Sikh Broncos fans are denied entry to game 'because of their turbans'

Four Sikh Americans were initially denied entry to watch an NFL game in San Diego because they were wearing turbans.

According to  10 News, Verinder Malhi claims a security guard at Qualcomm Stadium told him and his three friends they had to take their turbans off if they wanted to see the Broncos-Chargers game last Sunday. 

The men were wearing bright orange Dastars to support the Broncos and had just driven seven hours from Fresno to watch them play. 

Malhi said the men were eventually let inside the stadium, but the security guard told them they could not wear their turbans if they ever returned. 

"It's bad, I mean, this is embarrassing for me," Malhi told the news station. 

"We are Americans at the end of the day. And we are not supposed to be afraid of fellow Americans." 

The men were stopped after another fan called the police on Malhi and his friends, claiming three men wearing turbans had been suspiciously fussing with items in their trunk before leaving the parking lot.

The car was cleared after police brought in a bomb-sniffing dog. 

Malhi said his friends had just put a bag in the car when they realized it wouldn't be permitted inside the stadium. 

"Everybody is kind of confusing us with the turbans, because what you see on TV is mostly the terrorists, they wear turbans," he said. 

"But our turbans is different, our faith is different, our beliefs are different." 

Former rugby league star Jarryd Hayne flattens Chargers' Lowell Rose (VIDEO)

Jarryd Hayne, a former rugby league star turned San Francisco 49er, absolutely flattened San Diego Chargers cornerback Lowell Rose on a third-quarter drive during Thursday's preseason game.

The Australian native broke one tackle before laying out Rose at the 50-yard line on a 2nd-and-2.

Oh. That's just former Rugby League star @jarrydhayne_1, turning NFL defenders into pancakes. #SDvsSF http://t.co/sObSmoGhX9

— NFL (@NFL) September 4, 2015

Hayne did more than just run over players, he also showed some nice moves and ability to break off a big run too.

The body control. The balance. The jab step. Jarryd Hayne is just showing off now. #49ers https://t.co/3QjV5KkRqS

— Oscar (@BetterRivals) September 4, 2015

Oi Oi Oi.

Junior Seau's family won't disrupt Hall of Fame ceremonies, says lawyer: Report

The family of the late Junior Seau will not disrupt the Hall of Fame ceremonies on Aug. 8 despite its disagreement with a policy preventing live remarks during a posthumous induction.

Steve Strauss, legal counsel to the Seaus and partner at Cooley LLP, said in an email Monday night that the family "does not want this issue to become a distraction to Junior's accomplishments and legacy or those of the other inductees."

Seau, who killed himself in 2012, will be saluted with a video presentation in which his daughter, Sydney, will speak. But Hall policy does not allow for live speeches during a posthumous induction.

Before his tragic death, Seau told his family that if he was ever inducted to the HoF, the 14-year NFL veteran wanted Sydney to give his induction speech.

"The Seau family appreciates the overwhelming support for Sydney Seau to be able to accept Junior's induction into the Hall of Fame live and in her own words," Strauss said. "Unfortunately, the Hall of Fame is unwilling to reverse its decision despite communicating to the family earlier this year that Sydney would be able to speak at the ceremony. Contrary to the most recent statement by the Hall of Fame, the family does not support the current policy that prevents family members from delivering live remarks on behalf of deceased inductees.

"The Seau family never intended to use the Hall of Fame as a platform to discuss the serious mental health issues facing the NFL today, which are most appropriately addressed in a legal forum," Strauss said. "The Seau family looks forward to celebrating Junior's extraordinary accomplishments at the Hall of Fame."

Hall representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In a statement from Hall executive vice president Joe Horrigan last Friday, a 2010 policy was referenced.

"The policy of the Pro Football Hall of Fame since 2010 regarding individuals enshrined posthumously provides for an expanded presenting video (longer than the videos of living inductees) followed by the traditional unveiling of the bronzed bust and no additional comments made from the podium," Horrigan said.

The 2011 induction used such a format when former Los Angeles Rams star Les Richter was inducted posthumously.

Nicks wants long-term contract, courts Colts, Chargers and Panthers: Report

Hakeem Nicks wants to clarify his earlier remarks about accepting a one-year, prove-it contract. What he really meant to say was that he wants a long-term deal before re-establishing himself on the free-agent market.

And he especially wants the Colts, Panthers, and Chargers to know about it.

