Kearse speaks out on Thursday games
Jermaine Kearse is no fan of Thursday night games. The New York Jets wide receiver echoed what has become a growing sentiment among NFL players who think the league should get rid of short work weeks because they are detrimental to their health and safety.
“You’re asking guys who play a high volume on one day and literally give it their all on that one day and ask them to recover and try to bounce back in a couple of days,” Kearse said. “It’s kind of tough, especially when you’re already dealing with certain stuff from previous weeks that might be nagging or lingering.”
Kearse was asked about his thoughts on Thursday games after he watched former Seattle teammate Richard Sherman suffer a seasonending Achilles tendon injury in the Seahawks’ win against the Arizona Cardinals.
When asked whether the NFL should ditch the Thursday games, Kearse said flatly: “Yeah.”
The veteran receiver said he couldn’t speak for all players, but thinks games on Thursday nights aren’t “helpful” because of the short recovery time after playing on Sunday.
“This game has a 100-percent injury rate,” Kearse said. “That’s the truth, that’s the facts . ... You give them a short week like that, it’s tough.”
Kearse said the NFL Players Association needs to address the issue during its next collective bargaining agreement meetings with the league.
“I think there definitely needs to be a discussion, for sure,” he said. “Just finding better ways to take care of the players. I mean, guys are putting their bodies on the line, day in and day out.”
Kearse said that if players gets banged up on Sunday, they sometimes aren’t ready to play until the following Saturday.
“It depends on how you come out of the game, really,” Kearse said. “For me, I just have to do as much as I can, whether it’s spend more time in the recovery process or trying to get my body to its best ability to go out there and perform on that Thursday. For others, some guys are fighting their recovery until the night of the game.”
Key NFC matchup
The arrow was pointing up for the Dallas Cowboys, sideways or down for the Atlanta Falcons.
Then a federal court on Thursday upheld the sixgame league suspension for Ezekiel Elliott, a damaging blow to Dallas.
When they meet today in a critical NFC match, the winner will be in decent position for a run toward the playoffs, hardly what either 2016 conference power projected.
The loser, particularly if it is Dallas with NFC East leader Philadelphia already 2 ½ games in front and Elliott presumably gone for much of the remainder of the schedule, will have used up significant margin for error.
“We’ve just got to keep on pushing,” said Dallas receiver Dez Bryant. “We know exactly who we are. We’re going to show everybody.”
Now comes a huge inconference test at the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium, where Atlanta is only 1-2, but plays four of its next five games.
“We know as a team what we’re capable of,” Falcons safety Ricardo Allen said. “Just go out there and do our job. We have another whole half of the season.”
Around the league
• Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle Roy Miller was arrested early Saturday in Florida on a domestic battery charge, according to Duval County jail records. The Chiefs are off this week.
• Dallas Cowboys left tackle Tyron Smith, a fourtime Pro Bowler, will miss today’s game against Atlanta because of back and groin injuries. Chaz Green will make his sixth career start in Smith’s place.
• The Detroit Lions activated starting left tackle Taylor Decker from the physically-unable-to-perform list in time for today’s game against the Cleveland Browns. Decker has been out all season because of a shoulder injury.
• Miami Dolphins right tackle Ja’Wuan James was placed on injured reserve because of a left hamstring injury, ending his season.