Remarkably enough, Le’Veon Bell’s New York Jets tenure alongside head coach Adam Gase is reaching new levels of bad.
The former All-Pro running back — who spent large portions of his first season with the Jets being set up in positions to fail behind a sieve-like offensive line and poor playcalling — suffered a hamstring injury during the second quarter of Sunday’s loss to the Buffalo Bills.
On Monday, head coach Adam Gase told the media that the back could miss a couple of weeks
This just two weeks after Bell tweeted “ain’t nothin wrong with my hamstrings” after it was reported he was experiencing tightness in the area.
Bell still tried to come back in the second half with his leg wrapped up, but he clearly was not effective. Granted, he wasn’t during the opening portions of Week 1 as he accrued just 14 yards on six carries.
It left the Jets’ head coach trying to take the blame.
“I’m mad at myself that I let him go back in there in the second half,” Gase said. “That play [in which he got injured] looked bad. I’m watching, and I thought it was going to be a touchdown, then he got grabbed. And kind of the way he planted and torqued, it looked really bad.”
“I saw him grab his hamstring and he wouldn’t come out. We come in at halftime. I let him go back in there. I was worried about it, and we were eventually like, ‘I can’t put you in there. We can’t take a chance on getting more hurt than you already are.'”
Hollow words at this point, especially if Bell further inflamed the injury by going back out in the second half, but it was telling of how the Jets would handle Bell’s hamstring.
By Gase’s comments, the Jets were always going to sideline the star until he can show the kind of explosiveness that once made him one of the best running backs in the NFL with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Veteran rusher Frank Gore would take over bellcow duties while Josh Adams, who scored against the Bills, would add support.
