Woody says Edwards let himself, team down

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. - Woody Johnson didn't mince words during his initial conversation with Braylon Edwards on Tuesday when the wide receiver arrived at the Jets' training facility after his arraignment.

"I told him exactly what I'm telling you," the Jets' owner said yesterday. " 'This is not acceptable, Braylon. I'm disappointed. You let yourself down. You let the team down.' "

Edwards was arrested and charged with DWI early Tuesday morning in Manhattan after police said he blew a .16 - twice the legal limit - on a Breathalyzer. The wide receiver had teammates D'Brickashaw Ferguson and Vernon Gholston with him in the car, though neither was charged.

Edwards won't start in Sunday night's AFC East showdown with the Dolphins in South Florida, but he's expected to play at some point. Exactly when and how much he'll play, the Jets say, hasn't been determined. They want to gather all the facts and conduct their investigation into what transpired that early morning.

"I was disappointed that it happened," Johnson said. "This is a serious thing to be accused of, so I'm sorry that it happened to one of our guys, particularly when we've done a lot to address this particular issue because it does occur in professional sports as it does in real life. People do get these tickets, but we have PlayerProtect, which we've encouraged.

"It's a great system where a player can call up any time, and listen, if they tell me who the name is, I'm firing the service. I don't want to know who this car takes or goes to get. But if you have one drink, you should not be driving. A half a drink, do not drive. Any liquor, don't drive. We're set up to do that. That's a point of emphasis. I'm disappointed. I wish this hadn't occurred."

Gholston, speaking publicly about the incident for the first time, said he should've called the confidential car service.

"You always wish you could've did this, you would've did this," said Gholston, who didn't ask Edwards for the keys and also didn't think the wide receiver was impaired. "Obviously, the mistake has been made. Do you want to go back and change it? Yeah, but moving forward, I'll be calling."

Johnson took issue with the idea that the Jets' punishment is not stern enough and that Edwards isn't relinquishing much - nor does it teach kids a valuable lesson - by not starting.

"He's losing more than that," Johnson said. "First of all, we don't know if he's losing it, but he's got a serious ticket in front of him, and if proven guilty, he's got a serious taint on his record. He's going to be a free agent at some point. I would guess if he's convicted of this, this is not going to be helpful. So I think he's got a heavy load in front of him."