An astonishing array of rude statements can begin with comments like “I was just answering a question” or “I was just being honest” or “I was just trying to help” or whatever the person who said the rude thing says after the fact. justified to justify their rudeness.

On Monday night, Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers was wrong publicly criticize receiver Mike Williams because he went the wrong way on the play that became the game-winning interception against the Bills. Rodgers made matters worse by trying to word salad his way out of it during his weekly appearance with Pat McAfee.

“I just approached Mike about his responsibilities and the details of this game,” Rodgers said. “I have great love and respect for Mike. He does some nice things for us. He wasn’t in the right place on this play. You can make more of it if you want, but We should all be held to a standard.”

He’s right. But conforming to a standard and being publicly called out are two different things.

Rodgers doesn’t want to be criticized at a press conference by interim coach Jeff Ulbrich for not throwing the ball away when Williams went the wrong way. Things like this are best handled privately.

And who cares if Rodgers only answered one question? He’s (presumably) smart enough to give an answer without offending his teammates.

“It was just a miscommunication,” he might have said. “I shouldn’t have thrown it.”

But when your best reason for being considered an all-time great isn’t your Super Bowl wins but your touchdown-to-interception ratio, it’s probably hard to take public responsibility when the number is reduced by a teammate who has done something stupid.

Rodgers was still wrong to do it. He can say whatever he wants about it now, but he knows he was wrong. And his teammates know he was wrong.

The message to them is simple. You better be careful, buddy. he is I’ll get you next.