Maybe it's due to the holiday season quickly approaching us (and being lazy in the process), but I've witnessed an increasing number of misleading and/or out-of-context headlines over the past couple weeks. The latest of which comes to us courtesy of ESPN, which published the following headline this morning: "Mike Pettine: I respect Russell Wilson, but QB not in top tier."
Here's how ESPN staff writer Pat McManamon starts his piece:
"Cleveland Browns coach Mike Pettine doesn't consider Russell Wilson of the Seattle Seahawks among the top three or four quarterbacks in the NFL.
He does, however, put him in the next group."
Jebus, really?!?
McManamon then writes this:
"'Would you put him there with the guys that can transcend their supporting cast? The [Tom] Brady's, whether it's Aaron Rodgers, [Drew] Brees, [Ben] Roethlisberger, the ones that you would consider the two, three, four elite guys? No. But he's certainly played himself into that next tier,' Pettine said Wednesday."
Okay, so while the Cleveland Browns coach is essentially saying Russell Wilson isn't one of the top 3 or 4 quarterbacks in the league, he's still contending that Wilson is one of the best in the league, so why's this a big deal, and why did ESPN feel the need to blow things out of proportion with a misleading, attention-grabbing headline?
ESPN didn't stop there, unfortunately, as they went on to ask the Seattle Seahawks quarterback about Pettine's comments. Yes, they actually went there. Wilson responded, "I don't worry about that. I think it comes down to winning games. ...That's the only thing I care about."
To Pettine's credit, he called out ESPN after seeing how they were slanting his comments, saying:
"I have a ton of respect for Russell and what he's done and I've been in this league a long time and I've gone against those guys that you mentioned. He is playing at a high level and if that continues for several more years then you would be able to talk about him in terms of those guys who have done it for 10-plus years as you just mentioned.
To sit and take one fragment of what I said just because I'd gone against Tom Brady, it's not my job to rank quarterbacks and I know the bottom line for those guys, and he's said it himself, is to win football games. And he's one of the best at that. I don't get too wrapped up in that. This isn't the first time that I've said a lot of one topic and one small fragment of it was made into a headline."
While I don't think Mike Pettine stands much chance of maintaining his job past this season, I have to give him kudos here. When the media takes someone's words out of context, like they did in this case, they deserve to be called out for it. Kudos on your follow-up comments, Mr. Pettine!
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/14381646/cleveland-browns-mike-pettine-consider-russell-wilson-seattle-seahawks-top-tier-quarterback
Here's how ESPN staff writer Pat McManamon starts his piece:
"Cleveland Browns coach Mike Pettine doesn't consider Russell Wilson of the Seattle Seahawks among the top three or four quarterbacks in the NFL.
He does, however, put him in the next group."
Jebus, really?!?
McManamon then writes this:
"'Would you put him there with the guys that can transcend their supporting cast? The [Tom] Brady's, whether it's Aaron Rodgers, [Drew] Brees, [Ben] Roethlisberger, the ones that you would consider the two, three, four elite guys? No. But he's certainly played himself into that next tier,' Pettine said Wednesday."
Okay, so while the Cleveland Browns coach is essentially saying Russell Wilson isn't one of the top 3 or 4 quarterbacks in the league, he's still contending that Wilson is one of the best in the league, so why's this a big deal, and why did ESPN feel the need to blow things out of proportion with a misleading, attention-grabbing headline?
ESPN didn't stop there, unfortunately, as they went on to ask the Seattle Seahawks quarterback about Pettine's comments. Yes, they actually went there. Wilson responded, "I don't worry about that. I think it comes down to winning games. ...That's the only thing I care about."
To Pettine's credit, he called out ESPN after seeing how they were slanting his comments, saying:
"I have a ton of respect for Russell and what he's done and I've been in this league a long time and I've gone against those guys that you mentioned. He is playing at a high level and if that continues for several more years then you would be able to talk about him in terms of those guys who have done it for 10-plus years as you just mentioned.
To sit and take one fragment of what I said just because I'd gone against Tom Brady, it's not my job to rank quarterbacks and I know the bottom line for those guys, and he's said it himself, is to win football games. And he's one of the best at that. I don't get too wrapped up in that. This isn't the first time that I've said a lot of one topic and one small fragment of it was made into a headline."
While I don't think Mike Pettine stands much chance of maintaining his job past this season, I have to give him kudos here. When the media takes someone's words out of context, like they did in this case, they deserve to be called out for it. Kudos on your follow-up comments, Mr. Pettine!
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/14381646/cleveland-browns-mike-pettine-consider-russell-wilson-seattle-seahawks-top-tier-quarterback
Comments
Post a Comment