Besides the pain in his toe, which kept him out of three games, Jets linebacker and captain C.J. Mosley has been feeling his teammates' pain through a four-game losing streak. As the NFL now knows, the loss at Pittsburgh last Sunday night prompted newly acquired wide receiver Davante Adams to step forward and give the team a piece of his mind.
"I think it was just what everybody needed," Mosley said on Thursday. "You know, whether, whether he was talking to you, or whether he wasn't. It was something that just needed to be said. Brick [interim HC Jeff Ulbrich] talked to us, talked to the whole team a few days later. He [Adams] hasn't been here at all. He's only been with us a week, played one game with us, and he felt and saw that, which is real as a team, the core group. We've been in this situation a lot of times, and unfortunately we came out on losing hands. So it can be easy to kind of fall in that trap of, like, here we go."
The Jets (2-5) are determined to dispatch the "here we go" line when they travel north to face their AFC East rival New England (1-6). As difficult as things have been for the Green & White, the Patriots are currently saddled with a six-game losing streak after winning in Week 1.
For his part, Adams has hardly had time to unpack his luggage since arriving in a trade from Las Vegas and bunking with QB Aaron Rodgers, his teammate in Green Bay. Still, the veteran WR has come with open eyes to play and to lend his experience and personality. Mosley is on board.
"[The speech] coming from him was very good because everybody respects him," Mosley said. "He has all the accolades in the world. He's definitely paid [his dues], but you know, that's who he is as a person and as a man, so I think that was really good to compliment him."
He added: "I hope it resonated right after he finished speaking, but obviously we're going to see this Sunday because adversity is going to come. It would be nice to have a game like last time [a 24-3 Jets win in Week 3], but you can't prepare for that. Just got to go out there and do our job and know when that moment comes, let's respond the right way."
Mosley took 8 snaps in the Week 2 game at Tennessee before leaving the game with the injured toe. He missed the next three games entirely and returned for the Monday night game against Buffalo, but played sparingly (9 snaps). He saw more time at Pittsburgh (22 snaps/32%) but watched as Jamien Sherwood played well in his place.
The Jets have an opportunity to sweep the Patriots for the first time since 2000 and give themselves a chance to begin to turn things around ahead of a short week before facing Houston next Thursday night at MetLife Stadium.
Like some of his teammates, Mosley is quite familiar with the coaching and personal styles of Ulbrich, features that the rest of the roster are only now experiencing since he became the interim head coach several weeks ago.
"I feel like he's handled it with grace," Mosley said. "He's been humble about it, and he's, he's been vulnerable about it. He's opened up. We all were surprised [about the change in coaches], just like everybody else was. So, it was, really, a family effort to kind of cope with what happened, but obviously, try to move forward the right way and productively.
"Honestly, it really feels like he has been a long defensive meeting, like just all the way through because he's just saying the same things we hear in the defensive room. All the things he's preached to us these past few years that's made the defense what it is, to make us fight this hard, the love and regard. Now he's just bringing it to the light for everyone here. So it's just been cool to see the offense and the special teams hear those messages, feel his passion, hear his speeches for the games and watching him out there respond. So it's been good."
