FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) — New York Jets star defensive tackle Quinnen Williams will be sidelined a week or two with a calf injury after getting hurt in practice Thursday.
Coach Aaron Glenn said sitting Williams was a “precautionary” move and the injury isn’t expected to be a long-term issue.
“We want to make sure this player is going to be good,” Glenn said after practice Friday. “We know what he’s all about. We know what he can do. We wanted to hold him out and we’ll see how that goes.”
Williams was participating in individual drills Thursday when he felt discomfort in his lower leg. He walked into the facility under his own power but sat out the rest of the session. Williams, a Pro Bowl selection the last three seasons, was not present on the field during practice Friday.
“He’s actually had this injury before, so he understands exactly how he has to operate and make sure he goes through the process of getting it healed,” Glenn said.
Left guard John Simpson also will be sidelined one or two weeks with what Glenn said is a back injury.
“He’ll be just fine,” Glenn said. “Again, another precautionary.”
Simpson, entering his second season with the Jets, started every game last season.
Rookie safety Malachi Moore, a fourth-round draft pick out of Alabama, is dealing with a strained oblique and also was held out of practice.
The Jets got some good news on the injury front with second-year running back Braelon Allen returning after missing the last two practices with soreness in his left knee.
“He’s moving around well,” Glenn said.
Whistle while you work
Aaron Glenn wears a whistle around his neck during practice — a once-common sight among football coaches that has diminished in recent years.
But the Jets head coach takes an old-school approach on the field while leading his team.
“I’ve got to control practice,” a smiling Glenn said when asked why he uses a whistle. “I’ve got to stop ‘em and tell ’em to go.”
When told by a reporter that it’s an uncommon sight, Glenn said: “Listen, they are in tune with this right now.”
The coach then blew into the whistle and said when players hear that sound, “They know what this means.”
Folk tales
Kicker Nick Folk, signed Wednesday by the Jets, returned to the team nine years after last playing for New York.
In 2010, one of his Jets teammates was Pro Football Hall of Fame pass rusher Jason Taylor. Fifteen years later, one of Folk’s teammates in New York is rookie tight end Mason Taylor, Jason Taylor’s son.
“I remember him running around in Cortland when he was little,” Folk said, referring to the Jets’ central New York training camp site for five of six summers from 2009 through 2014. “I just asked him today if he remembers living in New York and he said, ‘A little bit.’ So, it’s a crazy world. Fun to be around.”
Folk has another connection to the current Jets: During the offseason of his rookie year with Dallas in 2007, he was briefly teammates with current New York head coach Aaron Glenn before Glenn signed with Jacksonville.
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