Just one day after an ESPN report said the soon-to-be former Giants receiver was willing to accept a single-year deal so he could prove his market value, on Sunday, Nicks corrected himself and told ESPN, “I just want to make it clear that I want a long-term deal.”

He also wouldn’t mind getting it from the three teams he specifically mentioned, reports The New York Daily News.

“Ideally, this is what I want,” Nicks said. “I want to go to a team where I’m the missing link. There are a number of teams that I have my eye on once I hit the market. I know if I went to a place like Indianapolis I would be dangerous with a quarterback like Andrew Luck. I can see myself catching passes from Cam Newton or even Philip Rivers.”

He didn't even mention the Giants or Eli Manning. Not that it matters to them.

Nicks is almost definitely not going to re-sign with the Giants, the team that made him a 2009 first-round draft pick. There doesn’t seem to be any reason for the Giants to give the underachieving Nicks a lucrative, long-term contract, not after two subpar seasons and lingering questions whether he gave one-hundred percent last season.

Nicks figures to attract plenty of interest from other teams and likely will start setting up visits on Tuesday when teams can speak with him directly. Until then, the only contact interested teams can have is with Nicks’ agent.

“Players have already started to reach out to me from other teams saying they would love for me to come join them,’’ Nicks told ESPN. “I just want to make it clear that I want a long-term deal and I want to be happy. I’m excited about talking to teams and making it work.”

Richie Sambora sings about Philip Rivers and his bolo ties (VIDEO)

It looks like Richie Sambora has had a lot of time on his hands since getting booted from Bon Jovi. So much time, he wrote a song about Phillip Rivers and his bolo ties.

Here's the Garden State's own cowboy singing a little ditty about the Charger quarterback's choice of neck wear for FOX Sports.

I do detect a little "Wanted Dead or Alive" in the tune. But, all the same, you give Jersey a bad name.

Chad Johnson offers to rescue Bengals fans from blackout

As reported earlier this week, the Cincinnati Bengals, Indianapolis Colts and Green Bay Packers still had several thousand unsold tickets for this weekend’s playoff games.

If the teams are unable to sell those tickets by a Thursday deadline, their respective playoff games will be blacked out on local television.

The Bengals still have about 8,000 tickets to sell to avoid a blackout of Sunday's playoff game against the Chargers. But on New Year's Eve, former Bengals receiver Chad Johnson made a generous offer on Twitter that could take care of everything.  In response to a story by Cincinnati Enquirer writer, Joe Reedy, about the Bengals stating, "Unless the rate of daily sales increases, we will not achieve a sellout," Chad Johnson tweeted, "I'll get the rest." After almost 300 re-tweets one fan asked if Johnson was actually going to buy the tickets.  He responded that he would be in touch with Jeff Berding, Bengals Director of Sales and Public Affairs, once back in Miami. If Johnson does purchases the remaining 8,000 tickets to Sunday's game the total bill would come to over 900,000 dollars.

That's novecientos mil to you, Ochocinco.

Steep tab for a guy who pleaded to have his child support payments lowered only last summer.

I'll get the rest RT @joereedy: Statement from #Bengals: “Unless the rate of daily sales increases -- we will not achieve a sellout.
— Chad Johnson (@ochocinco) December 31, 2013

The reaction from Bengals fans was mixed with everything from "I've got a bridge to sell you" to "Make him an honorary captain."

Chad Johnson played wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals from 2001 to 2010.

Chargers LB Thomas Keiser arrested for battery: Report

San Diego Chargers linebacker Thomas Keiser was arrested on Sunday night on suspicion of misdemeanor battery, according to U-T San Diego. The arrest happened just hours after the Chargers beat the Chiefs to claim the final wild card berth in the AFC.

Keiser was at a bar in the Gaslamp Quarter of San Diego when he got into an altercation that eventually turned into a fight.

"We're aware of the issue involving Thomas," the Chargers said in a statement. "We'll continue to monitor the situation and let the legal process run its course."

The incident is still under investigation, but San Diego Police Captain Dino Delimitros did provide a few details to the Associated Press.

"He got in a fight with somebody, the bouncers got involved, the police came up and somebody demanded a citizens' arrest," Delimitros said.

Keiser's bail was set at $8,000, according to U-T San Diego, and he was released at some point on Monday.

The 24-year-old Keiser is in his first season with the Chargers after spending his first two years with Carolina. He opened the season on the Chargers practice squad, but was later signed to the active-roster in October. The linebacker has played in 12 games this season with three starts and is third on the team with 4.5 sacks.

The Chargers open the NFL playoffs on Sunday in Cincinnati against the Bengals.

