Plenty of NFL players need bulletin board material to keep them motivated.
Not so with Vince Wilfork — but that doesn’t mean that an article that basically called him overrated and said he hasn’t been great this season didn’t get him going (at least subconsciously) this week.
Wilfork was asked Thursday night about an article from profootballfocus.com called “What’s Wrong With Wilfork?” that asked about his decreased production, noting that “it’s nearly as taboo to criticize Wilfork as it is Tom Brady, but the on-field production has been lacking.”
On Thursday night, Wilfork had one of his best games of the season, controlling the Jets’ offensive linemen, wrapping up running backs on key downs and taking part in the shove the gave birth to the best Mark Sanchez moment ever. Wilfork was so good that he was awarded one of NBC’s celebratory postgame turkey legs.
While Wilfork wouldn’t say that his play was in any way related to the negative article, he did acknowledge that he did know about it — thanks to his very displeased wife, Bianca.
“She told me about it,” he told The Boston Globe. “I think it irritated her more than it did me. I looked at it and I was like, ‘It is what it is.’ I’m going to keep doing my thing.”
His “thing” was another huge performance from the longtime defensive anchor.
“I work my tail off,” Wilfork said. “I do everything that I’ve been doing. You’re going to always have people saying some things. But I try not to pay attention to that.”
His paying attention to the Jets worked out just fine Thursday.
