Larry Brown Sports

Bart Scott ripped the fans who heckled the Jets following a disastrous second quarter against the New England Patriots on Thanksgiving.

A video of the New York fans going off on the Jets players as they walked toward the locker room for halftime went viral on the Internet Tuesday. Fans could be heard yelling some of the most vile taunts you could imagine. They called the players a “disgrace,” “bums,” “terrible,” and they were told not to “come out after halftime.” That’s the clean version of the taunts.

The Jets were outscored 35-3 in the second quarter by the Patriots, leading to the taunts. They made one mistake after another in one of the most embarrassing stretches in recent NFL history that included being outscored 21-0 in 52 seconds.

Asked by Gary Myers of the New York Daily News for a response to the nastiness from the hecklers, Scott let the fans have it.

“At the end of the day, if you made it to be able to put an NFL uniform on, then you are one of the best athletes in the world,” Scott told the Daily News. “The person yelling at you probably was picked last in dodge ball all through high school. So do you care about the opinion of them? No.”

Scott acknowledged that the fans would be upset based on the team’s play, but he still thinks it’s out of line for fans to get personal with their criticism.

“Does it make it right?” he said. “Some of the personal attacks — I can only imagine.”

He also pointed to the fair weather nature of Jets fans.

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New York Jets linebacker Bart Scott was apparently so furious with the media after his team’s 27-13 win over the St. Louis Rams on Sunday that he demanded his teammates participate in a boycott.

According to Bart Hubbuch of the New York Post, Scott ordered every member of the Jets defense to answer all questions with “both teams played hard.” “Both teams played hard” is a nod to notorious NBA headcase Rasheed Wallace, who gave that line in response to every question he fielded during a press conference several years ago.

Scott apparently threatened teammates who did speak with the media, even name-calling fellow linebacker Bryan Thomas for breaking the boycott.

Scott yells at Bryan Thomas for breaking the boycott, calling him “a MF-ing sellout.” Yeremiah Bell tells Scott: “Stop it. Just stop it.”

— Bart Hubbuch (@HubbuchNYP) November 18, 2012

After the attempted media boycott failed, Scott apparently began speaking with reporters calmly.

Hubbuch says Scott called for the boycott in response to an anonymously-sourced story in the New York Daily News during the week that cited a Jets player as calling Tim Tebow a “terrible” quarterback.

The article was a source of much strife in the Jets locker room during the week. Coach Rex Ryan was forced to address it, and Scott responded to allegations that he was one of the anonymous sources.

This also is not the first time Scott has taken an anti-media stance this season. After the Jets beat the Bills in Week 1, Scott declared a media boycott in protest of the New York Post calling the team a bunch of clowns. He also had a run-in with a reporter in the team’s locker room that nearly involved a fight.

In the latest development of the story that may never end, Bart Scott is unhappy with LaDainian Tomlinson after Tomlinson accused him of being one of the anonymous New York Jets players who ripped Tim Tebow earlier this week. L.T said on Wednesday that he believes Antonio Cromartie was the player who called Tebow “terrible” while Scott was the one who said the Wildcat would never work with Tebow running it.

Scott said Tomlinson should stop the guessing and finger-pointing.

“That can’t be farther from the truth,” the Jets linebacker told the NY Post on Thursday. “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.

“Why would I have those comments and then have another article about we’re a family? The same day, am I bipolar? LaDainian is out of line in thinking I have that type of character. I don’t know what he believes I showed to him when he was here. If anything, I hope I showed him I was a leader and I never try to be a distraction.”

At a charity event on Tuesday, Scott was quoted as saying the Jets are a family and that they would stick together to overcome adversity. Unless Tomlinson is going off more than just his gut instinct and a complete guess, I agree with Scott that he is out of line to point the finger. As for the anonymous players themselves, Scott doesn’t sound convinced that they exist.

“I’ve been here four years,” he said. “It’s always an anonymous source. An anonymous source can be the janitor. An anonymous source can be the cable guy. An anonymous source can be the equipment guy. Anybody can be an anonymous source. If you don’t tell them to put their name to it, what credibility do you have?

“I think the anonymous person is probably some smoke in the air or a fart off somebody’s (butt).”

An anonymous source can be anyone, but the NY Daily News‘ Manish Mehta was specific in mentioning which quotes and comments came from actual players. Mehta is a reputable reporter for the Jets, so I highly doubt he would completely fabricate quotes just to create a good story. I believe that someone actually said it, but that doesn’t give Tomlinson the right to ruin reputations by speculating as to who.

Photo credit: The Star-Ledger-US PRESSWIRE

LaDainian Tomlinson knows more than the average person about life in the New York Jets locker room. Many of the current Jets are his former teammates, and L.T. feels confident he knows who was behind the anonymous Tim Tebow bashing that came out on Wednesday.

