Shonn Greene and Thomas Jones may have helped the Jets rush for over 300 yards for the second week in a row, but Rex Ryan isn’t fooled.
“He’s so versatile,” the coach said one day after losing Leon Washington for the season to a broken leg. “He’s a great returner, a back who can run the ball inside and outside . . . you can flex him out wide as a receiver. There’s no way one guy can replace him. There’s no way that can happen.”
Washington stayed in California to have surgery on his right leg, which suffered a compound fracture during a tackle and the team put him on injured reserve yesterday, ending his season. He could return to be with the team as soon as tomorrow and is expected to make a full recovery.
The Jets have now lost integral parts to their team each of the past two weeks, after Kris Jenkins was knocked out for the season with a knee injury a week ago.
“It’s kind of going crazy,” Darrelle Revis said of the injuries. “They’re two core, big-time players that we need throughout the season. We gotta figure out other ways to win games.”
On Sunday, that meant giving the ball to Jones and the rookie Greene, who rushed for 144 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries.
“He did a great job,” Nick Mangold said of Greene, who starred at Iowa and was the Jets’ third-round pick this year. “True to form, he says about five words a week and he continued that even though it was his first real, full action really getting after it. I don’t think he said more than maybe two words the whole game, but it was good to see him run. [He] knew where to hit it and how to hit it. It was exciting to see a young guy be able to step in, coming off of a teammate getting injured and be able to play the way that he did.”
The Jets will need Greene to continue to perform like that to help make up for Washington’s absence. Ryan was still digesting the loss of his team’s second leading rusher, third leading receiver and primary kickoff returner.
“Shonn Greene is outstanding, but he’s a different kind of player,” Ryan said. “Leon Washington is a special guy, a special back. Shonn is a different kind of guy, more of a bulldozer with great vision, great feet, where Leon is kind of a home run hitter, a slasher.”
Not only that, but Washington is also a key special teams player. When asked if special teams coach Mike Westhoff’s job just got a little harder, Ryan responded: “All of our jobs did.”
With Washington out, it’s clear Ryan won’t be afraid to try different things to generate offense. He mentioned Brad Smith and Danny Woodhead as players whose roles could increase now.
And Greene would like to erase some of the sting, at least.
“I’m not gonna fill Leon’s shoes, but I’ll do the best I can,” said Greene, who added that he wasn’t surprised by his production in the win. “I knew what I was capable of. People had doubts, but I trusted in myself that I could get the job done.”