Jeremy Kerley, Leon Washington Notes
The New England Patriots will likely not have to worry about facing Jeremy Kerley, as the New York Jets are dealing with an injury to their most consistent receiver as well. Kerley suffered a concussion during the Jets victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the quality wideout was able to haul in three passes for 45 yards despite being concussed. There was no sign of injury during the game, as we learned about the concussion when he missed Monday’s practice. Kerley was actually able to pass concussion tests during the game and thus kept on playing, but he wasn’t able to pass tests yesterday and was thus sidelined.
New York Jets wide receiver Jeremy Kerley (11) celebrates a first down against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the first half at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
Well, Kerley has once again missed practice today, as ESPN New York’s Rich Cimini reports that Jeremy Kerley did not participate in practice today. He also stated that Rex Ryan has not ruled Kerley out, but this is very similar to the way the New England Patriots are handling the injury to Danny Amendola. Although both Kerley and Amendola are fully expected to miss Thursday’s game, the Patriots and Jets are unwilling to rule either of them out with there potentially being a chance of them playing.
Kerley had much more success than any other pass-catcher on the Jets last season, so the Patriots will most likely be dodging a bullet. Replacing Kerley on the Week 2 active roster will be Ben Obomanu, who was re-signed by the team in lieu of Kerley’s injury. Obomanu should get a couple of targets, but I would be very surprised if he was a factor in this one.
New England Patriots backup running back Leon Washington will have a bigger role now that Shane Vereen will be sidelined for at least four weeks with a wrist injury, and it is very possible that Washington will be the Patriots third-down back in the interim. Of the remaining running backs on the roster, Washington clearly has the best hands out of the backfield, and he also has speed to burn (as evidenced by his prowess on returns.
During today’s press conference, Bill Belichick spoke about Washington and the comfort of having somebody the team trusts as key depth at the position, “ Yeah, of course, sure. Leon has a lot of reps in our system, both on offense and in the kicking game. His learning curve is much smaller: just the game plan specifics for that individual week that we’re going into that he has to brush up on like every other player does. But the overall background and the basics of our system, he’s well trained in, relative to a player that wasn’t here, no question about that.”