Rex Ryan, never afraid of making a prediction, yesterday made one about receiver Braylon Edwards, who has had an alarming case of the drops on some easy touchdown pass opportunities this season, highlighted by his drop of a 41-yarder from Mark Sanchez during the Jets’ 24-14 victory over the Bengals on Saturday.
“Braylon, one of these days, is going to have an explosion where he has a three-touchdown game,” Ryan said. “I think that’s coming right around the corner.”
Asked about Edwards’ propensity to make the tough catch but drop the easier ones, Ryan said: “The hard thing is to get your guy beat, the run route. Now do the easy thing, make the layup. I don’t know if it’s a mental thing right now, but we’ve got to get it right.
“I’m expecting him to have a huge game. I really think he’s going to have one of those bust-out games. I hope it’s sooner than later.”
* Ryan said he spoke with punter Steve Weatherford, who was held out of Saturday’s game at the last minute with an irregular heartbeat, and feels confident about Weatherford being able to punt Sunday in San Diego.
“We feel pretty good about it,” he said. “I talked to Steve . . . and he’s got the thumbs up to practice [tomorrow].”
In other injury news, Ryan said LB Bart Scott, who tweaked an ankle Saturday, is likely to be limited in practice this week.
* Ryan revealed that RB Thomas Jones wore a brace on his bruised knee in the game Saturday, an indication of why rookie Shonn Greene got the bulk of the carries.
He said he expects Jones to be “fresh” this week and that he “kept feeding Shonn because he had the hot hand.”
* Ryan said the “scenario” he’s rooting for is a Jets win over the Chargers and a Ravens win over the Colts. That would have the Jets hosting the Ravens in the AFC Championship Game.
He said he and Ravens coach John Harbaugh talked before their preseason game against each other about hoping to play each other in the playoffs.
“Both of us would sign up for that right now,” Ryan said. “We’ve both got a lot of work to do before that’s a possibility.”
* Lost in the euphoria of becoming only the fourth rookie quarterback to win a road playoff game Saturday night, Mark Sanchez couldn’t help himself when asked about Pete Carroll‘s impending move to the NFL to become the Seahawks’ head coach.
Carroll coached Sanchez at USC and when Sanchez announced he was leaving college after his junior season last year, Carroll was publicly critical of the decision. With Carroll reportedly on the verge of making his move to Seattle official, Sanchez was asked about it.
“I just wanted everybody to know I completely disagree with his decision . . . statistics show that it’s not a good choice,” Sanchez said. “I talk to Coach a bunch. I told him I was going to hammer him about it. I wish him the best, whatever happens, whether he stays in school or not.”