Garrett Wilson was listed as questionable on the Jets’ injury report Friday in advance of Sunday’s game against the Bills, but the wide receiver said after practice he would play in Buffalo.
“It’s doing better,’’ Wilson said of the elbow injury he suffered in last weekend’s loss to the Raiders, when he was able to finish the game.
Though Wilson said he was “feeling good, we’re gonna rock this weekend,’’ he acknowledged the injury would impact him Sunday, “but we’ll get it done.”
Jets coach Robert Saleh had added a bit of mystery to the situation prior to Friday’s practice when he said the wide receiver still had some “hurdles to clear” before being cleared.
“I don’t want to jinx it,’’ Saleh said when asked why he didn’t sound more optimistic about Wilson’s availability. “We’ll see. He feels good. He’s speaking the right language. Everything is positive. He just has to go through a couple things.”
Wilson looked fine going through catching drills early in Friday’s practice, though he was wearing a sleeve during practice and a bandage afterward.
The second-year receiver has dealt with the elbow issue throughout the week.
He leads the team in receptions (55), receiving yards (642) and touchdown receptions (two), but the offense has mostly been a mess this year, which is among the reasons the offense had a players-only meeting this week.
“It was good to just see us talking to each other,’’ Wilson said of the meeting. “It feels like it gives you a sense of confidence to hold guys accountable to those things we talked about in the meeting — and hold me accountable for things I talked about in the meeting. That’s how it should be: Having guys knowing what matters to us and making sure we’re really enforcing it now that we talked about it.”
How that translates onto the field will help determine the fate of the rest of the Jets’ season.
“We think we have a great opportunity,” Wilson said. “We really do. A lot of people fell off the [bandwagon], as they should have. That’s all right. We’re ready to take that step. We’ve just got to go do it.”
For now, Saleh said he likes what he has seen from the team when it comes to their mindset.
Asked about the “adversity” they’ve faced with two straight losses, Saleh said, “I’d say we’ve been facing adversity all year. … The guys are in great spirits.”
Of his players, the coach said, “There’s a lot of good, positive talk. Meeting rooms are alive, where people are communicating, asking questions, and speaking. It’s not just a bunch of zombies walking around, which can happen. … And I don’t think it’s because they see blood in the water. I think it’s because they’re excited to go play football and attack this moment, knowing that if we just take it one day at a time, own our moments and play to that championship mindset, we’ll be OK.”