Greene not bothered by decreased workload

Shonn Greene sat on the stool just in front of his locker and opened up a package that had recently arrived.

Rest easy, though, Jets' fans. It was only a pair of brand-spanking new black cleats and not any sort of knee brace. Remember, Greene took a helmet to his knee late in the fourth quarter of Sunday's win over the Dolphins and got a little banged up.

But he's fine. 

"I think somebody just kind of fell on my knee, but I was good," said Greene, who ran 10 times for 36 yards against Miami. "It was one of those things where at first it just hurts, and as you run it off, walk it off, it’s all right. I’m good."

That has to be good news for the Jets because they'll need Greene to be effective this week against the Bills. Greene has run for a modest 106 yards and zero touchdowns on 30 carries through three games, with only a long of 9 yards. He's also sporting a modest average of 3.5 yards per carry.

Some have questioned what's wrong with the second-year running back who came on like gang busters at the end of his rookie season during the Jets' playoff push. Sure, LaDainian Tomlinson is getting his yards -- 208 and a touchdown on 37 carries to be exact -- but what about Greene, who's technically the designated starter who replaced the vanished Thomas Jones in the lineup?

"I mean, last year I had more opportunities and stuff like that," Greene told me. "This year, we are doing some different things, so I’m not seeing the ball that much. But we are winning and I have no problem with it. It is what it is."

The same can be said for the Jets' ground game overall. They're ranked ninth in the NFL in rushing with 132.7 yards per game, but there's tons of room for improvement. The rushing attack takes a while to get going each game, and it's almost like running into a brick wall initially before someone finally tears through it. 

"It’s exactly like that," Greene said. "It can be like that with a lot of teams as far as our zone running goes. Early in the game, it’s not going to happen. But as you go at it and go at it, that’s where we are at. It's the same scenario as last year -- just pounding the ball through -- and it opened up things later on in the game."

"I don’t think we’ve hit our stride yet," he added. "It’s still early in the season. The more [attempts] we get, the better off we’ll be. I think this game against Buffalo is going to be a good test for that. I think we are going to get a lot of carries between the both of us and be able to exploit that."

Teams have tried to exploit Greene's penchant for fumbling the ball -- he coughed it up twice in the season opener versus the Ravens and lost one  -- and he's focusing on taking care of the ball more when he hits the holes.

"I do," he said, "but I try not to let it get to me or affect me to the point where it affects me as a runner."