The latest fallout from an unnamed player calling Tim Tebow “terrible” has fallen on running back Shonn Greene, who is backpedaling from comments he says he didn’t make to Yahoo! Sports’ Mike Silver.
“You feel bad for Mark [Sanchez], but at the same time, you want to win games. We’re not here to protect people’s feelings. If you want to win games, you’ve got to try something,” Greene said in the interview. “If somebody’s not getting the job done, you see if somebody else can do it.”
In his comments on Thursday, Greene backed off the statements that seemed to align himself with those looking for a change under center. He also said he texted Sanchez to explain himself.
“The quotes were totally out of context,” Green said. “What I said is, ‘We’re 3-6 and things need to change.’ I never said anything about changing the quarterback or anything about any single person on this team. I’ve been here four years, and I’ve never once said anything about anybody on this team.”
A source close to Greene and the situation said “the change Greene was referring to was from losing to winning; he never advocated for a change at quarterback.”
Greene found out about the article via a friend who texted it to him. He said that he reached out to Silver with a phone call but didn’t connect with the writer.
Greene said he didn’t bring up Sanchez’s name at all in the interview for a story he thought was going to focus on him.
“Never said that. What I said was, ‘We’re 3-6, some things need to change, something’s got to change,’” Greene said. “I mean winning, we need to win.”
The latest bit of discord is a bit shocking given that Greene is one of the quietest players in the locker room and among the least likely to say something incendiary.
His words and the impact of the story seemed to weigh heavily on him.
“First you get yesterday and now today with me and it’s just like, ‘C’mon man really?’ We just want to play football,” Greene said.
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