Bowles has Right Attitude About Seferian-Jenkins

Bowles has Right Attitude About Seferian-Jenkins

- Todd Bowles

Q: Would it be too risky to use receiver Brandon Marshall as a punt returner?

Bowles: You can get hurt on offense, so it’s not really a big risk. We just weigh the risk against rewards and we’ll go from there.

Leberfeld: I understand what Todd is saying. You never know when a player is going to get hurt. Just ask Minnesota Vikings QB Teddy Bridgewater, who suffered a catastrophic knee injury during a non-contact practice before the season. He wasn’t touched.

However, I don’t totally agree with Todd’s theory on this one. I bet if you talked to an actuary, they would say adding punt return duties to Marshall’s workload would be adding risk. Just ask former Giants star cornerback Jason Sehorn. He suffered a devastating knee injury, tearing his anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments while returning the opening kickoff in a 1998 preseason game against the New York Jets. He was never the same. He lost a step upon his return.

And the 6-4 Marshall has really long legs, which would make inviting targets for the maniacs running down field like kamikazes to corral the punt returner.

Marshall returning punts is a bad idea. Bringing back Jeremy Ross was a smart idea.

Q: What did you think of Marshall’s comments about the team being overconfident in the red zone?

Bowles: I don’t think there’s anything to it.

Leberfeld: Marshall said this after the Chiefs game, which was a rough contest for the Jets in the red zone.

But even if there is some truth to Marshall’s opinion, is it his place to say it?

I’m into freedom of speech, but I’m also a proponent of the old expression, “Players play, coaches coach.”