The Jets held their breath Wednesday when running back Le'Veon Bell left practice with an apparent shoulder injury, but they received good news Thursday after his MRI revealed he had no significant damage, as SNY's Ralph Vacchiano confirmed.
Bell tweeted Thursday that his shoulder turned out "fine" and he was "ready to go" for Monday's 8:15 p.m. kickoff at MetLife Stadium against the Cleveland Browns, but head coach Adam Gase gave an update for good measure Friday.
Gase said that Bell was good to go and set for practice Saturday, following the Jets' Friday off, after soreness surfaced from the injury in the middle of the week.
"I think he was very aggressive on Wednesday's practice," Gase said of Bell. "So I think he was probably a little too aggressive on Wednesday after playing 71 plays on Sunday."
In his first NFL game back since the 2017 season, Bell took 17 carries for 60 yards (3.5 average) and caught six passes on nine targets for 32 (5.3 average) and a touchdown during the past weekend's 17-16 loss to the Buffalo Bills.
The Jets held Bell out of preseason action, sitting him all four games before he made his debut with Gang Green to start the regular season. Gase reiterated that the injury did not come from Sunday's game, though.
"No, it was from practice," Gase said of Bell's injury. "Yeah, he was fine (coming out of Sunday's game)."
Bell's status for the Monday Night Football matchup with the Browns comes as a sigh of relief for the Jets, who are already without starting quarterback Sam Darnold.
Video: Jamison Crowder reflects on football and his family
Among other notables, the Jets continue to monitor the statuses of linebacker C.J. Mosley and defensive tackle Quinnen Williams. Gase was optimistic Wednesday, but provided a further update Friday.
"We'll see after today," Gase said of Mosley and Williams. "They've got a lot of stuff going on today, with time to recover and things like that. So with him, I wouldn't count him out, either one of those guys, just because two 'Bama guys. They're fast healers."
Despite the slow start and key injuries on both sides of the ball, Gase refuses to make excuses for the Jets' production in 2019.
"We need everybody," Gase said. "The fact that one of our best players (in Bell) is OK now, I'm (feeling) good about that."
"No, we're not going to adjust our expectations. We will not adjust. Next man up -- that's our philosophy."