Jets' Breece Hall, Quinnen Williams still showing team spirit despite injuries

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — The head coach got fired after five games. The general manager later was told to leave, too. The losses have hit double digits for the eighth time in the last nine years. There will be no postseason for a staggering 14th straight year.

And embarrassing stories about in-house dysfunction continue to circulate.

The Jets are 4-10 and have been perhaps the NFL’s greatest disappointment considering the great expectations at the opening kickoff. But two of their banged-up quality players, Breece Hall and Quinnen Williams, still have wanted to play on if at all possible.

Hall hurt his left knee against the Colts on Nov. 17. The running back suffered an aggravation of the injury two weeks later and missed a game before returning last Sunday at Jacksonville despite missing two of the three practice days. It’s the same knee that needed an ACL repair job two years ago.

Hall didn’t miss any practice this week and was off the injury report for Sunday’s game against the Rams at MetLife Stadium. He didn’t want to hang a “closed” sign on his season when the topic came up.

“I definitely had discussions about it and everything, but we’ve got older guys on the team,” Hall said Friday. “If they’re going to come out and play, why can’t I play?

“I don’t want to be selfish and not play for the team if everybody else is playing. If everybody else is playing, I feel like I should, too, just because guys have made a commitment and been here even when they don’t have to. I’m just trying to make a commitment to my teammates and the coaches and show that I want to play.”

Williams injured a hamstring against the Jaguars, and the defensive tackle didn’t practice this week. He was among the injured working on a side field while Friday’s practice proceeded in the light snow.

Williams is listed as questionable. Interim coach Jeff Ulbrich said he thinks he has a chance to play because defensive tackles don’t “open their stride up as much” but added that the team will “make a decision that’s best for him and for us.”

Williams wants to be out there with his teammates.

“Every single day, man,” said the sixth-year pro and two-time Pro Bowl honoree, who has six sacks. “No matter the record, no matter the situation, I want to be the person to help this organization turn this thing around, be the person to help this team win football games.

“The main thing that matters is to play football with my boys, the people I’ve been here with since training camp and the defensive line, the group of guys who we fight every single day and to get better every single day.”

Hall has made progress with his injury, saying, “Probably rushed it a little sooner than what I needed to, but I’m feeling a little bit better now, able to practice more comfortably.”

After falling six yards short of the 1,000 mark last season, the third-year pro has run for 722 with three games remaining and is averaging 4.2 per carry.

“I thought he’s played really well, especially when he’s been full go and healthy, like he’s playing his butt off,” Ulbrich said. “He is a guy I would not want to play against. That is for sure.”

The Jets have seven close losses, all by six or fewer points. So how close are they to turning this around?

“I truly don’t know the answer,” Williams said. “It’s one of those things [where] we’ve got to all look in the mirror this offseason from top down and find a way how to help this team win football games, not just from the players, but from the owner aspect and from the GM to the head coach to everybody to help turn this thing around, because players just can’t do this thing on their own.

“We’ve all got to be in this thing together from, like I said, top down, everybody on one accord and on one beat.”

Notes & quotes: Besides Williams, running back Braelon Allen (back), guard Alijah Vera-Tucker and defensive lineman Leki Fotu are questionable. Nickel back Michael Carter II (back) is out.