Tonight will be the Wes Welker bowl as the New England Patriots take on the Denver Broncos. Wes Welker is one of the top 5 best receivers in the game today and probably the best slot receiver in NFL history. However, the Patriots didn’t believe that “Wes is more” or that you can in fact spell awesome without “W-E-S” and they let Wes Welker go. Maybe it’s for the best as he wasn’t exactly treated as well as he could have been.
Remember that hysterical press conference Wes Welker gave with all the feet metaphors in the wake of the New York Jets Rex Ryan foot fetish video revelation? When Welker not so subtly made numerous foot jokes previewing the Patriots vs Jets AFC playoff game?
Well the Patriots reprimanded and benched him for that. Proving to be a very dumb decision as it cost the Pats a playoff game.
In an exclusive interview airing tonight on Football Night In America, Wes Welker talked with Bob Costas
On if he circled this game when the schedule came out: “At the time, I didn’t pay much attention to it. I knew we would see them eventually, and definitely a game to look forward to.”
That’s obviously a total crock. I don’t buy that line for a second. Wes Welker has learned that he gets punished for being himself, an interesting human being, when talking to the media. Hence he gave a fake and boring, corporatized answer.
Wes Welker on if he was motivated by being undrafted: “I think so. At first coming in, I just wanted to make a team. It’s something that kind of gives you that edge, and makes you want to go out there and compete and prove everybody wrong. It’s funny, the thing about Tom (Brady, who was drafted in the sixth round), I’m like, ‘Dude, you got drafted. You make a big deal about the sixth round, but you got drafted.’ But we have fun with that and everything else.”
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. He’s also an analyst for multiple news talk radio stations across the country; with regular weekly segments on NBC and Fox Sports Radio. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks) and RSS Catch him Tuesdays talking Illini and Northwestern for KOZN 1620 The Zone, Fridays talking Chicago Bears for WAOR 95.7 The Fan