Jets coach Todd Bowles would prefer Terrelle Pryor 'keep his mouth shut' instead of talking injuries
Jets wide receiver Terrelle Pryor speaks to the media after training camp at Atlantic Health Jets Training Center on Friday, July 27, 2018. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
RICHMOND, Va. – It was another eventful day Tuesday for Jets receiver Terrelle Pryor, who took flak from all sides – including the Redskins' secondary and his own head coach.
On Monday, he surprised reporters by saying he would not play in Thursday night’s preseason game against the Redskins, that he was bothered by a hip injury and that he had suffered a previously undisclosed broken ankle in May.
Asked Tuesday about how “descriptive” Pryor had been, Bowles said: “Terrell doesn’t need to be descriptive, and I feel he should keep his mouth shut and leave the injuries to me.”
Bowles is famously sensitive about players sharing injury information publicly. Asked how he would handle the matter, he said, “I’ve already handled it.”
Might that include a fine?
“We had a conversation,” Bowles said. “We’ll discuss our own in-house things in house.”
During the last of three joint practices with the Redskins, members of the Washington secondary loudly, persistently and harshly aimed trash talk at Pryor, led by safety D.J. Swearinger.
Jets head coach Todd Bowles talks to the media after practice at Atlantic Health Jets Training Center on Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2018. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
At one point Swearinger faked a lefthanded jab at Pryor, who flinched. Pryor then jawed back at him.
Pryor was a Redskin last year and apparently was not popular among his teammates.
Swearinger told ESPN the Redskins were offended by something Pryor said in an interview, and noted that safeties mostly had covered him in practice.
“We didn’t give him the respect to get a cornerback,” Swearinger said. “We gave him safeties to go against, and we locked him up.”
Washington-area reporters who caught up with Pryor after practice quoted him saying only that he was eager to leave Richmond, a sentiment he punctuated with a profanity.
Jet streams
Other than the Pryor saga, there were only a couple of brief skirmishes, representing more contentiousness than Monday but less than Sunday. “It wasn’t really that heated,” Bowles said. “You can’t get in a fight in shorts and a T-shirt.” . . . Bowles said he would be open to more joint practices in the future. “If it fits into our schedule, I would.” . . . The Jets figure to go into Thursday’s game with a lengthy list of injured players, but Bowles said he would not finalize that until closer to game day.
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
