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New York Jets: Todd Bowles discusses Week 3 injuries

ByLuis Tirado Jr.|

The New York Jets are heading into their Week 3 matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles riding a great 2-0 win streak. The Eagles on the other hand are trying to figure out their woes in hopes of turning their massive off-season experiment into regular season success. It won’t be easy as they’ll be heading to MetLife Stadium to face the Jets in front of their home crowd. The theme at this home game will be “Whiteout” as fans are encouraged to dress in all white to give the Jets an extra edge in this game.

The Jets are heading into this game with a few injuries that might be concerning if at game time certain key players don’t suit up. Thanks to the Media Relations Department of the Jets, they sent us a complete transcript directly from head coach Todd Bowles on the latest injuries and much more. Enjoy!

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On Darrelle Revis’ injury…

He was limited today. He did some things in practice. He’ll get better day by day.

On if he anticipates that he will play Sunday…

I’m hopeful that he will, yeah.

On when he sustained his injury…

He was sore from the game. He didn’t say anything about it Tuesday. Wednesday, he was sore from it.

On if Revis had an MRI…

He didn’t have an MRI or anything. It doesn’t appear to be serious.

On if there were any other players that didn’t practice or were limited at practice today…

Revis was limited, (Lorenzo) Mauldin was limited and Willie (Colon) was limited. (Trevor) Reilly didn’t practice, (Chris) Ivory didn’t practice, and obviously (Eric) Decker didn’t practice. (Chris) Owusu had surgery this morning, a scope, and (Darrin) Walls didn’t practice.

On how concerned he is with Ivory’s injury…

He’ll go right up until game time. He’s still pretty sore, so it will be a lot like last week. We won’t know until probably Sunday morning.

On if it is the same injury with Ivory…

It’s a quad now but it’s pretty sore.

On if he has a sense whether Decker will be able to play or not…

Not yet, he hasn’t done anything. He said he was feeling better but he still hasn’t done anything. Until we can see him run, we haven’t ruled him out. We’ll see if he can get running around and moving in the next couple days.

Sep 13, 2015; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Jets wide receiver Eric Decker (87) during the first half at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Danny Wild-USA TODAY Sports

On what it would mean for the defense is Revis could not play…

I mean he’s a playmaker and he’s a heck of a football player. Anytime you lose a heck of a player you’re not going to be the same, but we have a bunch of guys that can go out there and play. I’m confident that they’ll go out there and perform.

On if it’s possible that they will call up an outside linebacker from the practice squad with the injuries to Mauldin and Reilly…

It’s possible, yes.

On if Mauldin or Reilly has less of a chance to play on Sunday…

Probably Reilly.

On if he feels pretty good about Mauldin at this point…

If he does better tomorrow, I’ll feel better about it.

On if Reilly’s injury is surprising…

It got infected and it just came on. The medication didn’t work and it kind of went sour. We have to protect that a little bit.

On if Devin Smith is going to play…

He’s healthy enough to play if he’s active. We still have to see with the whole Decker situation.

On how you keep the team from overlooking a 0-2 Philadelphia team…

We could easily be 0-2, so it’s a must win for us too. We don’t overlook anybody, we’ve only played two games. The season is young. We know they’re powerful, we know they’re physical, we know they’re explosive. We just have to go and try to play our game.

On how he would evaluate the play of Jeff Cumberland and Kellen Davis thus far…

We’ve asked them to do a lot of blocking thus far and I think they’ve done a very good job. They’re kind of the more unsung people on offense right now.

Dec 21, 2014; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Jets tight end Jeff Cumberland (85) runs with the ball against the New England Patriots during the game at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

On challenges Philadelphia’s defense presents on film…

They’re physical up front, very physical man-to-man corners. They have a very intelligent safety in (Malcom) Jenkins. The linebackers look tough. They can rush the passer, they can cover and they pose a lot of problems with their scheme.

On if he relishes the matchup with Chip Kelly…

Not really. I think for me especially, it’s the team we play this week and it happens to be Philly. Chip’s an extremely bright, probably one of the brightest minds in the game, if not the brightest. We just have to be ready to go on all cylinders and make sure everybody knows where they need to be.

On if D. Smith is not practicing well enough in order to play in a game yet…

No, he’s playing fine. He’s only been there for two weeks. He still has to make sure that you see everything you need to see. He’s practicing well and he’s playing fine. There are guys that have been practicing before him, so we have to see what happens.

On how different the interior line of the Philadelphia is from last year…

The way Dallas was stunting, I think that’s what they do. I thought Philly missed a couple blocks here and there but there line isn’t much different. They’re still explosive, it’s the same team in the preseason that was putting up 40 points a game.

On Philadelphia not game planning for preseason…

No, they weren’t, but nobody is. I’m sure they’re correcting everything they need to correct. We just have to worry about what we can correct. We don’t play the same defense as Dallas plays. You want the same production but you don’t play the same style, so we have to make sure that we stay true to who we are too.