According to Newsday, L.T. said during his Sirius/XM radio segment on Wednesday that he believes Antonio Cromartie is the player who called Tebow “terrible,” and that Bart Scott is the one who said Tebow running the Wildcat would never work.

“Cromartie has never had a problem putting his name on things,” Tomlinson said. “…Once you start talking to the media about teammates, (coach) Rex (Ryan) is going to address it. He’s not going to let it go. And so, now you have guys that don’t want to put your name on it because, obviously, Rex Ryan has said something about it.”

In other words, Cromartie is not the type to conceal his identity, but L.T. believes he chose to this time so he doesn’t have to hear it from Rex Ryan. God forbid he should just keep quiet and say nothing — assuming Tomlinson is right and the player actually is Cromartie. L.T. also questioned the Jets’ decision to acquire Tebow in the first place.

“They weren’t getting a guy that could really compete for a starting quarterback’s job,” he said. “They were getting a change of pace kind of guy, a Wildcat kind of guy. Why would (general manager) Mike Tannenbaum make that move?”

Tomlinson said New York’s locker room problems last season were the worst he has been around, and after Wednesday’s debacle you have to wonder if this season is just as chaotic. We know Santonio Holmes doesn’t think a two-quarterback system would work in the NFL, but he hasn’t even been around to say anything to the media. Whether it was Cromartie, Scott and/or other players who made the comments about Tebow really doesn’t matter at this point. All that matters is Ryan is once again in danger of losing his locker room — assuming he hasn’t already lost it.

Photo credit: The Star-Ledger-US PRESSWIRE

Dan Leberfeld of “Jets Confidential” was involved in a fight with Bart Scott on Friday that made headlines. Leberfeld wrote about the incident on his site and told his side of the story later in the day.

Leberfeld explained that he took a photo of Scott talking with reporter Jane McManus on Friday and that he also took a photo of Scott talking to another reporter on Wednesday. He says he took the photos of Scott talking with reporters to use for a story he’s writing about Scott declaring a media boycott.

Sounds reasonable enough, right?

Leberfeld further defends himself by explaining that the photos he took were in accordance with the Jets’ policy on media behavior in the locker room. The policy apparently states that photographs in the locker room are only acceptable when a player is talking with a reporter, and when the player is fully clothed. Leberfeld followed the rules in both cases.

I think what this comes down to is Bart Scott already had a defensive stance with the media, so it doesn’t take much to set him off. As a player, he should know that reporters can photograph him during the team’s open locker room. It may seem like a violation of his privacy to have a reporter take a picture of him from a cell phone, but in that context, it likely is not.

Bart Scott’s anger with the media continued on Friday when he reportedly nearly fought a Jets reporter.

According to multiple reports, Scott and Jets Confidential reporter Dan Leberfeld had to be separated during the Jets’ open locker room period on Friday.

Scott apparently was upset that Leberfeld took a picture of Scott talking with a female reporter and, according to the New York Daily News, threatened to “smack the s—” out of him. Leberfeld said he would sue Scott in response.

The two had to be separated by members of the Jets’ PR staff.

This is the second time in the last three days that Leberfeld has taken a picture of Scott with a female reporter. He also reportedly did it on Wednesday, causing the woman to leave the room.

You may recall that Scott humorously declared a media “mutiny” after the team’s Week 1 win over the Bills before later saying he meant a media boycott. This incident will probably only add to his anger with the media.

UPDATE: Read about Leberfeld’s side of the story.

Bart Scott was a man full of humorous contradictions after the Jets’ impressive 48-28 thumping over the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.

The linebacker known for his passionate interviews and catchy quotes laid into the media for clowning the Jets before the season began.

Scott was planning to punish the media with a boycott, but he mistakenly called it a “mutiny.”

“I’ve got a media mutiny,” Scott said when approached by USA TODAY Sports’s Jim Corbett after the game.

Scott was then asked if he meant a boycott.

“Yeah, a boycott.”

He then went off on the media while explaining his mutiny.

“You guys treat us like we’re a (bleeping) joke,” Scott said, per Corbett. “You all want us to feed your papers, but then you all talk (bleep) about us. So why would I want to give you all quotes to sell papers with if you all treat us like (bleep)? That doesn’t make sense.

“You all talk stuff about us, and then when we win you flip the story. You all win either way.”

Yes Scott, we indeed are the winners.

Let’s get this straight here: first Scott declares a mutiny when he means a boycott, then he promises to keep quiet and not give the media quotes. But then he gives us some true gems in the process. If this is what he means by a media boycott, then I support it. We all know with that group of talkers the Jets have they’ll never stay quiet. And we love them for it.