Mad players want to throw out Thursday

After watching his friend and former teammate Richard Sherman suffer a ruptured Achilles Thursday night, Jermaine Kearse has seen enough. The Jets wide receiver wants the NFL to put an end to Thursday Night Football.

“I don’t think it’s helpful,” Kearse said in Florham Park Friday, as the Jets prepared to travel to Tampa for a matchup with the Bucs.

Sherman, a Seahawks cornerback, sustained the season-ending injury in the third quarter against the Cardinals. He crumpled to the ground in a heap after defending a pass. In his postgame press conference, Sherman’s eyes welled up with tears as he told reporters he needed to “stay positive.” Sherman then left the podium and walked off the stage.

Kearse said “there definitely has to be a discussion” about Thursday night games and player safety when the NFL Players Association negotiates the next collective bargaining agreement with the league after the 2020 season.

“Just finding better ways to take care of players,” Kearse said. “Guys are putting their bodies on the line, day in and day out, even through practice. You see Deshaun Watson, who has a significant injury during practice, and not even in the game. So I think we definitely have to have a discussion on it.”

When told the league is a proponent of Thursday night games because they make money, Kearse replied, “We’re going to have to find out then.”

The Jets beat the Bills on Thursday night last week.

“You’re asking a lot of guys on one day to give it their all, and then have them come back and play just a couple days after, that’s asking a lot,” Kearse said. “This game is 100-percent injury rate. That’s the truth. That’s the facts. And…guys might be dealing with stuff from previous games that they’re still trying to recover from, but they’re still going out there on Sundays and playing and giving it their all and then you give them a short week like that, it’s tough.”

“Some guys are fighting their recovery until the night of the game,” Kearse added.

Sherman missed the entire week of practice leading up to Thursday’s game because of a pre-existing Achilles injury.

“Ah man, that sucks,” Kearse said of the injury. “It’s definitely tough because I’ve seen that dude play through a lot of stuff, and I know it means a lot of him, especially him being out there with his teammates. I know it’s hurting him. But he’s going to bounce back. He has that grit and that perseverance.”

Sherman’s Seahawks teammate, Doug Baldwin, also vehemently bashed Thursday night games after Seattle’s victory.

The wide receiver told The News Tribune he doesn’t believe Thursday Night Football should be allowed.

“This s--t should be illegal. It is not OK. It’s not OK. You can quote me on that,” Baldwin said. “This is not OK . ... Absolutely, guys do not have enough time to recover. You can’t recover in four days.”

Baldwin was asked a followup question by a Seattle Times reporter who noted that people argue for Thursday Night Football because it gives teams a week and a half off.

“Tell them f--k you,” Baldwin replied.

Seattle linebacker Bobby Wagner was also vocal about having to play four days after the team played last Sunday, though he was slightly calmer than Baldwin.

“It’s extremely tough. You look at the game, you watch the game, you see guys dropping down on both sides with serious injuries, minor injuries,” Wagner said.

“We play a very physical game, a physical sport, so to ask us to turn around and be ready after Sunday — to turn around and have our bodies okay for that Thursday, it’s really tough to for us to do.

“Hopefully they look at it and see what’s happening and change this format.”