Enunwa, Pryor give Jets added depth at receiver
EAST RUTHERFORD » As usual, much of the attention surrounding the Jets following their 22-16 loss at the hands of the Giants at MetLife Stadium on Friday night was focused on their quarterbacks.
But perhaps it’s time to start looking at who Sam Darnold, Teddy Bridgewater and Josh McCown are throwing the ball to.
In his preseason debut after missing the first two weeks with an ankle injury, Terrelle Pryor hauled in a 12-yard touchdown pass from Darnold just 46 seconds into the second quarter, while Quincy Enunwa played in his first game since Week 17 of the 2016 regular season and caught two passes for 28 yards to help showcase the sudden depth Gang Green has at wide receiver.
It was particularly sweet for Enunwa, who missed all of last year with a neck injury.
“It felt really good, especially to get a pass on the second play,” he said. “I was glad that Coach had confidence in me and welcomed me back out there. Just from there, I just kept striding and going forward.”
The fifth-year pro had a breakout year in 2016; he caught 58 balls for 857 yards and four touchdowns, seemingly gaining confidence as the season progressed. Asked whether he had any nerves coming into Friday night, it’s clear that confidence hasn’t gone anywhere.
“No, I was pretty confident in myself,” he said. “I’ve been putting in a lot of work during practice so I knew that once I was on the field that it was kind of going to go smoothly as long as I had confidence in that. The only time you really ever have nerves is when you’re not confident in what you can do, so I’ve been trying to work on that and make sure that when I’m out there it’s not an issue.”
As for Pryor, he’s also looking to return to the form he showed in 2016, when he was a 1,000-yard receiver for the Cleveland Browns. His stint with the Washington Redskins last season was cut short by that same ankle injury, but he seems primed to join Enunwa and 2017 returnees Jermaine Kearse and Robby Anderson to form a formidable group of options for whoever wins the quarterback job.
“The thing I’m looking forward to the most is seeing the fans react to big plays,” Pryor said. “That’s something I feed off of and we all feed off of.”