DENNIS WASZAK Jr.
AP Sports Writer
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) — Eric Decker is ready to play again. The New York Jets wide receiver hopes his ailing right hamstring allows him to.
Decker sat out practice for the second straight day Thursday with tightness in his leg, but is optimistic about his chances of playing against the Detroit Lions on Sunday.
“I’m planning on getting out there,” Decker said. “I can’t promise anything, but obviously I’m leaning on the positive side that I’m definitely going to be out there.”
Decker was limited Monday night against Chicago because of the injury, which occurred in Week 2 at Green Bay. He was a game-time decision, and could be in a similar situation this weekend.
Decker had one catch for 19 yards against the Bears before pulling himself out of the game. He says he couldn’t get his leg loose enough, so he and the Jets were smart to not push it.
“I’ve got no regrets,” Decker said of playing Monday night. “As a competitor, it’s hard to be out. I thought through last week, how I felt (Monday) pregame, I could get some snaps in. I knew I wasn’t going to play the whole game. I knew I could do a little bit, at least, to help. That’s all I could do was 15, 16 snaps, whatever it was.”
Decker, second on the team with 10 catches for 156 yards and a touchdown, acknowledged that there’s some concern about waiting until he’s feeling 100 percent healthy. That was something he considered Monday night.
“If I sat out, would it be better today? I don’t know,” he said. “But I do know that I wasn’t going to push it past the point where I’m going to make it worse. When I woke up Tuesday morning, I didn’t feel worse than I felt Monday after the Green Bay game. So I knew I was smart about it.
“I’m just going to gauge how I feel. If I can mentally get through the game and feel OK, then I’m going to do that.”
Dealing with a soft-tissue injury is something new for Decker, who first hurt the hamstring during training camp and aggravated it against the Packers.
“It’s kind of a pain in the butt,” he said. “You’ve really got to kind of gauge it. Everyone’s different with how they recover and how bad the pull is or strain or whatever they diagnose it as. For me, it’s just kind of feeling it out and pushing it to the point where I know my body well enough to where it’s, ‘OK, that’s good pain and that’s bad pain.’ So, just being smart about it.”
Meanwhile, top cornerback Dee Milliner didn’t practice because of a quadriceps injury that sidelined him for the game against the Bears. Coach Rex Ryan said it “probably doesn’t look good” for Milliner to play against the Lions.
Wide receiver David Nelson was also sidelined for the second straight day because of an illness. Ryan said the team sent him home before practice.
Defensive lineman Muhammad Wilkerson (knee), center Nick Mangold (shoulder) and right guard Willie Colon (calf) were all limited, but are expected to play.
Backup center Dalton Freeman injured a knee during practice, which was held in the indoor facility because of storms. Ryan had no immediate update on the severity, but said Colon and rookie Dakota Dozier could snap in place of Freeman if Mangold is sidelined at any point.
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