FLORHAM PARK, N.J. –- What we learned on Wednesday, Day 21 of New York Jets training camp:
1. No Mo: Muhammad Wilkerson was officially ruled out by head coach Todd Bowles for Friday’s home preseason game against the Atlanta Falcons. Wilkerson did not practice again due to a hamstring injury.
“I’ve seen progress,” Bowles said of Wilkerson’s hamstring injury which will keep him out of a second straight preseason game. “He’s still got some work to do. A tweak to me means you are out a day or two and come back but obviously it has been bothering him longer than that. He is getting the necessary help and getting better.”
Defensive end Ronald Talley (groin) also is injured which means Bowles may start Stephen Bowen and Leonard Williams.
2. Carpenter on the side: The Jets also were hurting on the offensive line as well. Right guard James Carpenter had to come out of practice on Wednesday after tweaking his ankle.
“As far as I know, I didn’t think it was serious,” Bowles said. “I have to go back in (to find out more). They said he tweaked it. I have to see where it is.”
3. Clean it up: Bowles wants to see a better performance out of his team, especially on the defensive side, against Atlanta. The head coach singled out tackling as a prime objective.
“I expect to see us a little bit more polished than we were in Week 1,” Bowles said of his expectations for the second preseason game. “A little more calm. Hopefully, the tackling better change. We just got to get better week by week. We got a long way to go from last week so hopefully we see a steady progression this week.”
Bowles did say that he is seeing improvement in his defense in recent practices.
“I think the last two days is the first time I actually seen them kind of jell a little bit,” Bowles said. “There was a lot of confusion as far as hesitation-wise going in early on but right now guys are starting to get the hang of it and starting to play a little faster.”
Cornerback Antonio Cromartie says the defense has to play better but he also knows the preseason is a time for players to work on things and a time when mistakes can be made.
“I am not really worried about anything that is going on right now,” Cromartie said. “I am looking forward to when the lights turn on.”
“I start slow,” Cromartie later added. “I pick out specific things to work on, my technique and go from there. If I get beat (with) me working on something else, I just get beat. I’m not worried about it. It’s practice.”
4. More Sheldon: With all the injuries on the defensive front line, the Jets may have to give Sheldon Richardson more snaps than they would like to.
Ideally, the Jets would like to keep Richardson with the second team since he has to sit out the first four games of the season for violating the league’s substance abuse policy.
But Bowles acknowledges that he may have to play Richardson more on Friday.
“Probably play a little bit more this game,” Bowles said. “He may play a little bit with the ones. We are down a few people.”
Bowles expects his first-round pick, Williams, to see a good amount of snaps.
“Leonard is going to see a lot of blocks this year,” Bowles said. “He is going to see a lot of different linemen and he’s just got to continue to get better. As he gets comfortable with the system he will get faster and faster and that’s what we want to see.”
5. Cards: Wednesday’s practice was largely a scout-team cards practice as the Jets prepared for the Falcons.
Bowles said he wanted his team to have something to focus on during practice.
