The Star-Ledger-US PRESSWIRE
For quite some time now, the mainstream media has hounded the New York Jets, and Bart Scott is sick and tired of it.
The normally outspoken linebacker declared a boycott of the media in the wake of the Jets’ Week 1 victory over the Buffalo Bills at MetLife Stadium.
“You guys treat us like we’re a f–––ing joke,” Scott said to reporters in the locker room. “You all want us to feed your papers, but then you all talk s––– about us.”
“Why would I want to give you all quotes to sell papers with if you all treat us like s–––? That doesn’t make sense.”
Scott is not the first Jets player to vent about how the media treats the team. Wideout Santonio Holmes also lashed out at the media in July during training camp.
Don’t get me wrong. The Jets are far from blameless when it comes to the media attention.
But over the last 12 months or so, the media scrutiny has just been so forced.
The entire organization, especially the players and coaches, have been humbled after a season of watching the playoffs from home. Not to mention seeing two of their biggest rivals meet in the Super Bowl.
Rex Ryan has kept his press conferences free from any boisterous guarantees. The players aren’t saying anything to draw any extra attention to themselves or the team.
Yet for many in the media, reporting on this new and improved, more disciplined Jets team is apparently not enough.
So many innocuous comments are misquoted, taken out of context and/or blown out of proportion, and the Jets don’t take kindly to being called a “circus” when it’s the media that creates the circus atmosphere themselves.
Scott was satisfied with the Week 1 win, but was fuming in the locker room afterwards, upset that the media could be so two-faced after the Jets win in the face of all the scrutiny.
“You all talk [trash] about us, and then when we win you flip the story,” he said. “You all win either way. … You all will screw us next week or the week after. You all will get us eventually.”
I applaud Scott for standing up for what he believes in and telling it like it is. He’s dead-on. The media has stooped to new lows over the last few months, and the Jets aren’t going to take it lying down.
We’ll see how his boycott goes when the NFL starts fining him for skipping out on his mandatory media obligations, but I doubt it will dent his wallet too much.
There was a time where the Jets talked themselves up regularly. Now, they are more concerned with walking the walk and staying focused on the task at hand. This upcoming Sunday, that focus is on the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Follow me on Twitter @metsjetsnets88 / Contact me at
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