New York Jets

The New York Jets have struggled through an injury-riddled 2021 season. On Monday, the team received more bad news.

New York head coach Robert Saleh told reporters that promising rookie running back Michael Carter is expected to miss two to four weeks after suffering a low-grade high ankle sprain in Sunday's loss to the Miami Dolphins.

Saleh didn't rule out the possibility of Carter missing more than a month.

Carter exited in the third quarter of Sunday's game and didn't return. He still led the team with 63 rushing yards, including a 39-yard run that was his longest of the season.

The 22-year-old rookie leads the Jets with 111 carries, 430 rushing yards and four touchdowns. Carter has also provided solid production in the passing game, ranking third on the team with 308 receiving yards on 32 receptions. He has a team-high 738 total scrimmage yards.

The North Carolina product is a key part of the Jets' young core. New York used its first four 2021 draft picks on offensive players, selecting quarterback Zach Wilson and guard Alijah Vera-Tucker in the first round, receiver Elijah Moore in the second and Carter in the fourth.

Carter joins a crowded injury list for the Jets. Wilson has missed the past four games and is still working his way back from a knee injury. Left tackle Mekhi Becton, last year's first-round pick, has been on injured reserve after suffering a dislocated kneecap in the season opener against the Carolina Panthers. Defensive end Carl Lawson, the team's prized free-agent signing, has missed the entire season after tearing his Achilles in training camp.

Without Carter, the Jets (2-8) will rotate running backs Tevin Coleman and Ty Johnson. Neither of them has over 50 carries or 200 rushing yards this season.

New York will look to end a three-game losing streak Sunday in a road matchup against the 2-8 Houston Texans.

Michael Carter had taken control of the New York Jets backfield, but an ankle injury forced him out of Sunday's game against the Miami Dolphins and will sideline him for 2-3 weeks, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter.

Accordingly, there will be more opportunities for Tevin Coleman and Ty Johnson.

Though the Jets offense entered the day averaging just 17.9 points per game, 26th in the NFL, any running back who gets touches is worth monitoring in fantasy football.

Carter also showed a running back can be a valuable fantasy asset in this offense after scoring four touchdowns in his last six games. If Carter is forced to miss more time, Coleman and Johnson could be worth starting in favorable matchups, though the latter has more upside of the two.

Johnson has seen limited playing time this season, but he has been a quality receiver out of the backfield with 24 catches for 263 yards and two touchdowns entering Week 11. He had at least five receptions in three of his last four games.

Without Carter in the lineup, Johnson becomes one of the team's more dynamic offensive weapons and someone who should get the ball. 

New York often playing from behind should only give the 24-year-old a bigger role going forward. Though the upside is limited in standard leagues, Johnson could be a flex play in points-per-reception leagues.

Coleman is the better bet for early-down rushing work as the coaching staff continues to get him touches. The veteran missed about a month with a hamstring injury but saw four carries and two catches immediately upon returning in Week 10.

He was also used ahead of Johnson for much of Sunday's game against the Dolphins.

The problem is there is rarely much room to run for the Jets and even fewer goal-to-go situations. Even with double-digit carries, Coleman will have a difficult time producing enough to justify in your lineup.

A matchup against the Houston Texans in Week 12 could be interesting, but only add Coleman if you are desperate at running back.   

ESPN analyst Rex Ryan has a new-found respect for New York Jets coach Robert Saleh after a recent public back-and-forth.

The two spoke privately, and Ryan came away impressed, as he explained on Sunday NFL Countdown (via Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk):

I was blown away by the guy. He's got a direction for this football team. I’m telling you, Jets fans, the more I talked to him, the more impressed I was with Robert Saleh. I became a fan of his. Taking my call and all that speaks volumes about him. But it was more about, we put that stuff behind us. But it was about the future of this team, and I’m just telling you something, this guy’s got a great plan and I think they got it right.

The Jets are 2-7 in Saleh's first season as a head coach. Ryan coached New York for six seasons from 2009-14, accumulating a 46-50 record while twice leading the team to the AFC Championship Game.

New York has not returned to the playoffs since 2010.

Ryan had initially offered a scathing criticism of Saleh last week on ESPN Radio.

"This guy is supposed to be a defensive guru," Ryan said, via ESPN's Rich Cimini. "I take it personal. Everything I heard was this guy is a lot like myself, but without the bad part. Some of the bad part you need, because this team doesn't want to play with any damn heart. That's the thing that is disappointing to me."

Ryan also argued Saleh's success as a defensive coordinator with the San Francisco 49ers was based only on one season.

Saleh responded to the remarks on the Michael Kay Show later in the day Monday.

"I've never met Rex. I've never had a conversation with Rex," Saleh said. "I don't even know him except for people who know him throughout the league. Obviously, if it's that personal for him, he knows where to find me."

