Jets WR Elijah Moore breaks his silence days after trade deadline passes

Days after the NFL trade deadline passed, Jets wide receiver Elijah Moore broke his silence.

“I feel good,” Moore said to reporters Friday. “Had a good day of practice, got a big week coming up, got the Bills coming up and I’m ready to play.”

The second-year pro out of Ole Miss remains on the team despite having been frustrated enough with his reduced role in the offense to ask for a trade. The Jets declined his request and now that the trade deadline has come and gone, the two sides need to figure out how to work together.

Hours after the Jets’ 27-10 victory against the Packers on Oct. 16, Moore quoted a tweet saying he was targetted zero times.

“If I say what I really wanna say… I’ll be the selfish guy…we winning,” Moore said in the tweet. “Grateful! Huge blessing! All I ever wanted. Bittersweet for me, but I’ll be solid. So I’ll just stay quiet. Just know I don’t understand either.”

While he practiced on Wednesday of the following week, the 2021 second-round pick was sent home the next day following a reported disagreement with Jets offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur. Then Jets coach Robert Saleh announced before the game against the Broncos on Oct. 23 that Moore would not travel with the rest of the team following his trade request.

Moore returned to the team following the win against the Broncos but played only 10 snaps in the 22-17 loss against the Patriots. Although he was not traded, Moore said it wasn’t easy to turn the page and start over fresh with the Jets organization.

“I’m a human, so it takes time,” Moore said. “Being the man that I am, I always try to reset my mind every time I go home. I go to the things that I believe in and that’s God.

“I just go to him in those moments and every day that I wake up, I’m just grateful to be up. Every day that I’m still here, it’s an opportunity to change.”

The Jets could undoubtedly use Moore this weekend against the mighty Bills, the third stingiest defense in the league in terms of yards, as they’re allowing 298.1 yards per game. Buffalo is also giving up just 14 points per game, which is tops in the NFL.

Gang Green will also be without Corey Davis this week as he is still dealing with a knee injury he suffered during the team’s win against the Broncos two weeks ago. In the loss against the Patriots, quarterback Zach Wilson struggled as he completed 20 of 41 passes for 355 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions.

After the game, Moore said he didn’t know about his chemistry with Wilson because he didn’t get the ball. It seemed like his tune changed when asked about it on Friday.

“We had a great week of practice,” Moore said. “I feel good about the plan, so we are just ready to play on Sunday.”

LaFleur said the team used Moore in a limited role last week because they were in more 12 personnel, which means that there is one running back, two tight ends and two receivers on the field. The two receivers that were mainly on the field were rookie Garrett Wilson and Denzel Mims, who was inactive for the first six weeks of the season before playing the last two games.

“I thought Mims did a lot of really good stuff, not necessarily that fill up the stat sheet, although he had some good plays,” LaFleur said. “But he did a lot of stuff without the ball that was very crucial for different situations throughout the game.

“We’ll continue to incorporate Elijah in some of the stuff, along with Brax [Braxton Berrios], along with our run game, along with our tight ends. We’re trying to get all these guys involved.”

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from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/O2hxetq