Kellen Clemens, whose future as Jets quarterback is still undetermined, will not be helped this week by the absence of Jerricho Cotchery, the team’s leading receiver.
Cotchery was ruled out yesterday for tomorrow’s game against the winless Dolphins in Miami because of an injured right index finger that was suffered during practice on Monday. He leads the Jets with 54 catches and 730 yards, and Laveranues Coles remains slowed with an injured left ankle, but the situation might not be as bleak as it seems, according to coach Eric Mangini.
Because Clemens has spent most of the past two years as a backup, Mangini said he has more experience with secondary receivers such as Justin McCareins, Brad Smith and Wallace Wright.
“Kellen has probably thrown 10 times more [to those players] than he’s thrown to Jerricho and Laveranues,” Mangini said. “He’s worked extensively with all those guys, and they have spent a lot of time together with Brad and Wallace.”
Nevertheless, there’s no doubt who the most talented receivers are on the team, and with a team that has as many problems as the Jets do, it’s never a good thing to have them on the bench.
That’s particularly true with someone like Clemens, who is trying to establish himself. Throwing to a healthy Cotchery and Coles probably would be the best way for Clemens to improve. But Mangini said he believes he can find out how good Clemens can be under these less-than-ideal circumstances, as well.
“You look at decision-making,” Mangini said. “When he has throws where he can throw it into tight coverage and maybe take a chance and maybe get the ball intercepted . . . does he make the right decision there?”
This week, at least, Clemens will be forced to make those decisions while throwing to Smith, McCareins, as well as Wright, who has one catch this year.
Wright said he doesn’t consider that a problem.
“We came in as rookies at the same time,” said Wright, in his second year. “You don’t get to work a lot with the vets (at first) and that carried all the way into this year. I’ve always run routes with [Clemens]. We try to build the same rhythm with [each other] as LC does with Chad.”
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Coles said he would not attend Monday’s funeral of the Redskins’ Sean Taylor, who was shot and killed this week.
“Had it been on Tuesday, I’d have been there,” Coles said. “At this point of the season, I don’t feel comfortable asking coach go to friend’s funeral. He was a great person, a very good friend. Just thinking about it, day in and day out, to this point has been very saddening and the more I think about it, the more it makes you think about life in general and how precious it is.”