Braelon Allen has been one of the few bright spots of another lost Jets season, having rushed for 504 yards and a pair of touchdowns in five starts since taking over the starting job for the injured Breece Hall.
But with Hall having recovered from the quad injury that’s kept him out since the third week of the season and set to return Sunday in Kansas City, the Jets have to decide who should get the ball more.
Asked what his expectations were for Sunday, even with Allen in excellent form, Hall said, “Still the starter. [I’m] still a very good running back in this league. Braelon is playing [well]. I think [Allen], the offensive line and the offense caught their stride after the first three of four games. It’s gonna be good to get in there and play some ball.”
Offensive coordinator Frank Reich said of the pair, “You’ve got two No. 1 backs. [Hall] is obviously the bell cow. He’s our guy, but it will be a mix.”
For a team desperate for a win after three straight defeats, they’ll take all the help they can get.
After opening the season by rushing for 102 yards and a touchdown in a Week 1 win over the Titans, Hall rushed for just 61 yards on 29 carries in his next two games before missing five in a row. He said he believes he and Allen should have been used more evenly early on in the season, but it took time for the offense to find chemistry.
Though Allen’s performance took away some of the impact of Hall’s absence, it still affected the offense. And Hall said that though he’d been able to practice the past couple of weeks, there were still lingering issues with the injury until recently.
“It’s just being comfortable,’’ Hall said. “I was practicing, but my quad was still getting inflamed. It was still sore and stiff the day after. There’s no point in having me play a game and risk a reinjury. The position I play, me being explosive and using my quad is how I play well.”
Allen’s emergence — combined with the Jets’ struggles that have put them on the outside of the postseason conversation — means that Hall is once again the subject of trade rumors around the league. He said he continues to not pay attention to those rumors.
“I get asked this the last three years,” Hall said. “I continue to play every week, show up every week and answer the same question.”
But there are plenty of teams in the market for a running back and Hall would make sense for many of them before next week’s trade deadline. Making matters worse is the fact Hall said he’s had to avoid social media due to fans threatening him and his family because he wasn’t playing.
“Apparently, [fans thought] I was faking an injury or had a bruised hip,’’ Hall said of him being listed as questionable or limited before being ruled out on Sundays. “It’s been a lot. … I’ve had very much a love/hate relationship with Jets fans. And that’s part of being an athlete in New York. They want you to be available, they want you to play, [and] they want you to play very well.”
The 2022 second-round pick rushed for a career-high 1,065 yards last season but has never had a stretch like the one Allen is on currently.
“I’ve always been an advocate of when Braelon comes in, he gets the ball,” Hall said. “That’s never been a problem for me. … It doesn’t matter who’s in, I want us to be successful regardless.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: nypost.com