Tom Coughlin: Giants need to regain 'respectability we lost'

The San Diego Chargers came out with guns blazing and, before the final boom went off, the New York Giants playoff hopes were a foregone conclusion at Qualcomm Stadium Sunday.

Asked to assess his team’s future going into the last three games, head coach Tom Coughlin said the Giants must play “to regain some of the respectability we lost today.”

Coughlin's powerful post-game remarks summed up the disappointment and what was lost after the 37-14 manhandling:

"I just told the team and anybody in listening distance that the major disappointment here today is to have a chance to get into a game where both teams were 5-7 and have a chance to win a ballgame and try to regain some respectability," Coughlin said. "We had played pretty well five or six weeks in a row and then we came here today and the first half was just a very, very poor performance. ... The first half was a major disappointment. ... Very, very disappointing loss for us.

"We have a three-game schedule to go. We have three games to work as hard as we can, prepare as hard as we can, and see if we can regain some of the respectability we lost today."

The Giants boarded their 3,000-mile flight home knowing their playoff dreams were over — and with three games left to play.

To Coughlin, the job still wasn't done.

“It’s our responsibility to finish,” he said.

'ShEli Manning' head a giant hit with Chargers fans (PHOTO)

Chargers fans had a little fun with Giants quarterback Eli Manning on Sunday afternoon in San Diego. Actually, make that ShEli Manning, as the Chargers faithful have dubbed him/her.

Fans boringly serenaded Eli, the quarterback who refused to play for the Chargers, with boos and constant chants of “Eli Sucks” during his first visit to San Diego since 2005.

But ShEli Manning? Now that's original.

The giant cutout distraction in the end zone during Sunday’s game might have worked. The Giants lost 37-14 and Manning threw a couple of interceptions.

All that makeup still couldn't hide the Giants' ugly season.

Justin Blackmon runs over security guard at Jaguars-Chargers game (GIF)

An unsuspecting rent-a-cop was bowled over by Jacksonville wide receiver Justin Blackmon during the Jaguars’ 24-6 loss to the Chargers on Sunday — and the second-year wide receiver didn’t even help the poor guy up.

Blackmon was chasing down a would-be touchdown pass from Jags quarterback Chad Henne, but the 6-foot-1, 210-pound wideout was out of bounds when he caught it, and his momentum carried him into the security guard, who had his back to the field. Blackmon collided into the guy, knocking his hat off, and then just stared at him while he was on the ground.

Here's a view of the human Mack Truck that the blindsided guy didn't see coming.

Small earthquake hits near Oakland during Chargers-Raiders game

For NFL fans on the east coast getting up to your first cup of coffee Monday morning, two things happened in Oakland while you were sleeping. First, there was an NFL game between the Chargers and Raiders which kicked off at 11:35 ET (and ended during your REM stage) and there was an earthquake during the second quarter of the game.

Neither of which anyone on the Right Coast has a clue about —and couldn't tell a Janikowski from a Richter Scale.

The quake only added more freakishness to the latest starting game in NFL history.

The 3.1 earthquake had an epicenter about 17 miles from O.co Coliseum in Oakland, according to the United State Geological Survey. The game didn't stop because of the earthquake, but it was felt at the stadium, as you can see in this tweet from the San Francisco Chronicle's Ann Killion.

We had an earthquake about 10 minutes ago. After spending time in Seattle and Denver, I thot it was just fans making the pressbox shake.
— Ann Killion (@annkillion) October 7, 2013

Oakland had a 14-0 lead when the earthquake hit and stretched that to 17-0 before halftime. 

Terrelle Pryor seems to be empowered by earthquakes — or late kickoff times — because he's had his best first half of the year. Through the first two quarters, Pryor was 13 of 18 for 141 yards and two touchdowns.

Pryor then set up a late field goal by turning a potential sack into a third-and-long conversion that gave the Raiders a 27-17 victory.

San Diego didn't seem to be enjoying the late kickoff and the earthquakes as much as the Raiders. For the first time this season, the Chargers failed to score a point in the first half.

Cardinals' mistake leads to hilarious Chargers touchdown (VIDEO)

Saying things didn't go too well for the Arizona Cardinals Saturday night might be an understatement. Not only did the redbirds lose its first-round draft pick — right guard Jonathan Cooper, who broke his leg and is out indefinitely — but they were on the wrong side of a wacky touchdown in a 24-7 loss to the San Diego Chargers.

