Todd is hurt by talk of injury ‘disconnect’

Todd Bowles is “not a doctor.” And as such, the Jets head coach is tired of answering questions about injuries. Bowles reached his breaking point Thursday in Florham Park, a day after defensive lineman Muhammad Wilkerson revealed his shoulder injury to be a Grade 1 AC joint sprain. Less than an hour earlier, Bowles had said Wilkerson’s shoulder was simply “sore” and “bruised.”

When asked Thursday about a disconnect between himself and his players, Bowles snapped.

“There’s no disconnect,” he said. “I didn’t tell you anything else. There’s never a disconnect. I’m going to know. I’m going to know what it is. He has a sore shoulder. That’s what’s reported to me. I get all the information. I’m not going to talk about injuries in depth. That ain’t my job. My job is to give the injury report. I give the injury report. I’m not going to go into detail about anything else. Either they practice or don’t practice. But I know everything.”

Wilkerson missed practice for the second straight day Thursday. He suffered the shoulder injury in a loss to Oakland in Week 2, but the Jets waited until this week to give Wilkerson an MRI.

Despite claiming to know everything, Bowles punted when pressed on why the Jets delayed Wilkerson’s tests.

“Have to ask the training staff that,” Bowles said. “I have no idea.”

Can we ask the training staff, a reporter asked. “No,” Bowles said. Fantastic. Here’s what Bowles did reveal about his injured players:

Running back Matt Forte missed his second straight day of practice because of turf toe in his left foot. DE Kony Ealy (excused), TE Jordan Leggett (knee), LB Josh Martin (ankle) and T Brandon Shell (shoulder) also didn’t practice.

Ealy is dealing with a personal matter. Bowles isn’t sure if he’ll return in time to play Sunday at home against the Jags.

TE Eric Tomlinson (elbow) and DE Leonard Williams (wrist) were limited.