"As expected, the Jets ruled wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery, who has a groin injury, out for tomorrow's game against Houston.

But closing the door on Cotchery just opened it for others, including versatile Brad Smith, who could take a bigger receiving role and big Patrick Turner, who was called up from the practice squad.

"I worked as hard as I could to give myself a chance to play this week, but didn't make enough progress, wasn't able to do enough stuff on the field," said Cotchery, who had to be convinced to sit. "It was very wise. I'm going to continue to work to get my groin better and have a chance of playing next week.

"Sometimes you have to hear someone else to get you out of the way. As a player you don't want to miss any games. You want to be out there with your teammates. But the guys will be ready to play and I'll be rooting them on. The approach I had this week is giving me a good shot of making it next week."

Cotchery partially tore his left groin at Cleveland last week and missed three days of practice. He spent most of the portion of yesterday's practice open to the press running routes parallel to the receivers or stretching on a nearby field. Eventually the coaches had to convince him to sit tomorrow in the hope of being ready to play Thanksgiving night against the Bengals."