In the second quarter, the Cardinals were whistled for their third pass interference penalty of the game, giving San Diego the ball at the Cardinals 1. Chargers running back Ryan Mathews went over the middle, but the ball popped free. Cardinals safety Rashad Johnson picked it up but, in an ill-advised move, lateraled to Sam Acho.

Acho, who appeared to be caught off-guard by Johnson’s toss, was hit by Antonio Gates and again the ball popped in the air. Another San Diego tight end, John Phillips, grabbed it and returned it 3 yards for the score to make it 14-0.

It ain't the Buttfumble, but it sure is funny.

“We talk about being a smart football team,” first-year Cardinals coach Bruce Arians said, “and that’s probably the dumbest 30 minutes of football I’ve ever seen.”

The Chargers also blocked a punt and a field goal in addition to scoring on the fumble recovery.

“It's not the conventional way to score,” said Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers about the double-fumble. “I don't know if I've seen a play like that in a long time.”

Shawne Merriman blames being 'too damn heavy' for 'American Ninja' fail

Carrying 260 pounds on your frame works well if you are an NFL linebacker but — as a competitor on the "American Ninja Warrior" obstacle-course — it's better to be a little guy. And nobody knows that better than former NFL star Shawne Merriman.

Merriman knows from experience. The oft-injured former San Diego Chargers and Buffalo Bills linebacker recently appeared on the show and started off strong only to fail when it came time to negotiate the trampoline obstacle. 

"260 don't work on trampolines," Merriman says ... "My weight made the trampoline touch the ground."

The fit Merriman actually dropped pounds before the show and put together a pretty solid — if not tentative — run before tumbling into the water.

Merriman says if he's invited back next year, he GUARANTEES he'll finish the course.

Manti Te'o has the top selling NFL rookie jersey

That whole fake girlfriend scandal with Manti Te'o last winter might have dropped the duped former Notre Dame linebacker's draft stock but it has spiked the San Diego Chargers' second-round pick's jersey sales.

ESPN is reporting that the Te'o's No. 50 jersey was flying off the shelves and was the top seller among all NFL rookies from April 1-June 30 on NFLShop.com.  It proves again that — with all of the sensationalist publicity that came with the bizarre situation — weird stuff sells.

Following the naive, but likable, Te'o in rookie sales were Rams receiver Tavon Austin, Bills quarterback EJ Manuel, Vikings receiver Cordarrelle Patterson and Packers running back Eddie Lacy. Notably, that top-five list does not include Jets quarterback Geno Smith.

As for the rest of the league, 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick has taken his place at the top of the list. Not surprising, considering last year's midseason replacement led the 49ers to the NFC championship and nearly pulled off a Super Bowl win.

Joining the quarterback race in which San Francisco and Seattle have engaged this offseason, Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson is No. 2 on the list. Following him were Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III, Vikings running back Adrian Peterson and Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning.

Te'o's top-seller is a surprise considering the small market NFL city he plays for. It's gotta be the lightning bolts.

Cromartie becomes unlikely voice of reason for younger Jets players

Antonio Cromartie — the New York Jets cornerback who blew through $5 million in his first two years in the NFL and has fathered 12 children with eight different women — claims he is turning over a new leaf and will become the voice of reason for the incoming crop of Jets rookies and teach them not to make the same mistakes he did.

In an interview with Newsday, Cromartie tells reporter Bob Glauber that his days of reckless spending have come to an end and that he is "all about saving money."

"I had two Dodge Chargers, probably spent $100,000 just fixing them up," he said. "I had a '65 Caprice, which I spent $100,000 on. I had two BMWs, two Escalades."

Cromartie doesn't remember the other two cars. And he said he came close to buying a Lamborghini, a car that can cost $500,000 or more.

"I was out of control," Cromartie said. "I remember [former Chargers teammate] Quentin Jammer used to tell me to slow down, but I couldn't do it. I just loved spending money."

Cromartie - who is the middle of a four-year, $32 million contract with the Jets - has now recruited the help of a financial adviser, who credits the transformation to showing the 29-year-old athlete what it's like to have a "settled" home life.

"I can tell a lot of things to a lot of clients, but that doesn't mean they'll listen and accept what I say and practice that discipline," Cromartie's adviser Jonathan Schwartz said. "[Cromartie] buys into it. He knows that a professional athlete's earning period is limited, and that the best form of accumulating wealth is not to spend. His peers will go buy Rolls Royces and Ferraris and diamond jewelry, but 25 years from now, Antonio can still maintain his lifestyle, sit at the beach enjoying a cocktail and say, 'I've earned it.'"

