Braylon Edwards speaks, deflects questions about DWI arrest

Braylon Edwards showed some remorse, but wouldn't go so far as to say he's embarrassed by his DWI arrest in Manhattan early Tuesday morning.

Edwards, as you know, was pulled over at 4:47 a.m. Tuesday at the northeast corner of West 34th Street and 12th Avenue in Manhattan after officers cited his white 2007 Land Rover with Michigan plates for having overly dark tinted windows.

Officer Armando Urbina detected an odor of alcohol on the breath of Edwards, who also had teammates D'Brickashaw Ferguson and Vernon Gholston as passengers in the car, though neither was charged. The wide receiver blew a .16 -- twice the legal limit -- and was arrested.

"Sorry to my fans first and foremost and to Mike [Tannenbaum], Woody [Johnson] and Rex [Ryan] and my teammates," Edwards said while standing in front of his locker today. "Being in this situation, being around an environment like this, you truly are appreciative. For the event to happen the way like it did yesterday, it was sad for me in that situation."

Still, he stopped short to say the ordeal was embarrassing.

"I don’t know if I would describe it as embarrassed because with the pending legal matter and all that," he said, "I can’t let my emotions answer questions right now. So with that, I’ll say pending legal matter and let it wait."

Edwards, who'll still play in Sunday's AFC East showdown with the Dolphins but won't start, used the "pending legal matter" phrase quite a bit when asked about some of the specifics. But he made no secret he wouldn't have made a big stink about a stiffer penalty if the Jets had come down harder on him.

"I would not. I respect Mike Tannenbaum and Rex Ryan," Edwards said. "I have a whole lot of respect for them as well as Woody Johnson and if that was the decision that they wanted to make, then I would support it wholeheartedly and I wouldn’t fight it."

Edwards said he hadn't addressed his teammates as a group, but has spoken privately with some. He also didn't say if he spoke with good friend Donte Stallworth, whom he was out drinking with the night Stallworth killed a man while driving drunk.

Asked why he didn't learn his lesson from that, Edwards said: "Once again, that ties in with the pending legal matter in answering that question. That’s a question I would love to answer." 

Edwards did say he was aware of the Player Protect program, a confidential limo service that caters to professional athletes and a service the Jets subscribe to. However, he hasn't signed up for it.

"No, because I have my own car driver, I have my own car service that I use all the time," Edwards said. "I never drive to the city. I don’t know my way around the city and I don’t like driving through the city. So yesterday was maybe the third time I’ve ever driven in the city of New York."

And he spent more time in the city that he planned, obviously, because he was in police custody for nearly 12 hours before he was set free without bail after his arraignment at Manhattan Criminal Court.

"It sucked," he said. "It wasn’t anything good. You hear about it, but you never thing that would be you. Being in there wasn’t a good feeling. It’s enough to one, never want to be in that situation again and two you get a real sense for what’s going on, or what this really is, what they feel about it. So it wasn’t a happy time."

Edwards didn't think his arrest was a black eye for Jets, though.

"I don’t understand the black eye that this would put on the organization, because this isn’t a representation what this organization is about," he said. "This isn’t what Rex Ryan, Mike Tannenbaum and Woody teach. This is a situation that I am in, that I put myself in. So I don’t see how it could be a black eye for them. It would be more so a black eye for myself if anything."