Jets RB Jones: Favre should have been benched

Jan 1, 2009 - 7:02 PM NEW YORK (Ticker) -- New York Jets running back Thomas Jones earlier this week told a local radio station that future Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre should have been benched at some point during the season.

Jones told Hot 97 FM on Tuesday that Favre's mistakes hurt the Jets down the stretch.

New York lost four if its last five games, and the 39-year-old Favre tossed nine interceptions with just two touchdowns in that span. Favre finished with 22 touchdowns and a league-worst 22 interceptions, but still somehow made the Pro Bowl.

"We're a team and we win together. ... But at the same time, you can't turn the ball over and expect to win," Jones told the radio station two days after Favre tossed three interceptions in the season-ending loss to Miami.

The loss was even more painful because former Jet Chad Pennington outplayed Favre and helped the Dolphins clinched the AFC East. Jones, who led the AFC with 1,312 yards, said the turnovers were the difference in the 24-17 loss.

"The other day, the three interceptions really hurt us. I mean, that's just reality," Jones told the radio station. "If I were to sit here and say, 'Oh, man, it's OK,' that's not reality. ... I don't like it, I know everybody else on the team doesn't like it.

"If somebody is not playing well, they need to come out of the game," Jones told Hot 97 FM. "You're jeopardizing the whole team because you're having a bad day. To me, that's not fair to everybody else. You're not the only one on the team. So when you get to the wire and somebody is just giving the game up, I mean, it's just not (fair)."