Cromartie, who has 12 children with eight different women in six different states and a poster-child for irresponsibility, says he wants to be a frugal role-model for younger players who might be tempted to make the same mistakes he made as a young athlete with a lot of money.

The All-Pro player, who is now married and has two children with his wife, Terricka, is an unlikely advocate about the benefits of putting money in the bank.

"I tell the young guys, "'Don't spend any money the first year and a half of your career,'" Cromartie said. "You don't know what will happen after that. You might be released. You might be hurt. Just save your money."

Cromartie might also be Gang Green's newest supporter of going green. Schwartz introduced his client to the hybrid Prius automobile and says the Jets player is fond of tooling around in the un-flashy ride — although some old free-spending habits seem hard to break.

"I'm gonna put some rims on it," said Cromartie. "That's about it, though."

Manti Te'o shows up at Maxim's Hot 100 party as No. 69's date

San Diego Chargers second-round draft pick Manti Te'o isn't letting that whole fake girlfriend hoax get him down.  The catfished NFL rookie might even be using it to his advantage.

Maxim magazine took a humorous shot at the former Notre Dame linebacker last week, ranking Manti Te'o's fake girlfriend, Lennay Kekua,  No. 69 in their annual "Hot 100" list.

The other night the men's magazine took the joke one step further, inviting Te'o to the Los Angeles party celebrating the list. To Te'o's credit, he didn't pass up the opportunity and appeared to be a good sport about the whole thing.

Maxim's editor-in-chief, Dan Bova, said he was "pleasantly surprised" that Te'o made an appearance.

"It seems like he has a good sense of humor about the whole thing," said Bova, "which I think is the best way to handle a situation like that."

Te'o made the scene and was even spotted with a number of real beauties.

Te'o's cyberspace hottie probably wasn't the only fake thing floating around the Hollywood party.

McElroy and Jets teammates hid concussion from coaches

New York Jets coaches were apparently unaware that Greg McElroy was experiencing concussion symptoms during practice this week — after getting sacked 11 times last Sunday against the San Diego Chargers — but some of his teammates did.

The Jets quarterback — who went from nursing a minor abdominal injury to being benched for Sunday's game against the Buffalo Bills — had been concealing his symptoms "for days" telling teammates about the situation but only finally going to the team on Thursday morning.

It's not uncommon for NFL players to quietly play through injuries but the alarming aspect to this story is that more than a few of his Jets teammates knew about about McElroy's serious condition after the 27-17 loss and kept silent.

"He came into my room [Christmas night] and we talked about it" receiver Clyde Gates told ESPNNew York.com. "He was hurting real bad .  I was like, 'Bro, I know, I've been down that road already.  I'm just saying you can't try to tough it out cause you going to end up hurting yourself.  You've got to let everybody know how you really feel."

McElroy finally told Jets trainer on Thursday — after experiencing headaches during a morning weightlifting session.  Head coach Rex Ryan later announced that McElroy wouldn't play this Sunday.

Guard Matt Slauson was also aware of McElroy's situation.  "He definitely has that [warrior] mentality, but it got to the point where it was scaring him," he said.

One has to take in a couple of perspectives from all the players involved to explain their actions.  Illogical and as dangerous as it may seem, the NFL culture breeds this type of reasoning.

McElroy — the one time third-string quarterback — is finally getting a shot at showing the league he is worthy of being a starter.  Unless he battled through the pain, it might be a long time before he is given this window of opportunity again.

His teammates, while showing concern for their teammate's safety, would have been breaking an unwritten code betraying a confidence if they went to the coaches about their concerns before McElroy actually did.

These are grown men fighting for their livelihoods in a violent and mostly short-lived career. The NFL has their work cut out for them if they intend to curb the rash of concussions in the league.  Apparently the players themselves aren't going to help themselves even when they are at risk.

Sanchez will start for concussed McElroy in Jets finale

The three-ring circus that is the New York Jets brought back an old headliner when their tumbling act — otherwise known as the quarterback situation — took another bizarre and unexpected somersault.

The team discovered starting quarterback Greg McElroy had suffered a concussion in Sunday's loss to the San Diego Chargers after he experienced headaches while lifting weights Thursday morning, reports The New York Post.

Head coach Rex Ryan told reporters McElroy won't play Sunday against the Buffalo  Bills and Mark Sanchez — who McElroy replaced last week as the starter — is back in as starting quarterback.

