On Friday, HC Aaron Glenn said he expects rookie WR Omar Cooper Jr. to be active for the Jets' first AFC East matchup of the season on Sunday against the New England Patriots.
"Looking forward to seeing him go out there and play," Glenn said.
Cooper was designated to return to practice from injured reserve this week after sustaining an ankle injury in Week 1. Rookie TE Kenyon Sadiq, who is finishing up concussion protocol, S Dane Belton and LB Kiko Mauigoa were also full participants during Friday's practice.
"I'm excited for any of our guys that actually misses time and has a chance to come back, get a chance to play," Glenn said when asked about Cooper. "I hear what you're saying because it's a rookie that had a really big catch in that first Tennessee game, things that we expect when it comes to the catch and run opportunities that we feel like he'll do a good job."
The Jets, however, will be without WR Adonai Mitchell (finger), RB Breece Hall (quad), LG Dylan Parham (knee) and edge Joseph Ossai (ankle) at New England.
"It'll be a big week going into the next week for those men to get back on the field," Glenn said. "We'll see how that takes place."
Trusting Experience
On Thursday, OC Frank Reich revealed that he did not call a run play on RB Braelon Allen's 22-yard game-winning rushing TD score to defeat the Browns, 17-12, in Week 5. QB Geno Smith changed the call from the passing play Reich had selected.
"Geno got to the line of scrimmage, saw something that made him think to check to the run," Reich said. "Most of the time in the NFL, when you win games it's because key playmakers make, there's two, three, four, plays like that a game and they come in all shapes and sizes. That's elite instincts and execution by him and the offense."
It ultimately comes down to trusting Smith's experience and his ability to recognize and react to what the defense presents in front of him.
"It's a feel-good moment as a coach when your signal caller can sit there and think like you think and try to put your team in the best position to create success. That's all Geno did," HC Aaron Glenn said. "He was on the same page with Frank. He saw a formation defensively that we could take advantage of and he checked to the right place.
Allen and the offensive line didn't realize Smith swapped the call until after the play was over. Allen said postgame he was shocked it wasn't a passing play on the third-and-9 situation.
"Later I found out that he switched it on his own, but I had no idea," C Josh Myers said. "But that's, I mean, that's just a veteran being a veteran and getting us in the right play at the right time."
Improving the Rush
Since Week 4 in Chicago, the Jets' run game has been on a steady climb. With Breece Hall sidelined the past few weeks with a quad injury he sustained against the Lions, Braelon Allen has handled the workload. Last week, he rushed a career-high 116 yards and a TD.
Allen said practice this week had been intentional, starting with the walk-through the team had on Wednesday. He has played in 88.8% of the Jets' offensive snaps, according to Next Gen Stats, over the past two weeks and has forced 9 missed tackles on carries between those games.
"This past weekend I thought Braelon did a hell of a job and not just Braelon, but the whole O-line and the run concepts that we had," HC Aaron Glenn said. "Coming into this week, knowing that we're going against a good defense, tough opponent, man, it's really critical for us to make sure we establish that run game so we can open everything else up when it comes to the passing game."
On some of his more explosive rushes, Allen's demonstrated his ability to be patient, bouncing out to the side to find the right gap.
"Every run has a specific read key so trying what's obviously first in the progression," said Allen, explaining what his process on each rush looks like. "Depending on which way the run is designed to go, basically you go gap by gap and sometimes it's not there right away, so you have to let the lune work a little bit, let the D-line declare where they're going and then just trying to take advantage."