It seems having a conversation was enough for Ryan to change his tune as Saleh tries to turn the franchise around.    

Count New York Jets quarterback Joe Flacco among those NFL players who are facing stricter protocols because they are unvaccinated against COVID-19.

Flacco, who will start against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, said he is not vaccinated and doesn't want to cause a distraction for his teammates.

"I definitely have my reasons," Flacco said, per Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk. "Honestly, I probably like to talk about this topic more than anybody. It's one of those things that you debate with all the time. But overall I've felt like it's more of a distraction than anything. So I feel like to kind of talk about it too much and give you all my beliefs, is more of a distraction than anything. I think the most important thing is going to play the football game."

Smith noted Flacco followed protocols by wearing a mask while speaking to reporters, which is something Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers did not previously do despite being unvaccinated.

ESPN's Rich Cimini reported Flacco will start against the Dolphins with Zach Wilson still recovering from a sprained PCL he suffered during an Oct. 24 loss to the New England Patriots and Mike White coming off a poor performance against the Buffalo Bills.

While White played well during an Oct. 31 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals, he suffered a forearm injury against the Indianapolis Colts and then threw zero touchdowns and four interceptions against the Buffalo Bills.

Flacco will now step into the starting role while facing the stricter protocols that come with being unvaccinated.

Unvaccinated players must isolate for 10 days if they test positive, which is something Rodgers had to do while missing Green Bay's loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. They also can be deemed high-risk close contacts and miss games even without testing positive, which stands in stark contrast to vaccinated players.

The NFL fined the Packers $300,000 and Rodgers and wide receiver Allen Lazard $14,650 each for violating the health and safety protocols after they attended a team-sanctioned Halloween party. Unvaccinated players are prohibited from going to team gatherings outside of club facilities.         

Fantasy managers who are still relying on New York Jets players got a surprise on Wednesday with news that Joe Flacco will be the team's starting quarterback this week. 

Per ESPN's Rich Cimini, Flacco will be under center for Sunday's game against the Miami Dolphins. 

Corey Davis and Michael Carter are the only Jets players who have been worth anything in fantasy this season. Carter leads the team with 673 yards from scrimmage on 133 touches, including 31 receptions. Davis only has 29 catches in seven games, but he's averaging a strong 15.2 yards per reception and has four touchdowns. 

Rookie Elijah Moore has been coming on strong lately. He had the best game of his young career in Week 9 against the Indianapolis Colts with seven catches, 84 yards and two touchdowns. 

The 21-year-old only had three catches for 44 yards in Week 10 against the Buffalo Bills, but he boosted his value with a touchdown catch. 

ESPN's Matthew Berry actually thinks this could be a good game for some of the Jets receivers:

This is one of the few fantasy matchups in 2021 where Jets receivers could have an advantage. 

Miami's defense is allowing the sixth-most fantasy points per game to opposing wideouts (26.1) and eighth-most fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks (19.4). 

The Jets' skill-position value will ultimately be determined by what Flacco does. The Super Bowl XLVII MVP did play mop-up duty last week against the Bills, going 3-of-3 for 47 yards and a touchdown pass to Moore. 

It's hard to really assess that performance for many reasons, not least of which is the score was 45-10 with four minutes remaining when Flacco came in. 

Sunday will mark Flacco's first start since Week 11 last season. The 36-year-old finished 15-of-30 for 205 yards, two touchdowns and one interception in a 34-28 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. 

Flacco made four starts for the Jets in 2020. Three of them were bad by normal and fantasy standards. His best game was in Week 9 against the New England Patriots with 262 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. 

New York does have better skill-position talent now than it did last year when Jamison Crowder and Breshad Perriman were the top two receivers. 

Davis and Keelan Cole have the big-play ability to take advantage of Flacco's arm strength if he can push the ball down the field. Cole is averaging 16.2 yards per reception, but he has yet to find the end zone. 

One big factor that could help fantasy managers is game script. The Jets defense ranks last in the NFL with 32.9 points allowed per game. That unit has allowed the second-most points in a four-game span in league history (175) over the past four weeks. 

If the Jets are unable to get stops again this week, Flacco will be forced to throw the ball 35-40 times. 

Keep an eye on Davis, Cole and Moore as potential fantasy streamers in Week 11.    

Joe Flacco will reportedly replace Mike White as the New York Jets' starting quarterback for their Week 11 game against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.

ESPN's Rich Cimini reported the update Wednesday as rookie signal-caller Zach Wilson continues to recover from a knee injury.

Wilson has been sidelined since suffering a sprained PCL in the Jets' Oct. 24 loss to the New England Patriots. The second overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft threw four touchdowns and nine interceptions across his first six games.

White stepped in to fill the void and put together a memorable first career start. He completed 37 of his 45 attempts for 405 yards with three TDs and two picks in a 34-31 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.

