The injury
One look on Kris Jenkins’ face as he limped off the field Monday night said it all. Yesterday’s MRI just made it official. The run-stopper’s season is over.
The Jets’ former Pro Bowler tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee on the defense’s second series in a 10-9 loss to Baltimore on Monday. It’s the same knee that required surgery and forced him to miss the final 10 games of last season. The nagging knee problems could spell the end of his 10-year career.
“It’s a big loss,” coach Rex Ryan said of the
6-foot-4, 360-pound space-eater. “He’s got a physical mismatch against everyone he plays against. There are not too many people walking the face of the earth who are like that.”
The subs
Luckily for the Jets, they’ve been in this spot before. Ryan will call on the same players he did last season.
A solid player, Sione Pouha is a powerful tackle who has a nasty streak on the field and can stuff the run well. Pouha comes off one of the better games of his career when he recovered two fumbles against Baltimore. There’s also Mike DeVito, a native New Yorker with better pass-rushing skills than perhaps any defensive tackle on the roster. Look for offensive lineman Wayne Hunter, too, who played DT in college.
