FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Tim Tebow has been criticized for years about his quarterback skills, his arm and how he throws.

He refuses to accept anyone calling him a quitter or phony.

The New York Jets backup quarterback insisted Wednesday that he didn’t ask out of running the team’s wildcat plays last week, but acknowledged what he said in a meeting with coach Rex Ryan might have been misinterpreted as such.

“I never said, `Hey, I don’t want to do anything or I won’t do anything,”’ Tebow said. “That wasn’t the talk at all. He knows that, and everybody on this team knows that. I’d never not do something if I was asked, and I think that’s what’s disappointing about the whole situation, people saying, `You quit,’ or, `You didn’t do this.’ It was not it at all.

“It was just me asking to get an opportunity to play the position I love, which is quarterback. It wasn’t me asking out of anything.”

Last Tuesday, Ryan chose to go with third-stringer Greg McElroy over Tebow in place of the benched Mark Sanchez for Sunday’s game against the San Diego Chargers. After hearing the news, Tebow went to Ryan to discuss the situation and told him he wanted to be “a regular quarterback.”

“I was definitely disappointed and frustrated,” Tebow said.

ESPN New York first reported Sunday that Tebow had then asked out of the wildcat, and a person with knowledge of the situation confirmed that to The Associated Press. But Tebow thinks it was a situation in which he wishes he was “more clear” when he initially spoke with Ryan.

Tebow realized that Ryan might have misinterpreted what he said when they met when he wasn’t in wildcat packages during practice Wednesday.