The Jets’ road to the Super Bowl became a bit more challenging with the news that nose tackle Kris Jenkins will be lost for the season with a left ACL injury. For the second consecutive season, Jenkins suffered the grievous ligament tear. This time, it may end his career.
The 31-year-old Jenkins went down on the Jets’ sixth defensive play last night — 6 ½ minutes into the game — after getting barreled over Ravens offensive lineman Michael Oher and linebacker Bart Scott during a running play.
Jenkins, who has now suffered three ACL tears (one in his right knee and two in his left) duringhis career, immediately grabbed his knee and stayed on the ground for several minutes. Even though he walked off the field under his own power, the look on his face seemed to indicate that he had done some serious damage.
An MRI this morning confirmed his worst fears.
“Obviously, it’s going to be a huge blow for us,” Rex Ryan said minutes after receiving the news today. “I just feel really bad for Kris, a guy that rehabbed that injury. Every day he worked at it.”
“That’s part of this business unfortunately,” Ryan added. “Injuries happen in this league. It’s a 100 percent injury rate in this league.”
Jenkins suffered the same injury against the Bills in Week 6 last season. He contemplated retirement in the offseason before deciding to return.
The Jets managed to lead the league in total defense a year ago despite the loss. Ryan hopes his team will pick up the slack again without the team’s best run stuffer.
“We lost a heck of a football player,” Ryan said. “We did overcome him last year. Our defense rallied around the guys that were out there?.We got to find a way to overcome it just like we did last year. ”
Sione Pouha, who did a solid job replacing Jenkins last year, will play nose tackle now. Mike DeVito will also have to elevate his game, Ryan said.
The coach admitted that the Jets will look for veteran help to help a thin defensive line. “We’ll consider that for sure,” Ryan said of signing/trading for defensive line help.
Disgruntled Redskins defensive lineman Albert Haynesworth may be available. As of yesterday afternoon, the Jets hadn’t made any overtures to the Redskins for Haynesworth, according to a source. On the surface, the Jets’ 3-4 base defense wouldn’t be a good fit for Haynesworth, who has made no secret that he doesn’t want to play nose tackle in that alignment. However, keep in mind that Ryan uses multiple fronts, so don’t completely rule out the possibility.
Free agent outside linebacker/defensive end Adalius Thomas, who starred for Ryan in Baltimore, visited the team facility Tuesday, according to a source. However, a deal doesn’t appear imminent.
Jenkins, of course had lost about 40 pounds this offseason to help lessen the stress on his knees. He credited a cookie diet for his success and was optimistic that he’d be able to bounce back in his 10th season.
It took just six plays to change all of that.
For more Jets news, follow Manish Mehta on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TheJetsStream
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Tags: Jenkins, Jets, Kris, new, Nose., tackle, ti, torn, year