Now that Mike Westhoff is retired and no longer serves as special teams coordinator for the New York Jets, he can talk about how he really feels the team did this season and how they handled the quarterback situation with Tim Tebow.
Westhoff spoke in an interview with the Joe Rose Show on 560 WQAM in Miami on Friday morning and spoke about how the team managed Tebow, quarterback Mark Sanchez, the salaray cap and many other issues.
"It was a mess," Westhoff said of the Tebow situation, according to ESPNNewYork.com. "It was an absolute mess. You can say whatever else you want, it was really a mess. I was very, very disappointed. There are things that Tim Tebow as an NFL quarterback, he's very limited in some things. If you throw him in the middle of a drop-back passing offense, he will look very, very average at best. But if you incorporate him in different facets of your offense, I think he can be a factor. That's what I thought we were going to do, but we never did it."
When Tebow was first acquired, head coach Rex Ryan and offensive coordinator Tony Sparano said they planned to use Tebow in the wildcat formation to try and throw off the opposing defenses, but that never materialized. Westhoff was able to use Tebow as a punt protector and on some trick fourth-down plays, but other than that he never received significant playing time.
Westhoff said he was impressed with Tebow as an overall football player and according to ESPN, he envisioned Tebow would be used as a combination tight end/halfback/fullback/quarterback. The Jets never figured out the right way to use him properly and not much materialized from the Wildcat all season either.
"To be honest I don't think anyone ever answered that question, 'Why did we do it?' " Westhoff said. "I honestly don't know. I know we didn't practice it, we didn't practice it in training camp. We were going to unveil it. Well, I'm still waiting for the unveiling. And it didn't happen."
Following a rib injury late in the season, Tebow was relegated mainly to special teams duty, but not even much of that. Eventually quarterback Mark Sanchez was benched due to his poor play and Tebow was passed over to start for Greg McElroy due to his injury.
Westhoff also spoke about starting quarterback Mark Sanchez, who had his worst season in the fourth year of his professional career. The quarterback brought the Jets to two AFC championship games, but the strength of those teams was the defense.
"[Sanchez was the] manageable part of a good football team," Westhoff said. " ... Then all of a sudden the burden was thrust on Mark and that's just too much for him, in my opinion. Also, I think the whole offense needs to be designed around Mark, and you can say that it was, but there are just some things he doesn't do as well."
Sanchez threw for 2,883 yards with just 13 touchdowns and 18 interceptions while completing less than 55 percent of his passes. Over the past two seasons he has turned over the ball 50 times, more than anyone else in the NFL. He threw three interceptions in the first half against the Arizoan Cardinals on Dec. 2 and was benched in favor of McElroy, who sparked the Jets to a 7-6 win.
He got the job back following the win, but was benched again after fumbling away the Jets' chance at making the playoffs after losing 14-10 to the Titans in Week 15. Sanchez got the call to start the regular season finale against Buffalo after McElroy suffered a concussion, but he was ineffective and the team lost 28-9, a stark difference from Week 1 of the season when the Jets defeated the same Buffalo team 48-28.
Westhoff spoke about the roster as well as fired general manager Mike Tannenbaum.
"So much of the money is directed at the very top," Westhoff said. "Sometimes if you don't budget your team well you can destroy the middle and the bottom of your football team. And that's what happened to us. It happened. It's tough, if you're playing a handful of guys [that are] 40 percent of your salary cap, what the hell are you going to do with the rest of them?"
Westhoff did not hold pack any punches in the interview, even taking on the Jets defense. This may be the first time in a long time that someone with the Jets spoke to the media and actually said the truth. Between talking about Tebow and Sanchez along with the direction of the team, there hasn't been much disclosure from the Jets to the media over the past two years.
"I want to stop teams in the top 10, not the bottom 5," Westhoff said when discussing the unit.
The Jets finished just 6-10 this season and lost their final three games to the Titans, Chargers and Bills. The team was ranked 30th in the league in passing and only averaged 17 points per game, ranked 28th in the NFL. The team dealt with numerous injuries, including to superstar cornerback Darrelle Revis and wide receiver Santonio Holmes and was embarassed on Thanksgiving night when Sanchez fumbled after running into the buttocks of one of his offensive lineman, allowing the Patriots to score a touchdown.
The Jets completely marginalized the quarterback and now that the Jacksonville Jaguars have said that they have no interest in squiring Tebow, he will likely spend another season languishing on the sidelines for the team. It also means that his chances to be a starting quarterback in the NFL are diminishing
"It was a distraction, and really a shame because that's a hard working young man," Westhoff said.
Tebow first gained notoriety in the NFL as a rookie in 2010 after signing a five-year contract with the Denver Broncos, where he started his first NFL game on Dec. 19, 2010. Tebow became the third quarterback in NFL history to throw for a touchdown of 30 or more yards and run for a touchdown of 40 or more yards in the same game.
The following year in 2011, Tebow began the season as the backup to Kyle Orton, but supplanted him as the starting quarterback in week six against the Miami Dolphins, eventually leading the team to the playoffs where they faced off against the Steelers in the first round. He hit wide receiver Demaryius Thomas on the first play of overtime for an 80-yard touchdown to seal his first career playoff win.
But the off season took some interesting turns for Tebow. After the Denver Broncos announced they were going to sign free agent Peyton Manning, they traded Tebow to the New York Jets. Tebow is still under contract for two more years and owner Woody Johnson has said in the past that he will remain with the team until his contract is up, fueling speculation that the Jets brought him to only sell tickets and jerseys. In a sense it worked, considering that Tebow was probably the first backup quarterback in history to lead the NFL in jersey sales.
"Are we going to keep Tebow? Absolutely," Johnson said at the time to CNBC. "He'll be with us for three years... I think he's going to be a real valuable asset in terms of helping us win games."
The Jets were one of the worst offensive teams in the league and missed the playoffs for the second straight season after making the AFC championship game in head coach Rex Ryan's first two years with the franchise.
Westhoff is known to be an affable and interesting coach and seems tailor-made for a television job sometime in the future. He was long considered to be one of the best special teams coordinators in the NFL and could bring a different perspective to any type of football show or broadcaster.
"There's a possibility, sure," Westhoff said.
