Guarantees aside, Joe Namath says he’s only now comfortable speaking his mind about football

Joe Namath guarantees he has football opinions

NEW YORK — For a guy famous for a bold proclamation, Joe Namath insists he’s uncomfortable offering up opinions about football.

“It’s clumsy, awkward, not natural,” he said.

The Hall of Fame quarterback says he always believed it was wrong to criticize teammates. But now he’s offering up analysis all over the place. He tweets about his beloved New York Jets and Alabama Crimson Tide, posts videos on his website evaluating their games, and is launching a satellite radio show.

Namath said he was tired of hearing others spout opinions he found lacking and realized that when a player makes a mistake, “We’re all seeing it.”

Plus there’s that trademark confidence that puts him at ease stating his mind.

“I see things at a pace that’s faster than 99.9 percent of football fans,” Namath said.

“The Broadway Blitz with Joe Namath,” a weekly talk show, debuts Friday afternoon on Sirius NFL Radio. Namath is unabashed about rooting for the Jets, but while he refers to the team as “we” in his Twitter posts, he’ll also describe a disappointing play in Monday night’s season-opening loss with “that’s disgusting.”

“I like to see the team that deserves to win the game to win the game,” Namath said in a phone interview Wednesday. “If the Jets or Alabama is not up to snuff, I’ll know why or try to figure out why.”

With the Jets playing New England this weekend, Namath is concerned about the play of their offensive line. He understands why the coaches are conservative on offense with a young quarterback in Mark Sanchez.

But, said the man who was once a young Jets quarterback, “I don’t know whether that approach is going to be correct to put up enough points to contend with those guys.”

Online: broadwayjoe.tv