Leonard Williams explains his blowup: ‘Always the second guy’
In the emotional moments following the Jets’ crushing 44-38 overtime loss to the Packers, Jets coach Todd Bowles torched the referees, saying, “I thought we were playing two teams — I thought we were playing the Packers and the stripes.”
In all, the Jets were penalized 16 times for 172 yards, but there was one call Bowles had no complaint about: the personal foul call on Leonard Williams, who threw a punch at Packers right tackle Bryan Bulaga late in the second quarter and was immediately ejected for it.
“You can’t throw a punch,” Bowles said. “You’ll get thrown out of the game. He threw a punch. He should have been ejected.”
The NFL rules are specific about players throwing a punch at another. It’s a no-tolerance rule, resulting in automatic ejection.
Williams, the Jets’ best defensive lineman, who had been having a strong game with a sack and a couple quarterback hurries on Aaron Rodgers, helplessly watched the rest of the game in the locker room.
“I fully regret it,” Williams said. “There’s no excuse for what I did. I overreacted. There was a little bit of extra touching and scuffling after the play, and I just overreacted. There was nothing said. There was just a bunch of extra grabbing and hands after the play.”
Williams called the reaction “really uncharacteristic of me,” adding, “I’m a pro now. I’ve been in the league for four years and I know it’s always the second guy that gets ejected. It’s always the second guy that reacts and gets in trouble. I know that I shouldn’t have done that. I know that I shouldn’t have overreacted. My emotions just got high and took over and I didn’t make a smart decision.”
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With Williams out, it shortened the rotation of defensive linemen, and there were times in the second half while the Packers were making their comeback that the Jets defensive linemen looked gassed.
“I wish I could have been there for my teammates — especially in this good game, a close game that went to overtime,” he said. “I wish I could have been out there on the field when it was crunch time to help. That’s what makes it really hard — the fact that I couldn’t be out there for my team, especially when the D-line was taking extra reps because they didn’t have as much rotation because they took me out.
“There was nothing I could do but watch. It just sucks that in the middle of this game I was just watching and that was all I could do. I’ve never missed a game since I’ve been here. I’m not a dirty player and most people that know me and play against me would say that as well.
“Penalties obviously hurt us today and I was a part of that.”
