The New York Jets are facing one of the top teams in the NFL this Sunday when the Forty Niners come to town. “Frisco” which was in the NFC championship game last year and seems stronger even this year with some new offensive weapons. They added wide out Mario Manningham and running back Branden Jacobs from the super bowl champion New York Giants to along with stand-out runner Frank Gore.
The Jets defense must face these weapons without all-pro corner Darrelle Revis who is out with a torn ACL in his left knee. He will have surgery in a couple of weeks, but according to coach Rex Ryan,”we will not put him on IR”. A typical recovery from this injury is 6-9 months and Ryan’s thinking is if we make the super bowl and there’s even a slight chance Revis could play in that game,”we won’t take that oppritunity away from him and our fans.”
The Jets will play with a front four defensive line in all likelyhood due to the Niners game plan of running Gore to help set up the pass. This means according to Ryan,” rookie number one draft pick Quinton Coples will play alot more snaps than the last two weeks. He played about 16 snaps last week in the overtime win over Miami. Ryan,”he had a very good week of practice and he is ready for a more expanded role”. Grab bag…
On the injury front, wide receiver Stephen Hill is very doubful for today’s game with a hamstring injury suffered last week in Miami. Tight End Dustin Keller looks like a go for sunday after missing the last two games with a hamstring injury. Line backer Bart Scott[toe] did not practice Thursday, but should be able to play sunday.
The Jets have moved running back Joe McKnight to defensive back to help the defense with Revis out. Mcknight last played defensive back in high school. He lost his spot behind starter Shonn Green to second year back Bilall Powell, so the coaching staff thought with McKnights athletic ability he could help out the secondary.
McKnight is on “record’ as saying “I am not happy with the move”, but he will do it to help the team. “I came here as a running back” and so far he has been a little inconsisent. He is still a good running back and the Jets have said he will go back to the offensive side of the ball in the future. He is also an exellent return man and pivotal in the Jets special teams department.
