow said he did meet with Ryan last Tuesday but never told him he would not play Wildcat against the Chargers last week. Tebow said he asked Ryan to play conventional quarterback and expressed his frustration with the way the season has gone.

“I never said, ‘Hey, I don’t want to do anything or I won’t do anything,’ ” Tebow said. “That wasn’t the talk at all. He knows that and everybody on this team knows that I would never not do something if I was asked. I think that’s what’s disappointing in the whole situation, people saying ‘Oh, you quit.’ That was not it at all. It was just me asking to get an opportunity to play a position I love, which is quarterback. It wasn’t me asking out of anything.”

Sources said Tebow did tell Ryan last week he was frustrated and did not want to play anything other than conventional quarterback. Tebow said it is possible Ryan misunderstood him. After seeing wide receiver Jeremy Kerley taking the majority of Wildcat snaps in practice last Thursday, Tebow went to Ryan on Friday to assure him he was willing to do whatever was asked of him. By then, Kerley was part of the game plan. Kerley ran four Wildcat plays (with one called back) against the Chargers. Tebow did not get into the game.

Ryan chose Greg McElroy as Mark Sanchez’s replacement at starting quarterback instead of Tebow last week. That led to their initial conversation.

“I was definitely disappointed,” Tebow said. “I can’t lie about that. I was definitely disappointed. I wanted an opportunity to play quarterback. I wanted an opportunity to do more out of the Wildcat. He knew that. He understood that frustration.”

Tebow was agitated about how he has been portrayed since the story surfaced. He said his Christmas was “not the best” because he read and heard what was being said about him.

“For people not to know the situation and go off something and then start to bash your character and say you’re phony or you’re fake or you’re a hypocrite, I think that’s what’s disappointing and frustrating,” Tebow said. “It’s a football game. That’s one thing if you’re good or bad at football, but your character and your integrity, that’s who you are as a man and I think that’s a lot more important. I think that’s what’s disappointing for me and frustrating. I take that a lot more seriously than I’ll ever take a football game.”

Tebow has played just 73 plays this season. He has run the ball 32 times for 102 yards and is 6-of-8 passing for 39 yards, with some of that coming on fake punts.

“I did tell them I was frustrated with the Wildcat and the success we were having, some of the stuff we were doing,” Tebow said. “I was definitely disappointed and frustrated. I let him know that.”

When asked specifically if he was upset he always seems to have plays called where he just ran into the middle of the offensive line, Tebow laughed and said, “That was something I said to Coach Ryan is that I was frustrated with running up the middle.”

Ryan would not talk about what Tebow’s role will be this week at Buffalo. He left open the possibility the Jets could go back to Tebow in the Wildcat role.

As the season comes to a close, the Tebow chapter in Jets history does, too. The team is going to either trade or release him this winter, according to sources. When asked if he wants to come back to the Jets, Tebow said he’s looking forward to Sunday’s game.

Tebow said that he and Ryan are fine with each other.

“We’ve got a great relationship still,” Tebow said, “and he knows I’d do anything to help this team.”