The Jets got bad news on the injury front regarding Sam Darnold, but it was more promising for their rookie left tackle.
Mekhi Becton, who left last Monday’s loss to the Patriots with a chest injury that caused him trouble breathing, “looks like he’s good to go for Sunday against the Chargers,” coach Adam Gase said Monday. The details of his injury remain cloudy, but the brightest spot in a brutal Jets season appears to have avoided the worst.
“[Last Tuesday], they went through a whole bunch of stuff and double and triple checked everything, and everything seems to be OK,” Gase said on a conference call. “For whatever reason, he was struggling in the game, and I don’t have a great explanation for it. That’s what it was, and I’m just glad he’s alright and that we’re able to get him back out there.”
Rookie cornerback Bryce Hall played his first game in over a year last Monday, making it all the way back after suffering a significant ankle injury in his senior year at Virginia. The Jets’ fifth-round pick, who played 39 defensive snaps while filling in for Pierre Desir, said he had some nerves but was grateful to finally be playing again.
“The rehab process, the biggest challenge was mentally, convincing myself when I was back that I was good, that I didn’t have to worry about, ‘Am I going to reinjure this thing?’ ” he said. “Physically, I’m ready. Now it’s just the confidence.”
After a week of self-scouting, Gase came away with a few key areas in which the Jets need to improve.
“Offensively, the biggest thing is we’re always going to battling until we prove that we can beat man coverage consistently,” Gase said. “I think we had some really good plays [against the Patriots] where we won one-on-one matchups and made the other side pay for it. I think defensively, we [have] just got to continue to get better at getting people off the field. We [have] gotta get teams into third and longer and then get off the field in those situations. We gotta avoid these double-digit play counts per drive.”
The Jets claimed offensive lineman Pat Elflein off waivers from the Vikings. The 2017 third-round pick, who is in the final year of his rookie contract and missed two months this season with a thumb injury, has started 43 career games at center and guard.
The hope is for DL Quinnen Williams, who missed the Patriots game with a hamstring injury, to be limited in practice this week, Gase said. Kicker Sam Ficken (groin) is also “trending in the right direction” and could return after being out the last three games. There is less certainty regarding CB Brian Poole (shoulder/knee), DE Henry Anderson (knee/ankle) and LB Blake Cashman (hamstrings).