The Fan Hub

After a season in which he was very critical of the his old team several times, former New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath tried to make amends on Wednesday night at a screening of the new HBO documentary Namath. He not only said that he “feels awful” about where his relationship with the Jets is right now, but also offered words of encouragement — a welcome change of pace for him — about Mark Sanchez, saying that he can see Sanchez turning his career around the same way that he himself did nearly forty years ago.

“He’s going to learn from his mistakes,” Namath said. “He needs the help around him. He presses at times. He wants to do things because he’s expected to. They get the people around him, he’s going to be fine.”

Namath has made his presence known in and around the Jets locker room over the past few years, visiting the team at training camp, watching games from the sidelines, and speaking critically about them to the media throughout it all. It finally reached a tipping point this year, however, when he seemed to have nothing but harsh critiques about Rex Ryan and the Jets locker room, and all the while referring to the team as “we.” It didn’t sit well with the players or Rex Ryan, who earlier in the year said, “I'm not gonna change who I am because Joe Namath said something…He doesn't know our team. He's on the outside.”

Despite being welcomed back by the team through his battle with alcoholism, including his embarrassing sideline incident with ESPN reporter Suzy Kolber, Namath appears to be concerned of burning that bridge if he continues to be an outspoken critic of the franchise.