Jets Head Coach Todd Bowles spent a majority of his time at Thursday’s practice talking about injuries, and who will be taking the field on Sunday against Philadelphia.
Three of the Jets’ key players, cornerback Derrelle Revis, wide receiver Eric Decker, and running back Chris Ivory are all dealing with injuries. Revis has a strained groin, Decker has a sprained knee, and Ivory has a strained quadriceps. Revis practiced on Thursday in limited action, while Decker and Ivory did not practice.
Bowles said of Revis’ injury, “He was limited today. He did some things in practice. He’ll get better day by day.”
On if he anticipates that Revis will play Sunday, Bowles said, “I’m hopeful that he will, yeah.”
Bowles said of when Revis sustained his injury, “He was sore from the game (on Monday night in Indianapolis). He didn’t say anything about it Tuesday.Wednesday, he was sore from it.”
On if Revis had an MRI, Bowles said, “He didn’t have an MRI or anything. It doesn’t appear to be serious.”
Revis said of his injury, “It’s not getting any worse, it’s getting better.”
Bowles said of what it would mean for the defense is Revis could not play, “I mean he’s a playmaker and he’s a heck of a football player. Anytime you lose a heck of a player you’re not going to be the same, but we have a bunch of guys that can go out there and play. I’m confident that they’ll go out there and perform.”
Bowles then gave a full report on who is dealing with injuries and how much they practiced: “Revis was limited, (Lorenzo) Mauldin was limited and Willie (Colon) was limited. (Trevor) Reilly didn’t practice, (Chris) Ivory didn’t practice, and obviously (Eric) Decker didn’t practice. (Chris) Owusu had surgery this morning, a scope, and (Darrin) Walls didn’t practice.”
Bowles said of if he has a sense that Decker will play, “Not yet, he hasn’t done anything. He said he was feeling better but he still hasn’t done anything. Until we can see him run, we haven’t ruled him out. We’ll see if he can get running around and moving in the next couple days.”
Decker said his injury “felt a lot better” than Wednesday. On if he will play Sunday, he said, “If I’m feeling like I’m not going to be productive or be able to play 60-plus snaps, I don’t want to take someone’s spot who can be productive on the game-day roster. I want to be smart because it’s a long season.”
Bowles said of how concerned he is with Ivory’s injury, “He’ll go right up until game time. He’s still pretty sore, so it will be a lot like last week. We won’t know until probably Sunday morning.
On if it is the same injury with Ivory, Bowles said, “It’s a quad now but it’s pretty sore.”
Ivory said of his Sunday availability, “I’m not sure. We’ll see how it goes, but things are going good right now.”
Wide receiver Chris Owusu underwent arthroscopic knee surgery and will be sidelined a minimum of three weeks.
Outside linebacker Trevor Reilly has a finger infection and probably won’t play. Bowles said of Reilly’s injury being a surprise, “It got infected and it just came on. The medication didn’t work and it kind of went sour. We have to protect that a little bit.”
Rookie Lorenzo Mauldin, also an outside linebacker, who suffered a concussion in Week 1, practiced in a red, no-contact jersey on Thursday. He could play Sunday, according to Bowles, but it will depend on how he performs Friday.
On if Mauldin or Reilly has less of a chance to play on Sunday, Bowles said, “Probably Reilly.”
On if he feels pretty good about Mauldin at this point, Bowles said, “If he does better tomorrow, I’ll feel better about it.”
If Mauldin is not cleared, Bowles said “It’s possible, yes” that they would promote a linebacker from the practice squad, and that probably will be Deion Barnes.
Wide receiver Chris Owusu injured his knee in Monday’s game and had a scope on Thursday morning.
Bowles said of Owusu’s timetable to return still being one to two weeks, “Today, they told me at least three weeks.”