Sports Radio Interviews

Kris Jenkins: “I knew what the pop felt like and with it happening a second time, it was about the same.”

What is going on with the New York Jets? They got off to a 3-0 start and since then they have lost three straight games in a span of fourteen days. This defense looks sluggish and at times lost on the football field. That doesn’t seem like a Rex Ryan defense that I remember when he was the defensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens. To make things worse Kris Jenkins, arguably the Jets’ most irreplaceable defensive player, is now out for the season with a torn ACL in his left knee. This is something that he has dealt with before as he tore the ACL in his right knee while playing for Carolina in 2005 and made the Pro Bowl the following year. Jenkins was the anchor of one of the top-ranked defenses and will be sorely missed. If the Jets defense wants to get back to their dominant ways, they must find a replacement for Jenkins that can occupy the middle.

Kris Jenkins joined ESPN 1050 in New York to talk about his injury, how he got hurt, how he expects the Jets to win without him, and who he thinks will replace his role on the defense.

On when he got hurt whether he realized it was this serious:

“Yeah well honestly it is one of those situations that I’ve experienced it before and when I hurt it and injured it the first time I knew what the pop felt like and with it happening a second time, it was about the same. So I knew it was something serious.”

On how the injury happened:

“Well form the look of it, it just looked like we had a couple of guys trying to make a tackle trying to make a play and somebody just kind of fell a little bit awkward and it hit the inside of my leg and it just went.”

On his reaction to the doctor’s telling him that he was going to be for the season:

“Umm honestly at that point it is just an emotional thing because you want to play you want to get back up and go out there.  At the moment it was hard for me to kind of accept it but at the same time just knowing that it was something that it was a season-ender and it’ not a career injury.  I do have the opportunity to rehab and get everything together.  I am just making sure to stay positive and be upbeat about it and just working and doing everything I can to make it just that much stronger after returning.”

On how he expects the Jets to win without him:

“Easily one play at a time.  (Host: Yes, but no one is you.) But it is not just that.  This is something that we sign up for.  This is something that is a reality of this game and I am not just the defense.  I do love the support that I get from some people who think that I do play a big part of that and I appreciate that but at the same time I have a lot of confidence in these guys.  I think they can step it up and make everything happen.  I think that it is something that they are going to have to rally around the situation and they are going to have to go out there and show everybody what Jets football is all about.  That hasn’t been something that I haven’t been saying until now.  This is something that Rex is thinking about for a long time.  We have a lot of guys who have a lot of potential to do things.  They just have to go and make it happen.”

On who he thinks is best suited to play his role in the Jets defense:

“I really think that it is going to be a couple of guys.  I think Sione Pouha.  I think that he can get in there and get some things done.  I think that Mike Devito, Howard Green.  I think with Shaun Ellis and Marques Douglas.  It will be a little bit of mixing it up and getting some guys in there.  We have a young guy in Ropati Pitoitua who a lot of people don’t know about yet but I think that they will soon enough.  We do have a veteran group and we have guys that have been around the game for a while.  I think that it will be a collective effort but I think all of these guys can get it done.”

On what Rex Ryan told him after hearing about injury:

“Yeah well what he said I can’t repeat on the radio.  But he just said that basically it was messed up and says that for me now my focus has to be on rehabbing and getting things together just making sure that I stay on top of my weight and everything.  I am committed to that. I am committed to doing everything but right now I wish I could  help the guys on the field I can’t so just whatever I can for them off of the field  if it is teaching them a couple of tricks that I use or just whatever it is, I am going to committed to that because I want my team to win.”

On if he will stay around the team during rehab and when will he have the surgery:

“Absolutely I will be there.  Surgery will be in a couple of weeks but at the same time you have to understand that I am not just a football player I am also a professional.  There is a lot of things that I can do to kind of help being an ambassador for my team, for the organization just working with Teddy doing whatever it is.  It’s helping with guys helping with coaching.  I mean there is a number of things that I could help out and I am going to do the best I can to make my presence felt in any way that I can.”

On what the thinks is happening to the Jets during the 3-game losing streak:

“Umm you know honestly in my opinion, I think that we just kind of hit a rut… We got a lot of success coming out of the gate and this was also on top of some of the things that happened the year prior to Rex getting here.  I think a lot of guys got complacent and they just really kind of assumed that things were just going to work.  I don’t think that right now our biggest issue is learning how to win.  I think it was just learning how to win when we are winning.  I think that we have to learn how to stay on top of it when we are doing good.  I think that we strive well in adversity.  I think that when we are in a situation where we have to prove ourselves we do great but when everybody is kind of telling us that we are good I think that we kind of drop the ball.  So I think that we have to learn how to be better winners.”

Kris Jenkins on ESPN 1050 in New York with Michael Kay  

Tags: AFC East, irreplacable, Kris Jenkins gets injured, New York Jets, NY Jets, torn ACL in left knee, torn ACL in right knee, who will replace Kris Jenkins?