New York Jets: Todd Bowles gives full injury report

By Luis Tirado Jr. | Aug 20, 2015

The New York Jets have some notable injuries as they prepare for their Week 2 preseason game against the Atlanta Falcons on Friday, August 21st, 2015. Head coach Todd Bowles recently spoke to the media about the latest injuries to hit the team and broke down quarterback Matt Flynn‘s first day as a member of the Jets.

We here at The Jet Press would like to thank the Media Relations Department of the Jets for sending us his complete transcript. Here it is in its entirety:

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On what he liked about Matt Flynn…

He’s a veteran. He’s been around a few places. He kind of knows the system a little bit. He was the only one availability too. He had a lot of experience in the system. Not being the only one available that we wanted to sign, but he had the most experience. We needed a veteran quarterback right away and he fit what he wanted to do.

On whether they will pursue another quarterback if one becomes available…

Yes, it’s conceivable.

On whether signing someone else means Flynn would be released…

It all depends on how he plays. Like everybody else, you want to find better, but Matt’s a good quarterback and we liked him when we signed him, so we want to give him a chance to play.

On where Flynn is health wise…

I would say about a week away.

On whether Flynn’s injury is a hamstring issue…

I think he has an ankle (injury).

On the reason behind signing him while he was still limited medically…

So he can learn the system. We wanted to get him in here so he can have a week and kind of learn and pick everything up so when he got healthy, he could just go out and try and play.

On whether they hope to have Flynn in the third preseason game…

Hopefully if he’s healthy, yes.

On whether he becomes the second-string quarterback right away…

We’ll see how he progresses injury wise. If he progresses past Bryce (Petty), he’ll become number two. If not, Bryce will stay number two.

On whether he has a plan for how long starters will play on Friday…

Yes, I would say mostly an entire half. I’ll see how it goes in the second quarter, but they’re going to play a little bit.

On whether the starters will play into the third quarter…

I wouldn’t put them out there in the third quarter, but they will get close to the half, yes.

On the timetable for Erin Henderson’s injury…

I don’t know. We’re kind of day-by-day. I think it’s week-by-week right now, so we’ll see how he heals and I can give you a better estimate once I see him start running.

Nov 7, 2013; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Vikings linebacker Erin Henderson (50) celebrates the win against the Washington Redskins at Mall of America Field at H.H.H. Metrodome. The Vikings win 34-27. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports

On whether Henderson will play in the preseason at all…

I don’t know yet. We’ll see how he heals. If he starts running, I could give you a better estimate. But for right now, I don’t see it next week, I don’t see it the week after, but if he starts running, we’ll see.

On whether James Carpenter got hurt…

He tweaked his ankle.

On whether Carpenter’s injury is anything serious…

Not that I know of, no.

On why Henderson’s rehab seems to have been extended…

No, I think it was the same. I don’t know how long. I can’t estimate day-to-day or week-to-week. I just know he’ll be out this weekend. If I don’t see anybody running, I assume they’re not playing. That’s just the way I go about it.

On whether Muhammad Wilkerson is going to play Friday…

Mo (Wilkerson) will not play.

On nature of Ronald Talley’s injury…

I think he has a groin (injury).

On whether he has seen a progress on Wilkerson’s injury…

Yeah, I’ve seen progress. He still has some work to do. A tweak to me means you’re out a day or two then you come back, but obviously it’s been bothering him longer than that, so he’s getting the necessary help and he’s getting better.

On whether there is a timetable on Calvin Pryor’s return…

Not at this moment, no.

On whether his expectations change from the first preseason game to the second preseason game…

Yeah, it does. I expect to see us a little more polished than we were in week one, a little more calm hopefully. The tackling better change and we just have to get better week-by-week. There’s a progress. We have a long way to go from last week, so hopefully we’ll see a steady progression this week.

On why practices seem to be lighter the last two days…

We were in shells. You don’t want to give them lighter work, but you want to give them more concentration work as to what to look for in games as the weeks go. The first game, we didn’t look at anything. This game, we looked at a little bit, so you want to practice what you’re seeing a little bit and giving guys something to go off of.

On whether he thinks Carpenter will play in the game Friday…

As far as I know, I didn’t think it was serious. They told me he tweaked it and I have to go back in and see where it is.

On whether Kacy Rodgers will still be making all the calls defensively…

No this game, I was probably a little more involved this week. We didn’t game-plan at all last week, so it was more of letting guys run and see who can play fast and everything else. I wanted the coaches to develop some chemistry. Preseason is for them too, offensively and defensively, to see how they work together. So, I’m going to give them another week to do that.

On how the installation of the defense is going…

It’s coming along. I think the last two days were the first time I’ve actually seen them kind of gel a little bit. There’s a lot of confusion as far as hesitation-wise going in early on, but right now, I think guys are starting to get the hang of it and they’re starting to play a little faster.

