There was a different name and a different number added to the Jets' rotation at the ends of the defensive line in Sunday's game at Detroit.
For the first time this season, veteran edge Joseph Ossai (No. 46) saw game action after missing time with a ruptured plantar fascia in his left foot. He joined a group that included rookie David Bailey, Will McDonald IV and Kingsley Enagbare, plus, contributions from Braiden McGregor in the first two games.
"A lot of things to work on," said Ossai, who signed with the Jets in free agency after four productive seasons with Cincinnati. "I haven't played ball in a while now, and you can try to do everything you want to in rehab and in recon and in practice, but there's nothing like a game. So, regardless of how it went for me or how I think it went, it was good to be out there and playing the game of football again."
Against Detroit, Bailey (the No. 2 overall pick in April's NFL Draft) saw the most playing time among the edge guys, taking 44 of the 65 total snaps on defense (68%), with Enagbare on 38 snaps (58%) and McDonald with 22 (34%). Ossai took 28 snaps (43%).
Ossai initially opened training camp on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list before he returned to practice in mid-August. But in the final preseason game, he sustained the foot injury forcing him to miss the first two games of the regular season.
"Very frustrating, very frustrating," he said on Monday morning about not being able to play. "Because most of all, I want to be out there earning sweat points with the guys, earning and feeling all the frustrations, all the victories, all the positives, and even the negative things. I want to feel everything with those guys. So it's been extremely frustrating, but we are on a climb up moving forward, and one day at a time, you know. Rome wasn't built in a day, and so it was Week 3. Looking forward to building with these guys for sure."
Immediately after the comment, Ossai clarified that it is he who is on a climb up.
"I was speaking more so myself, I'm on the climb up," he said. "I'm moving in a pace to get back out there."
Against the Lions, Ossai, 26, had a pair of tackles as Detroit rolled up 131 rushing yards and Goff threw for 269 and a pair of TDs. The Jets defense is allowing 258.3 yards per game, the second-fewest in the NFL, including ranking top 10 against both the run (No. 7, 87.3) and pass (No. 4, 171.0).
"As a lot of people have said, there's no moral victories in football," he added. "But as a whole, we're moving toward the place we want to be as a whole, as a defense. And I think we've been doing that the past two games. This third game was just a curveball, and we need to deal with that, and we're going to deal with that. So again, very excited for Week 4 [at Chicago]."
