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.
“It comes with the territory,” Scott said. “The same people two years ago were cheering, “We love you, we love.” They love you, they hate you. That’s what you sign up for. As long as they don’t put their hands on you, who cares what they say? Because they don’t know that they don’t know. We’re doing something that they couldn’t do.”
This is the latest bout of contention between Jets players and the fans. Chaz Schilens was upset with them earlier in the season for chanting for Tim Tebow. Antonio Cromartie told fans to kiss his butt regarding a similar debate.
Like Bart Scott says, the same fans will love the team when they start winning, so the players shouldn’t get too concerned with the jeers.
Below is the video of Jets fans heckling the team that prompted the response from Scott. Video contains NSFW language:
