The Jets finished Sunday’s 13-6 loss to the Panthers with more injuries to their star players.
They were already without receiver Garrett Wilson, their best offensive player, on Sunday with a hyperextended knee.
Then they lost cornerback Sauce Gardner in the second half Sunday to a head injury.
Running back Breece Hall was also injured when a Panthers player landed on his legs that Hall said was a hip-drop tackle, a form of tackling that the NFL has banned.
The Jets also lost defensive tackle Jay Tufele with a knee injury in the first half and running back/returner Kene Nwangwu had a concussion, like Gardner.
“We’ll see exactly where [those injuries] are,’’ Jets head coach Aaron Glenn said. “I’ll give you an answer as the week progresses on those three guys.’’
Hall, who was coming off last week’s game when he wasn’t targeted once in the passing game for the first time in his career, had only three offensive touches in the second half.
Glenn said Hall was dinged up in the first half, which was the reason he was used so little in the second.
“Breece had an injury, but he came back and he tried to give us everything he had,’’ Glenn said. “So, kudos to him for doing that. I thought early on that he was running the ball fairly well, and those guys did a good job of tightening up against the run.
“He’s a guy that we need to lean on. We have to use him as much as possible.’’
Hall complained that there was no call on the hip-drop tackle.
“I was hurt, but I want to play,’’ he said. “I want to be able to help impact the team, but wasn’t enough to get the win today.’’
As for Wilson’s status to play Sunday, Glenn said it was “close as we went through the week,’’ adding: “The thing is you have to protect him from himself, so it just wasn’t a good decision to put him out there at this time.’’
Glenn wasn’t exactly effusive about the offensive play calling of offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand, who was also under fire for a poor game last week.
When asked what he thought about the offensive play calling the past two games, Glenn said after a pause, “You know, that’s a good question. You have to look at the situation in the games. I know a lot of people will go into that, because they want to point fingers somewhere.
“But that’s not what we’re going to do at all. It goes three ways — me, Tanner and our players. We all have to figure out what we have to do to make some plays.’’
Glenn’s plan in the game was to be aggressive, so when he was faced with a fourth-and-5 from the Carolina 33-yard line, he went for it. Justin Fields overthrew WR Josh Reynolds on the play.
“I liked our fourth-down plan,’’ Glenn said. “And I told our guys, ‘We’re gonna be aggressive going forward in that situation.’ Obviously, it didn’t work out.’’
Jets DL Jowon Briggs registered his second sack of the season in the third quarter to force a Panthers punt. He added four tackles, including two tackles for loss, and two QB hits.
Jets LB Jamien Sherwood had 10 tackles, including his first sack of the season, along with two tackles for loss, two QB hits, and a pass defensed. Sherwood’s 70 tackles in the first seven games are the second most in the league.
Jets K Nick Folk converted both his field goal attempts and has made all 14 attempts this season. The only Jets kicker with a longer streak to start a season in the past 40 years was Folk, when he made 23 in a row to open the 2013 season in his first stint with the Jets.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
