Though Laveranues Coles is off to a slow start with his new quarterback, Brian Schottenheimer insists he’s not worried about Coles and Brett Favre.
Through two games, Coles hasn’t scored a touchdown or had a major impact.
But yesterday Schottenheimer, the Jets’ offensive coordinator, expressed his confidence in the duo.
“They’re going to be fine,” he said. “And it’s still early.
“And there’s no need for us to get too concerned.”
It has been only two games, and Coles was at least more productive with Favre in Week 2 than in Week 1.
In the season opener against Miami, Coles was nearly invisible – one catch, five yards. Last week against New England, he caught three passes for 72 yards, including a 54-yarder.
Coles talked last week about how he hadn’t yet been able to replicate with Favre the type of relationship he had with Chad Pennington.
Yesterday, he said that when it comes to working with Favre so far, it has been more about Favre becoming familiar with the Jets’ offense.
“The most important thing is him getting comfortable with the system,” said Coles, who hasn’t caught a TD in his last seven games. “His relationship with me right now isn’t the most important thing.
“We don’t have a lot of time, and the most important thing right now is winning ballgames.”
Suffering from an ailing thigh, Coles has been limited in practice this week.
“The most important thing for me now is getting healthy,” the 30-year-old said.
How long does it take for Coles to adjust to a new quarterback?
In 2003, he left the Jets for the Redskins and ended up catching passes thrown by Patrick Ramsey and Tim Hasselbeck – hardly a Hall-of-Fame duo. Coles went to the Pro Bowl that season.
Earlier this week Favre said “the chemistry [with the wideouts] has gotten a lot better.”
And with Coles and Favre specifically, Schottenheimer sees progress.
“I think they’re definitely getting comfortable with one another,” he said, pointing to one of Coles’ catches against the Patriots as evidence.
LT PRACTICES
LaDainian Tomlinson returned to practice in a limited role yesterday and is listed as questionable for the Chargers-Jets game on Monday.
Tomlinson, who jammed his right big toe in the season-opening loss to Carolina, missed practice the previous two days.
“It went OK,” Tomlinson said. “I did what I wanted to do. I didn’t expect to do full participation but I wanted to get out and do some stuff running the football. It definitely is a lot better than last week. That’s the exciting part about it.
“But at that same time, I’m going to be realistic about it. I’m pretty sure on Monday, I’ll probably still have a little problem with it but it will be a week better.”
Coach Norv Turner said Tomlinson was “limited” during practice. Turner said he isn’t sure how much Tomlinson will be able to contribute.