Jets safety Leonhard had surgery to repair broken thumb

Even the New York Jets Coach Rex Ryan was unsure the nature of the procedure safety Jim Leonhard underwent on Monday night. He was as unsure about whether Leonhard might be sidelined this weekend or longer.


“They said when they go in, they’ll have a much better idea,” Ryan said of the doctors. “They don’t even know if they’re going to put screws in it, what they’re going to do. When I heard it, surgery, that doesn’t sound good to me.”

The safety was injured early in the first quarter of last Sunday’s game against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Maurice Jones-Drew’s 33-yard touchdown run. Leaving the field after score without taking off his Jets jersey, Leonhard went into the locker room to have the thumb placed in a cast before coming back into the game on defense. However, he was not able to field punts and had to leave again with Darrelle Revis filling in as replacement.

Jets Coach Ryan still insists Sanchez to be the right starting quarterback

Even after Sunday’s 16-13 overtime loss to the Buffalo Bills, the New York Jets Coach Rex Ryan still sticks with rookie Mark Sanchez as his starting quarterback, just as he has done since Sanchez beat out Kellen Clemens for the starting job in the preseason.


“I just think we’ve got to do a great job at looking at what we’re asking this young man to do,” Ryan said. “Do we need to cut things back? Are there things that we could do to put on somebody else’s plate to take some things off his plate? I have a lot of confidence in Mark.”

Sanchez is tied with Carolina’s Jake Delhomme for the league lead in interceptions with 10, and his 56.7 quarterback rating is higher than only Oakland’s JaMarcus Russell and Derek Anderson in Cleveland Browns jersey. But his performance was miserable on Sunday. He was only 10 of 29 for 119 yards and failed to lead his team to a win even though running back Thomas Jones had a franchise-record 210 yards rushing. However, Ryan is just as confident that the quarterback will bounce back from frustration.

Jets Coach Ryan is confident in secondary players playing against Saints

On Wednesday’s practice, the New York Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis and safety Kerry Rhodes were limited in practice; safety Jim Leonhard with knee injury, cornerbacks Lito Sheppard with injured right quadriceps and Donald Strickland with injured right ankle did not practice. Linebacker Larry Izzo and offensive lineman Wayne Hunter also missed the practice.


However, Coach Rex Ryan still felt that those guys would be ready to play this weekend against the New Orleans Saints, who have a top-ranked offense and leading quarterback Drew Brees. Ryan said that he was fairly confident Revis, Rhodes and Leonhard will be fine Sunday. And the team had been ready to sign someone if Sheppard and Strickland couldn’t play the game.

Sheppard and Strickland were injured in the Week 2 during the victory over the New England Patriots and missed the game against the Tennessee Titans. The Jets brought in cornerbacks Justin Miller and Corey Ivy last week for workouts. Miller has signed with the Oakland Raiders on Wednesday, and it is very likely the Jets will try out other cornerbacks to be reserve.

Jets’ training camp closed with starting quarterback not decided

After some silly rookie skits and a vote for the ugliest person on the team Thursday night, Rex Ryan cancelled the originally scheduled practice on Friday morning and told the players to go home, with safety James Ihedigbo winning the King Ugly and starting quarterback not decided between Mark Sanchez and Kellen Clemens.


The team was welcomed by the quaint Cortland with hanging banners along the streets and signs in store and restaurant windows. And Ryan was proved to be right in choosing such a remote location for training camp. Improvement has been reached with the focus on bonding far from the distractions of home.

“I came in with the expectation and the goal of getting just a little bit better with each practice and to continue to improve myself and the offense,” Clemens said. “I think we’ve done that. It’s been a good camp.”

Ending of training camp does not necessarily mean practices ended. The Jets players will wear back their jets jerseys and resume preseason practices Saturday at their $75 million training facility in Florham Park, N.J. Besides, it was guessed that Sanchez is more likely to take the starting job after giving impressive performance in Monday night’s preseason game against the Baltimore Ravens.