JET NOTES
Steve Atwater, one of the Jets’ marquee off-season acquisitions, strained a hamstring in Wednesday’s practice and missed yesterday’s session. He’s listed on the injury report as questionable for Sunday’s game against the Colts
Should Atwater not be able to play, the options for the Jets’ secondary are thin. It looks like Bill Parcells would start newcomer Omar Stoutmire in place of Atwater. Stoutmire was acquired by the Jets only days ago, though he’d get the nod over inexperienced Scott Frost because he’s started games in the NFL before, with the Cowboys.
“I haven’t seen that much [of Stoutmire],” Parcells said. “He hasn’t been here that long. He seems to be a heady player. He’s caught onto what we’re doing pretty quickly. I probably would go with Stoutmire [in place of Atwater] first, because he’s got more experience in the league [than Frost], having played in Dallas a couple of years.
“But let’s just see how Atwater is.”
Frost, who plays special teams, worked his way into some dime packages in the second half of last season, but hasn’t played regular defense this year.
Parcells, who saw CB Aaron Glenn tweak a hamstring in practice last week, theorized that with the change in weather players aren’t hydrating enough.
Asked whether he believes his injury could keep him out of Sunday’s game, Atwater said, “You’ve got to talk to Bill about it. He doesn’t want us to talk about injuries.”
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DB/KOR Kevin Williams, who probably would have been plugged into the starting lineup to help replace Atwater, remains hospitalized with a throat abscess. “They aspirated some more fluid from his system [Wednesday],” Parcells said. “Believe me, there’s a lot of people paying attention to him.”
.Speaking of Glenn, Parcells indicated that he’ll keep him off the KO return team again this week, meaning Dwight Stone and Robert Farmer will likely handle those duties again.
Look for Marcus Coleman to start at right CB again and share time with Ray Mickens as the two did last week.