Despite Missing Practice Wednesday, RB Jones Should Be A Go For Jets

NFL News - January 14th, 2010 - Written by John

The New York Jets backed up their coach's statements about belonging in the playoffs, when they went on the road and defeated the Cincinnati Bengals last week. In the Wildcard win, the Jets ran the ball very effectively against the Bengals, and will look to do so again this week when they visit the San Diego Chargers.

RB Thomas Jones suffered a knee injury in the win against Cincinnati and did not practice with the team on Wednesday. Jones is officially listed a probable for the match up against San Diego. In the win, Jones carried the rock 15 times for 34 yards, and one touchdown.

Leading the Jets in rushing this year, Jones accumulated over 1,400 yards on 331 carries and scoring 14 touchdowns. The NFL's third-leading rusher is an integral part of the New York Jets' offensive game plan, and would be sorely missed should be not be able to go against the Chargers. Jets rookie QB Mark Sanchez played well in the Wild Card round, completing 12 of 15 passes, but most likely cannot be relied upon to win the game with his arm. With Sanchez' rookie season struggles, it is no secret that New York will try and establish the running game, but should Jones not go, the task will be much harder.

Wednesday has previously been a scheduled day off for Jones, so no red flags have been raised as of yet. Ryan expects Jones to be ready to go on Sunday. Ryan stated that Jones could have practiced fully on Wednesday, but gave Jones the day off to rest.

While Thomas Jones is the workhorse of the Jets' offense, rookie RB Shonn Greene is playing well right now and would be relied upon if Jones isn't healthy enough. Last week in the Wildcard round of the 2009 NFL Playoffs, Greene carried the ball 21 times giving the Jets 135 yards rushing and a touchdown. Not bad numbers from the guy who backs up the league's 3rd leading rusher.

Other than Jones, the New York Jets Injury Report is fairly clean heading into San Diego, and are as healthy as a team can be following 17 games in 18 weeks of play.

New York is currently listed as a seven-point underdog this week against San Diego in the Divisional round. Kickoff for the contest is slated for 4:40pm EST on Saturday, January 16th, and can be seen nationally on CBS. The over/under for the match up has been installed at 42 points.