Jeff Saturday calls snow angel celebration after Nick Foles injury 'tasteless'
The Indianapolis Colts are trudging towards the end of a season to forget. Head coach Frank Reich was fired midway through the year and owner Jim Irsay went and brought in former Indy center and ESPN analyst Jeff Saturday to take over interim coaching duties. A move that puzzled folks around the NFL, but yielded a win in his first game as head man when he took the Colts to Las Vegas and beat the Raiders in Week 11.
However, since that feel-good win to kick off the Saturday regime, Indianapolis has lost its last six, with each loss coming in a more painful way than the last. They fell in close games to the Eagles and Steelers, were blown out by the Cowboys, allowed the biggest comeback in NFL history against Minnesota, mustered just three points against the Chargers, then lost to the Giants this past weekend by four touchdowns.
Rough sledding for the Colts around the Holiday season. With all this frustration, one particular unsportsmanlike act by a Giants player sent Coach Saturday over the edge in his press conference on Monday.
After a sack by New York EDGE rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux on Indy QB Nick Foles on Sunday, Foles fell to the ground and laid out in pain, while Thibodeaux rolled over and did snow angels in the immediate vicinity of the guy he just sacked — who was injured.
Here’s the clip:
Obviously, it looks pretty bad that Thibodeaux is doing a celebration right next to a guy he may have just injured. However, it’s very possible Thibodeaux may not have realized Foles was still down injured, since he rolled over and started snow-angel-ing right after the tackle.
Jeff Saturday doesn’t see it that way. He said Monday of the celebration: “Tasteless from the celebration afterwards. Just trash. Not a fan of it at all.”
He’s not buying that Thibodeaux should get a pardon here. He thinks he should’ve been more aware of Foles’ injury. But also, Saturday, a former offensive lineman himself, was upset the offensive players didn’t rally to protect Foles. He would’ve endorsed some retaliation in the face of perceived disrespect and poor sportsmanship from the Giants.
“And year, disappointed from the O-line perspective and for teammates in general. We protect our own. I mean, y’all know me. I’ve been here a long time. So, I’m just gonna tread lightly. Obviously, I didn’t like it at all and that’s where I’ll leave it.”
Jeff Saturday making himself clear on where he stands regarding the nature of the Foles/Thibodeaux incident.