Ryan began Thursday's press conference by saying," You're not going to believe this one."

One person who was probably shaking his head was Tim Tebow, who still has not started a game even after Sanchez's season imploded.

"I'm going to start Mark Sanchez," Ryan said.  "The reason I'm starting Mark is we have two practices and one walkthrough to get ready for Buffalo.  He's very familiar with them.  That's the reason I'm going with Mark."

Tebow proponents have already taken to the Internet blasting the decision to use an ineffective Sanchez over the underutilized Tebow in a meaningless game.  Theories about Tebow being passed over again range from the Jets afraid to see Tebow succeed and make the coaches look bad to Tebow's bags are already packed and headed to Jacksonville after the season.

McElroy was sacked 11 times during the Jets 27-17 loss and suffered an abdominal injury.  He showed no symptoms of a concussion after the game but Ryan was convinced that McElroy couldn't play this week.

"I'm not going to play him," said Ryan.  "There's no doubt. I don't care what the tests say.  We're going to err on the side of caution."

It sounds like Ryan is erring on the side of a cautionary tale.  Imagine the backlash if Tebow won.

This is another tough blow for Tebow to take and was a legitimate chance to give him a shot as a "regular quarterback."

The top-secret Wildcat offense Ryan boasted about  all preseason is still pretty much a mystery and last week Tebow was passed over for McElroy when Sanchez was benched for his five turnover performance against the Titans two weeks ago.

Now Tebow is on the outside looking in once again.

"Obviously, Tim's not happy with that as you'd expect," Ryan said.

Expect to hear "Te-bow, Te-bow" from Jets fans for the last time.

Tebow thinks he was misunderstood by Rex Ryan about Wildcat

http://bcove.me/lb9doekqTim Tebow pulled an audible Wednesday and attempted to clarify any reports that he asked out of the Wildcat offense before Sunday's loss to the San Diego Chargers.  During the game, Tebow stood on the New York Jets sideline while Rex Ryan replaced him with Jeremy Kerley in the Wildcat formation.

Contrary to reports, Tebow denied asking out of the Wildcat during a meeting with his head coach last Tuesday, shortly after he found out he would not be the starter against the Chargers.

The backup quarterback admitted that he did express his disappointment in the decision today for the first time in a "man-to-man" talk with Ryan — the first of which Tebow's had all year.

Tebow told Ryan he wanted to play "regular quarterback,' something he reiterated several times.

During the week leading up to the Chargers game, Tebow said he and Ryan spoke little and — after seeing Kerley get increased Wildcat snaps in practice on Thursday — the unhappy quarterback sought out Ryan to clear the air after he only had a few Wildcat reps that day.

On Friday, Tebow was finally able to meet with Ryan and talk.

"I said, 'yeah, I'm frustrated with this,' absolutely and he knew that, he knew that I was frustrated by me saying it," Tebow said.  "But I didn't ask out, or say I wouldn't do anything."

Tebow added: "(a possible misunderstanding) is why I expressed back to him Friday, I said, 'Coach, you still know I'll do anything for this team, right? I'll do whatever.  He appreciated that, I think he knew that but I think he appreciated me going back and saying it."

The media analysts who bashed Tebow's character and labeled him a "quitter" because he wasn't named the starter was a little like putting verbal coal in Tebow's Christmas stocking.

Rex Ryan clams up about Tebow drama

Rex Ryan wasn't in a Christmas giving mood Monday when he sidestepped reporters' questions about whether or not quarterback Tim Tebow actually refused to play in the Wildcat formation during the New York Jets loss to the San Diego Chargers on Sunday.

During a 20-minute conference call with reporters, the would not divulge any specifics about Tebow's reaction to being passed over as starter for Greg McElroy except to say his Wildcat quarterback was "disappointed."

Ryan's answers didn't confirm or deny if Tebow had demanded his exclusion in any Wildcat schemes on Sunday and he danced around the questions regarding Tebow's status on the team.

Maybe the head coach was taking this whole "Silent Night" thing a little too seriously.

"He is a competitor and he was disappointed," Ryan said.  "He was disappointed that he was not named the starter."

Even with Tebow's limited role this season, yesterday's interview still centered on the polarizing quarterback and if he asked out of the Wildcat offense.

According to various sources, Tebow was irked when Ryan announced he was passing him up for McElroy last Tuesday.  The angry quarterback voiced his frustration to Ryan then didn't speak to his head coach for three days.  On Friday, Tebow finally told Ryan he was available for any role the team deemed him nessessary for.