The 2018 fifth-round pick was off to another strong start in Week 9 against the Indianapolis Colts before suffering a forearm injury that caused him to miss the rest of the contest. He returned to face the Buffalo Bills last week, but he threw four interceptions against the league's top-ranked defense.

Now the Jets will turn to Flacco, who completed all three of his throws, including a touchdown pass to Elijah Moore, in relief against the Bills.

The former Baltimore Ravens starter made five appearances (four starts) for New York last season before leaving to sign with the Philadelphia Eagles in free agency. He returned to the Jets in an October trade following Wilson's injury.

Flacco earned his place in Ravens history by leading the franchise to its second Super Bowl title at the end of the 2012 season. He racked up 12 total touchdowns (11 passing and one rushing) with no interceptions during a remarkable four-game playoff run. He's never performed at that level for any other extended stretch throughout his 14-year career, though.

The 36-year-old University of Delaware product pushed aside questions about filling a mentor role after being traded back to the Jets, saying he still wanted to make an on-field impact.

"I think I'm here short term to help out as much as I can on the field," Flacco told reporters in late October before adding: "I see myself playing here at some point in the next couple of weeks."

Now he'll get that opportunity against a Dolphins defense that's allowed the fifth-most passing yards per game (273.8) and tied for the fifth-most passing touchdowns (18) so far in 2021.

Even if Flacco performs reasonably well, Wilson figures to regain the starting spot once fully healthy with the Jets (2-7) rapidly fading from the playoff picture.

Veteran running back Frank Gore isn't ruling out the possibility of an NFL return if a contending team comes calling.

In an interview with TMZ Sports, Gore was asked what he will do if a Super Bowl contender reaches out to him. He responded: "I might say F it. And go with them."

The 38-year-old Gore is preparing for a boxing match against former NBA star Deron Williams on the undercard of Jake Paul vs. Tommy Fury on Dec. 18, but pursuing an elusive Super Bowl win remains on his mind.

In a 16-year NFL career that spanned from 2005 to 2020 and saw him play for the San Francisco 49ers, Indianapolis Colts, Miami Dolphins, Buffalo Bills and New York Jets, Gore established himself as one of the most productive running backs in history.

The five-time Pro Bowler has rushed for 16,000 yards and 81 touchdowns in his career in addition to catching 484 passes for 3,985 yards and 18 scores.

While Gore was never considered an elite back during his career, his longevity allowed him to reach third place on the NFL's all-time rushing yardage list behind only Emmitt Smith and Walter Payton.

Gore rushed for 1,000 or more yards nine times, with the most recent instance coming in 2016 with the Colts. He followed that up with another 961 yards the following season.

He wasn't as productive in three subsequent seasons with the Dolphins, Bills and Jets, averaging 658 rushing yards and fewer than two rushing touchdowns per season, as well as 3.9 yards per carry.

However, with some significant injuries to top players at his position this season, he could still be useful.

The Tennessee Titans brought in 36-year-old Adrian Peterson after Derrick Henry was lost potentially for the season with a foot injury, and it isn't outside the realm of possibility that Gore could find himself in a similar situation.

If that does happen, he needs 727 yards to surpass Payton for second place on the all-time rushing list.

New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh took exception to criticism of his performance by Rex Ryan. 

Appearing on ESPN's Get Up (h/t Rich Cimini of ESPN.com), Ryan was critical of the Jets defensive performance under Saleh. 

"This guy is supposed to be a defensive guru," he said. "I take it personal on this one. Everything I heard about was this guy is a lot like myself, but without the bad part. Yeah, well, some of the bad part you need, because this team doesn't want to play with any damn heart. That's the thing that's disappointing to me. Don't ever compare this guy to me, this Robert Saleh to me."

On The Michael Kay Show on ESPN 98.7 in New York, Saleh said Ryan "knows where to find me" if he wants to talk face-to-face:

Ryan spent six seasons as Jets head coach from 2009-14. He was a renowned defensive coach with the Baltimore Ravens for 10 seasons prior being hired by the organization.

New York ranked first in points allowed during Ryan's first season as head coach and advanced to the AFC Championship Game in 2009 and 2010. The franchise hasn't made the playoffs since the 2010 campaign.

Saleh's first season with the Jets has been a disappointment, to say the least. They are tied with the Jacksonville Jaguars for the second-worst record in the AFC (2-7). The defense ranks last in the NFL in points allowed per game (32.9). 

Over their past four games, the Jets have allowed a combined total of 175 points and 1,890 yards to their opponents. 

Saleh came to New York with a strong reputation as one of the best defensive coordinators in the NFL after spending four seasons with the San Francisco 49ers. The team ranked in the top six in overall defensive DVOA in each of the previous two years, per Football Outsiders. 

New York is on pace to finish last in the AFC East for the sixth time in the past eight seasons.