On if Ryan Mathews style is much different than DeMarco Murray…

I don’t think so. He’s a one cut downhill runner. He’s very quick, very fast. He’s strong and he totes it just as well. I mean, they have three All-Pro running backs.

On if he sticks to what his team does well regardless of the opponent…

We have a core of things that we run no matter what that we can fall back on, whether it’s to slow the game down or whether it’s to get our feet wet. Then there’s some game plan specifics that we put in. It’s a delicate balance between both. You don’t want to do too much where you’re exposing people. You don’t want to expose, but at the same time you don’t want to be predictable.

On if Owusu’s timetable to return is still one to two weeks…

Today, they told me at least three weeks.

On if the team needs a few series to acclimate to Kelly’s game plan…

Yeah, I think it’s like that every game. Starting out, you don’t know what you’re really going to get, so you try to prepare for everything early on. When the game settles down, you let the guys get a little comfortable and then you let them play.

On the Jets having a slow tempo offense versus Philadelphia’s fast tempo offense…

I think it plays to our scheme. We’re two contrasting styles. They’re a fast team, we’re probably more of a power team. We run the ball, we play-action, obviously we throw the ball when we need to throw it. Sometimes we throw the ball just to throw the ball. Obviously, they’re an explosive team. They like to get a lot of plays, they’re a tempo team. It’s just a contrast of styles.

Sep 21, 2015; Indianapolis, IN, USA; New York Jets quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick (14) throws a pass against the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

On Muhammed Wilkerson’s ability to tip passes…

I just think he has a good feel. He reads linemen very well, he understands situations – when it’s third and short, when the ball’s going to come out quick and those types of things. He has a good feel for that and that comes from playing for a while.

On what he sees from the Philadelphia guards…

Again, I think they’re an explosive offense and they have an explosive team. The guards are no different. Those guys are tough, they can play. One or two plays, people from the outside judging doesn’t tell the whole story. We know those guys are good football players.

On if Philadelphia has the personnel to stretch the field…

Yeah, they have the personnel. They have some very good young receivers. I think they can throw the ball. They can pretty much do whatever they want to do. It’s what they set their mind to do. They started 0-2, they made some mistakes, but you have to expect their best coming in here Sunday. We’re expecting a high-powered offense.

On who will return kick returns with Owusu out…

Bilal (Powell) and (Zac) Stacy have done it in the past. We still have Walter (Powell) on the practice squad, that’s an option. We have a couple guys that we haven’t made a decision on yet.

On if D. Smith could return kicks if active…

Yeah, but we’re not going to let him do that this week.

On when he expects to decide on who the number two quarterback is…

Probably Saturday.

On when they conceived playing Leger Douzable on the outside…

He’s played the outside some in training camp too. Douzable is a very versatile guy. You really don’t know where he is. He can go inside, he can go outside. He can stand up, he can do a lot of things for us. He’s kind of our wild card, so he moves around a lot. He’s a very intelligent player, very smart player, very good football player.

Sep 13, 2015; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel (2) eludes New York Jets defensive lineman Leger Douzable (78) during the second half at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Danny Wild-USA TODAY Sports

On if Owusu’s three-week timetable would cause him to miss the game against the Redskins…

I don’t know. They told me at least three weeks, so I couldn’t tell you if it was plus or minus. From what they told me, yes.

On if Douzable knew Andre Johnson was going to run a slant on the Calvin Pryor interception…

We didn’t know he would run a slant but he was just going throw his read. Understand that he starts on the line, he backs out, he’s got wall number two and make the guy go deep enough for Calvin to make a play and obviously they forced a bad throw and Calvin made a play.

On if he faced Sam Bradford when he was healthy…

I faced him two years ago, our first game and he beat us.

On if he played well…

Yeah, he played well.

On what he has seen from Pryor so far this season…

I think Calvin’s doing well. It’s early in the season, he learned a lot and he’s learning a lot. He’s been very professional, obviously studies, very smart football player, very dedicated football player, very tough football player. He’s been great with me. A lot of the communication has been great, I can kind of see what he’s seeing. He understands what I’m asking him. He understands what Coach Danna and Coach McCutcheon are asking him. He’s doing a good job.

On if Pryor being forced to play a different position last year made him a better player this year…

No. He plays center field for us too. It’s just year two, he was a rookie. You have to give him some leeway as a rookie. It’s year two, he’s got a lot smarter, a little more experience and that’s probably about it.

On if this defense can play better than it did on Monday night…

Yeah, we left a lot of stuff out there. We’re not where we want to be yet. We know we can be better. We made some plays but we have to be consistent in doing the things every down.

Next: Coffee with the New York Jets: Team expects to see Murray

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