The time has finally come for Thomas Jones.
Jones, the Jets’ most critical offseason acquisition, yesterday pronounced himself optimistically ready to make his true debut in the Jets uniform, ready to play the hated Patriots in Sunday’s season opener at Giants Stadium.
Jones, the feature back acquired from the Bears, a man who has rushed for over 2,500 yards, has been an invisible man for much of the summer after suffering a right calf injury just days after the team’s preseason opener and missing the final three exhibition games.
Much of Jones’ absence, particularly in the recent week or so, is believed to be sheer precaution so he’s as close to 100 percent for Sunday.
He’s the feature back the Jets have so badly missed since Curtis Martin’s right knee finally gave out on him in 2005.
The bridge since Martin has been a creaky one, with no solid back having stepped in and consistently stayed there behind Chad Pennington.
Jones figures to be that dependable back. He, too, figures to be a missing link to an offense that, while going with a running-back-by-committee last season, ranked 20th in the NFL in rushing offense and 30th in yards per carry.
Though Eric Mangini has been typically cryptic about Jones’ status, it appears he’ll be ready to at least share running duties with Leon Washington on Sunday.
“I’m very excited about the opportunity,” Jones said yesterday. “We have a really good game plan. It’s a Patriots game and that’s a big rivalry up here, so I’m very excited.
“I’ve played a lot of football,” he said. “I’m going into my eighth year, so I’ve been in a lot of games and a lot of situations, so it’s nothing new. I did a lot of conditioning and stayed in the playbook, so I’m not at a disadvantage [from missing time]. I’ve been here the whole offseason, so I worked with them a lot during OTAs and minicamps and during the beginning of training camp.”
Said Pennington: “Thomas has worked extremely hard to get back to where he is, and I think he’s going to be fine. He’s working himself in, and he understands what he needs to do as an individual to help us within our system.”
There’s been some consternation this summer about how poorly the Jets’ first-team offense moved the ball in the preseason. It’s probably no coincidence that the absence of Jones, who had only eight carries for 27 yards in the one game he played, had something to do with the lack of production.
“After all the practices, you’d like to go out and move the ball all over the field and it didn’t work out that way,” said Jets RG Brandon Moore. “but I think guys feel comfortable enough from the intensity level of practices to realize that we’ve had a pretty good camp.”
Asked if there’s a concern that Jones, who had only eight game carries for 27 yards, has not had many reps with the starting offensive line, Moore said, “Before he got hurt he was just getting the hang of it and getting the feel of how we block things, and I’m sure he’ll pick up where he left off.”
Some players make the argument that preseason games aren’t as intense preparation as Eric Mangini’s practices.
“I don’t think it’s an issue at all,” WR Jerricho Cotchery said of the lack of preseason offensive production. “We take advantage of our practice time and use it wisely. We feel very comfortable with where we’re at right now. We still have some days ahead to work on our chemistry.”