On whether he considers the defensive end positions interchangeable…

They’re interchangeable.

On level of comfort with Matt Flynn starting if something were to happen to Ryan Fitzpatrick…

Right now, I wouldn’t be comfortable because we just got him. If he was here a while, if the weeks go by and he got accustomed to the system, I would be comfortable with him.

Nov 9, 2014; Green Bay, WI, USA; Green Bay Packers quarterback Matt Flynn (10) during the game against the Chicago Bears at Lambeau Field. Green Bay won 55-14. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

On if he finds himself attempting to be more vocal when he’s observing the offense…

I’m probably more vocal in the back with the offense as we stand back there and run plays because you can talk to them individually. Defensively, there are things that I know that I can just say right off the top of my head that I see. Offensively, (I’m) still learning it and you don’t want to be too vocal. But, you can coach the effort and technique, some things like that. I do that on both sides.

On why they signed a quarterback now instead of waiting a bit longer…

Well, we all thought about waiting but we thought it would be a good idea because he may not be available next week. We wanted to get him in here and learn the system. We thought giving him a week head start would help him later on once he got healthy.

On how long it would generally take for a quarterback to learn this system to his satisfaction…

That’ll take a couple of weeks. That’ll take a while, you just can’t give him a week, you can give him some basic stuff to do but that will take a while to get all the nuances.

On if he would be ready for the season opener if he needed to be…

If he had to get every rep tomorrow, he might be ready for the season opener but it would probably be watered down.

On his expectations for Leonard Williams for this week’s game…

Just continued progress. Leonard’s going to see a lot of blocks. He’s going to see a lot of blocks this year. He’s going to see a lot different linemen and he just has to continue to get better. As he gets comfortable with the system, he’ll play faster and faster, that’s what we want to see.

On if Geno Smith was at the facility for meetings today…

He was in the morning meetings, yes.

On how Smith is doing…

He’s doing okay.

On who will start at defensive if Wilkerson and Talley cannot play…

It’ll probably be (Stephen) Bowen and Leonard.

On how Lorenzo Mauldin is doing with his pass-rush and if he needs to add moves to his repertoire…

He has moves, but you can always add some. He’s a very explosive guy off the ball. He’s a very good pass rusher. There’s a lot of nuances that go into some of the things we do and that’s what he’s learning right now and that probably slows him down a little bit. We have every confidence in the world that he will be fine.

On if he expects Smith to be on the sideline Friday…

No.

On what he wants to see from Petty in the second preseason game…

Just steady progress. We know we fed a little bit much for him in game one, but again, he’s not going to get better holding a clipboard. It’s preseason, that’s what it’s about. We want to see steady progress from week one to week four. Hopefully in game two, he’s a little calmer and does some things a little better.

On Sheldon Richardson’s role being for the upcoming game…

He’ll probably play a little bit more in this game.

August 11, 2015; Florham Park, NJ, USA; New York Jets defensive end Sheldon Richardson (91) during practice at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center. Mandatory Credit: John Munson/THE STAR-LEDGER via USA TODAY Sports

On if he’ll give Richardson reps with the backups…

Yeah. He might play a little bit with the ones. We’re down a few people. If they’re not back, we’re going to have to play people a lot longer.

On if Jake Heaps will play this week…

We’ll see how the game goes. He may get in late, he may not. We’ll see how Bryce is going and we’ll see how the game goes for Heaps to get in.

On if he wants Smith on the sideline when he’s healthy…

If he’s healthy, he’ll be on the sideline. All the injured players won’t be on the sideline, that’s just policy. That’s my policy.

On if Flynn has a hamstring injury as well or just an ankle injury…

I think that was minor. I think both of them are healing about the same way.

On why he does not want injured players on the sideline…

We have too many guys right now. We’ve already got 90 guys in camp. Everybody is in the way. If we run a gunner on the punt team and he gets pushed into the sideline and somebody can’t get out of the way, they’re going to get hurt. We just err on the side of caution and just eliminate the problem.

On if Wilkerson was on the sideline in Detroit…

He was on the sideline in Detroit because he made the trip. He will not be on the sideline this weekend.

On his memories of coaching with the Jets when the team was at Hofstra…

It’s a long drive (laughter). That’s where the facilities were back when I was here in 2000. That’s where I went to work every day. It was nice, it was really nice. I played basketball out there. I haven’t been in the stadium in a while, it’ll be nice. I know we’ve got a lot of fans out there and it’ll be nice for them to come out and see where the team is.

On if there is any update on when Smith will be back at the facility full time…

As he gets better and the longer he can stay out, the more he’ll be in the meetings.

On Walter Powell as a kick returner…

He had a good return the other night. We have to see a little more. They kick a lot of them out of the end zone, but he did a good job the other night (with) the one he brought out.

Next: Coffee with the New York Jets: No day off for Flynn

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