The Jets took a whipping on the field Sunday and they’ll be down a player as they attempt to rebound in two tough road games in Baltimore and New England.
Tight end Jeff Cumberland was lost for the season with a torn right Achilles tendon. He was injured in the second quarter of Sunday’s 34-24 loss to the Raiders. Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News reports that it will take Cumberland, who had two catches for 35 yards this season, six months to recuperate from the injury.
Cumberland isn’t a household name, but he was a regular fixture whenever the team played multiple tight ends. He seemed to be growing into a role as a pass catcher in those sets and got some decent looks as a result of defenses focusing on stopping Santonio Holmes, Derrick Mason, Plaxico Burress and Dustin Keller. Their only other reserve tight end, Matthew Mulligan, is strictly a blocker and that will mean the team has to figure out different things to do offensively.
Cumberland’s injury and the fact that it will impact what the Jets do on offense is also a sign of how thin the team is this season. The loss of Robert Turner in preseason left the team without experienced backups on the offensive line, something that hurt them badly in Oakland as the team played without Nick Mangold, and each injury, even to a player as little known as Cumberland, is going to make it harder for the Jets to keep doing what they do well this season.