FLORHAM PARK, N.J. – What happens in Miami, stays in Miami.
Two days removed from a disheartening loss to the Dolphins at Landshark Stadium, the New York Jets returned to practice Wednesday, with all eyes looking ahead, not to the past.
“That thing is in the past, we’re moving on,” said head coach Rex Ryan. “I hate being negative. I hate being around negative people. It’s time to move on. I know it was an embarrassment and all that kind of stuff but it’s done. There’s nothing we can do about it now. Trust me; if we could I would have changed it.”
Safety Kerry Rhodes says the shortened work week has forced the Jets to move on.“I think it was helpful for us, with it being a short week,” said Rhodes. “We couldn’t really dwell on it. We went over it and talked about how bad it was, but we can’t dwell on it.”
Nose tackle Kris Jenkins believes that while the team has not totally erased Monday’s disappointment from their minds, they are ready to move on.
“I don’t think that there’s a depressed state,” said Kris Jenkins. “I don’t think people are unraveling, where they’ve given up hope and thrown in the towel. I don’t think it’s something like that. I just think that it’s a situation where guys understand that wasn’t a good thing Monday. We didn’t do as good of a job as we could’ve and could’ve done a lot of things better.”
“We’ve got to swallow that pill, but now it’s this week and it’s back to the big stakes.”
The pill should easier to swallow when taking a glance at the Jets’ upcoming opponent, the 1-4 Buffalo Bills.
The Bills are an agglomeration of a football team, a franchise in shambles right now. They have lost three straight games and are coming off an embarrassing home loss to the Cleveland Browns. Sunday, the Buffalo offense mustered only three points. The Buffalo Sabres scored more in their Tuesday night tilt against Detroit.
The Bills are averaging only 15.4 points per game, through five games, 26th in the NFL. They also find themselves at the bottom of the league in total offense, racking up only 290 yards per game.
Buffalo’s offensive ineptitude has been marked by an inability to get the ball to prime-time receiver Terrell Owens. The six-time Pro Bowler has hauled in only 12 receptions through five games and it is speculated that Buffalo may be entertaining offers for the controversial receiver before next week’s trading deadline.
Despite the recent lack of success by Owens and the rest of the Bills’ offense, cornerback Darrelle Revis and head coach Rex Ryan are not by any means taking the upcoming opponent lightly.
“They’ve got two number ones,” he said. “T.O. and Lee Evans on the other side. I’m sure they’re gonna try and air it out.”
“We’ve got a tough task in front of us,” said Ryan. “I don’t care what their record is, that team is a tough team. I admire the way they play, they get after it. They’re a sound fundamental team and they play hard. They play with a lot of passion.”
“Any time you’ve got an offense with T.O., with Lee Evans, Marshawn Lynch, with Jackson, all those guys, that’s a talented football team. So they’re gonna explode one day, I just don’t want them to explode on us.”
INSIDER TIDBITS
Injury report
Shaun Ellis (knee), Jerricho Cotchery (hamstring), Brad Smith (quad), and Damien Woody (foot) all rode the stationary bikes at practice.
Ryan noted that Cotchery’s condition hasn’t improved much since Monday and he will most likely miss tomorrow’s practice as well.
The secondary received a lift as both Lito Sheppard and Donald Strickland practiced today. Sheppard said that he will start Sunday, while Strickland rated his chances of playing at “65-35.”
Breakout week for ground attack?
Five weeks into the regular season, the Jets are still struggling to establish any semblance of a running game, which was thought to be one of the team’s strong points heading into the season. If there is ever an opportunity for the ground game to be jump-started, this is the week.
While the Jets had 138 yards on the ground against Miami on Monday night, 26 of those came from the fake-punt rushes of Steve Weatherford.
To say that Buffalo has struggled to stop the run would be an understatement. The Bills defense has given up an average of 154.6 rushing yards per game, 29th in the NFL.
Rhodes halts tweeting
Yesterday, Kerry Rhodes announced on his Twitter page that he will be taking a temporary break from tweeting.
Rhodes posted the following on his page Tuesday night: “Twit fam I’m not gonna tweet for a while maybe that will help us win! Lol sorry to my real followers. Just give me a second.”
The safety refuted the perceived notion that the team had asked him to cut down on the tweeting. “It’s a personal thing,” said the former All-Pro safety.
“You get tired of hearing some of the stuff on there because some people think they can say stuff that they shouldn’t. If they see you in person, they wouldn’t say it, but on Twitter they think they’re big and bad.”
More from Bart
In the aftermath of Monday’s loss, a lot has been made in the media about the Jets needing to cut down on their “tough talk” which has become a locker room staple early on in the 2009 season.
Bart Scott made it clear that he wouldn’t take back anything he’s said so far this season. “I don’t regret anything,” he said. “I am who I am, and I’m gonna be me. I mean, I can’t adjust to what other people think I should conform to. Either you like me or you don’t; frankly I don’t give a s—t”.
Green-Out in the Meadowlands
The Jets will be holding Fan Appreciation Day for Sunday’s game against Buffalo. As part of the team-sponsored event, the Jets are calling on fans to show up to the stadium decked out in green attire, for a stadium-wide “Green Out”.
The Second Annual Jets Fan Appreciation Day will feature sponsor giveaways, prizes, and other activities.
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That was a staggering fact! i think jets still have a great chance to go 6-2 into the BYE…