For Manti Te’o it’s becoming more and more clear that when the tough gets going it’s best to just point the blame at any inanimate object–be it girlfriends or just plain ole fashioned stress.
Pro Football Talk has broke the report on Te’o accrediting stress from the combine for his less than stellar showing in the 40-yard dash. Te’o issued the following statement to NFL Network after clocking in a 4.82
“I was running near a 4.6, a 4.5,”
“Today was just a long, long day.” “[People can expect] better numbers,” Te’o said. “[I will be] rested. One day you hit it hard and then you are done.”
Te’o has called the combine a very ‘exhausting’ process, and says he’s only gotten 4 hours of sleep. Te’o has also had a bevvy of meetings and press conferences to attend, all while having to show his best stuff in front of curious scouts.
No one’s doubting that Te’o’s experience in this year’s draft is no doubt more of a grind than others. But when you take into account that his problems were mainly self inflicted, it makes it hard for his comments to not come off as just excuse making, and him continuing to point fingers.
Even without ‘fake girlfriend-gate’ that last performance by Te’o in the BCS left a bad taste in many’s minds and he’s failed to redeem himself, now there’s this excuse.
Will his latest statements cause more damage to an already spotty reputation than his sub-par combine 40-yard dash?