New York Jets' Pierre Desir Won't Blame Injury or Refs for Week 1 Benching: 'Just Gotta Get Better'

New York Jets cornerback Pierre Desir made his first public comments since being benched in the second half of the Jets 27-17 to the Buffalo Bills. The veteran struggled against both Bills receivers Stefon Diggs and John Brown.

“I know for me, there's a couple of plays that I wish I could have back,” Desir said Wednesday in his virtual press conference. “A couple of third downs, but you know, this is a new week. I looked at the tape. Gotta get better each day. Take it day by day to get ready for the [San Francisco] 49ers.”

Desir made six tackles against Buffalo but had several noticeably shaky moments. The decision to bench him was made by the defensive coaching staff.

“That was their call,” Jets head coach Adam Gase said Wednesday. “At the time they felt like that was the best move that they could do for where we were in the game. You know, we start the week over. We practice and you know the best guys are going to play, so that’s how we’re rolling. I like the fact that we’re going to have competition and whoever practices the best, that’s who will be out there.”

Two Desir penalties lead directly to Buffalo touchdowns. In the first quarter, he was called for defensive holding on a third-and-5 pass that was incomplete but gave the Bills a first down. They scored on the next play.

Later in the first half, Desir was called for pass interference that cost the Jets 33 yards. Six plays later, the score was 14-0 Buffalo.

Desir didn’t attribute his struggles to his training camp hamstring injury. He missed a sizeable number of practices because of it.

He also didn’t bite when reporters asked him if he was the victim of bad calls by the officials.

“Hey, I'm not a ref,” Desir said. “I understand it's an offensive driven league, but, you know, I looked at it, definitely can clean up my technique. But you know, as a DB you can't play scared. You gotta go out there and play confident and continue to play on in the game.”

The Jets were non-committal on their starting cornerback for the upcoming game Sunday at home against San Francisco.

“I felt that there are some things that I need work on,” Desir said. “This week is a new week. Just gotta get better and prepare for San Francisco.”