hooknladder Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 EDT, October 24, 2007 VILMA OUT FOR THE YEAR? Rich Cimini of the New York Daily News reports that Jets linebacker Jonathan Vilma has sustained a "significant" knee injury, and that he might be out for the year. But the injury apparently isn't anything that happened in practice this week. If coach Eric Mangini is to be believed, the injury might be the result of an undisclosed condition that kept Vilma out for several plays during Sunday's loss to the Bengals. Specifically, Mangini said that Vilma's performance on Sunday was "dramatically affected" by an injury that Mangini declined to disclose. So when did Vilma suffer the injury? And why wasn't there any pre-game or in-game disclosure of it? We have a feeling that the league office might want to know the answers to those questions. If Vilma is indeed done for the year, he'll be replaced in the lineup by rookie David Harris. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keggerz Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 i read a transcript of vilma on a radio show saying he wasnt injured and didnt know why he was benched Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fatman Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 This is getting weird... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
layla17 Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 I'm dying to hear an official press release on this matter. I don't understand why there are two different stories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rovers Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 The entire jets organization is in total turmoil right now. Player mutiny, all sorts of conflicting reports.... stay tuned.... Mangini is starting to look like the Captain of the HMS Bounty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keggerz Posted October 26, 2007 Share Posted October 26, 2007 More speculation Vilma is done While the circumstances surrounding Jonathan Vilma's knee injury remain a mystery, this much is certain: The Jets are preparing to move on without their defensive quarterback. One day after the Daily News reported that Vilma had suffered a serious knee injury and likely would face season-ending surgery, the Jets still would not confirm the extent of Vilma's injury yesterday. In fact, Eric Mangini wouldn't even reveal which knee the linebacker had injured or how and when the injury had occurred. However, the Jets are expected to place Vilma on season-ending injured reserved in the coming days. Vilma, a fourth-year linebacker out of Miami, was not in the locker room during yesterday's media session, and it appeared he had not even been to his locker - his stool hung upside down inside his stall. Teammates talked as if they were bracing for life without Vilma the rest of this season. "I don't know if he is gone or not yet," safety Kerry Rhodes said. "He is a pretty significant piece to our puzzle. It would be a big blow." Rhodes and Vilma are not just close friends, they have formed a bond on the field that has kept the secondary and linebackers on the same page. Now, Rhodes likely will have to develop a chemistry with rookie David Harris, who will start in place of Vilma, who calls the plays in the defensive huddle. "It will be like Ed Reed without Ray Lewis," Rhodes said of the Ravens' safety-linebacker tandem. "Not that type of players but just the type of rapport they have with each other. That is the same thing (we have)." Vilma apparently suffered the injury in Sunday's loss to the Bengals, according to Mangini. The head coach made that revelation while explaining why Vilma, who usually plays the entire game, had missed eight of 34 plays in the second half of the defeat. Vilma, however, finished the game. And then the linebacker added further mystery to the situation when, on his weekly radio spot on WFAN, he contradicted Mangini and insisted he was not hurt. Vilma said it had been the coach's decision to pull him. "There are times in every single game where different guys are injured and you do have a protocol in place for those things," Mangini said of whether the Jets risked hurting Vilma more by allowing him to play. "You go through the protocol, you talk to the player. It's a comprehensive process. You try to make the best decision you can make at that time." Mangini didn't dismiss the possibility of season-ending surgery for Vilma, who is second on the team with 43 tackles and has played in all 55 regular-season games since joining the Jets as the 12th pick of the 2004 draft. Now the Jets will turn to Harris, a rookie from Michigan they traded up in the second round to grab. Harris, who has 25 tackles this season, has seen his role gradually increase after playing mostly in nickel packages. "Now that Vilma is down, I have to pick up more responsibility," Harris said. "Vilma is a great player. Anytime that you lose a player like that it is very hard to fill his shoes. He is a great team leader. He has run the defense for four years now. It is a big task for me to fill in his shoes. "That has been a dream of mine to start an NFL game. My opportunity has arisen and I have to step up to the plate." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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