John Abraham feasts on quarterbacks and well-done offensive linemen on Sundays, but a bad piece of chicken he consumed Tuesday night nearly kept him off the Kyle Boller Buffet Line this weekend.
Abraham returned to practice yesterday following a two-day bout with food poisoning that hit him after he ate a foul piece of fowl Tuesday night at a Long Island eatery. By Wednesday, he had lost nearly 10 pounds as the chicken kicked and screamed inside of him, and Abraham said yesterday he was finally starting to get his strength and stamina back.
“I was a little tired today,” said Abraham, the NFL leader in sacks with 81/2. “I lost eight pounds on Wednesday, so I had to drink a lot of fluids and try to get it back. I really haven’t had a lot of solid food yet.”
Such solid food may come in the form of Baltimore’s second-year QB Boller tomorrow at the Meadowlands. Since Wednesday, all Abraham had been able to keep down was some good old fashioned chicken soup and French toast yesterday morning. On Thursday, Abraham received intravenous fluids to replace nutrients he lost in the battle with the chicken.
“He’s fine,” Herman Edwards said after yesterday’s indoor practice at Hofstra. “He looked a lot better.”
And what a shame it would have been for the Jets to be without their top pass rusher tomorrow against the Ravens. Abraham last week reached the midpoint of his most destructive season thus far, leading the league in sacks and maintaining a pace to finish with a career-best 17, which would be the sixth best output in team history.
The AFC Defensive Player of the Month for October, Abraham is best known for his play against the pass, but tomorrow against Baltimore, finding intestinal fortitude in stopping the run will be at the top of the Jets’ to-do list after suffering last week’s 22-17 loss at Buffalo.
In that defeat, the Jets (6-2) allowed the Bills to scamper for 157 yards on the ground. This week, they’ll be chasing down one of the most feared running backs in the league when Jamal Lewis comes to town.
Lewis enters tomorrow’s tilt with 575 yards and five touchdowns on the season after missing two games for a substance-abuse suspension. The importance of locking him down is not lost on Edwards.
“He’s a good back,” Edwards said. “Powerful back, has very good patience when he runs. He has a lot of speed when he gets to the open field, can break tackles, obviously.
“He’s one of the better backs in the National Football League.”
In other words, he’s the kind of player that can make you sick to your stomach. And Abraham’s had quite enough of that already.
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