Michael Carter Jr., New York Jets Running Back

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Viator. One site, over 300,000 experiences you'll remember. We continue. This is that Yelp show coast to coast on CBS Sports Radio. Let's spend a few moments right now talking about the New York Jets who are one-on-one on the season. After one of the craziest comebacks I've ever seen. They were down 13 points in Cleveland with under two minutes to go.

And they find a way to win the game 31 to 30 in those final two minutes. Now joining us, a second year running back for the New York Jets out of UNC. They have the Cincinnati Bengals this weekend at MetLife Stadium, Sunday one o'clock. And that's Michael Carter, who we did meet at the Super Bowl right when Barry Sanders was on set with us. And that was one of the coolest experiences probably of your life there, Michael Carter. Because I remember you called your dad right after on FaceTime.

That was some awesome stuff. How you been? Yeah, I'm good, man. Good to hear your voice again.

Yeah, but no, you're right. Meeting Barry Sanders was a big deal to me just because I feel like he's the pinnacle of the position. It's exciting.

But no, it's cool. How you doing? I'm doing great. I'll never forget when you said to me, I'm just surprised Barry Sanders knew who I was.

Yeah, right. And I really was surprised, but I guess it's a credit to my work that I've been putting in. Well, that was an insane victory last weekend, Michael Carter.

How'd you process it now having a day or two to think about it? No, it was a fun win. But at the same time, I'm highly aware. It's more than one win to be great in this league. Everybody can do it one time, but can you do it again and again and again? It was fun while I lasted, but we're on to next week. When you heard that after the game, I'm sure you saw this stat, that NFL teams won the last 2,229 consecutive games when leading by at least 13 points in the final two minutes. To see you guys break that streak, which is remarkable. What does that say about the football team you guys have?

Yeah, man. I think it just speaks on our resilience, our resiliency as a team. And like I said before, man, we're just a group that just fights to the end. We're going to fight for each other and win, lose, or draw. We know we're going to be a tough group and we're going to be a tough group to beat. Win, lose, or draw, even if we lost, there's going to be a long injury report. So it's always fun to go out and play on Sunday with the guys. Michael Carter here with us. Was that the craziest comeback you've ever been a part of playing football?

I don't know. I was thinking, maybe, but I did have a game where we played at UNC. We were down by like 25, 30 at halftime and we came back and won. We scored like 38, 30 points. But I think just like the magnitude of, you know, we're away and it was two minutes left or less. We were down by two touchdowns.

I think there was one probably that stayed the case. But at the same time, I was very confident in both those games. And my teammates were confident also that we were going to win the game. You know, our energy was great on Sunday, man. And a lot of credit to my teammates and our fans that were at the game. You know, they had the house rocking too.

So it was fun. Michael Carter here with us from the Jets. Second year running back, Jets had the Bengals this weekend. Before we talk about the Bengals, one more on last week, what was that scene like in the locker room after the game? We saw the little video of Joe Flacco going nuts, but it must have been a party in that locker room. Yeah, Joe Flacco was so tall and he jumped up. He was jumping up. I thought he was going to hit his head on the ceiling. He was jumping so high. But it was super fun. It was super fun. I know Zach is your quarterback, but because of the injury, Joe is playing.

Is that a business mentality that you have already where you don't think about it that way? But it has to be pretty surreal because you probably watched up seeing Joe Flacco play some football when you were growing up, right? Yeah, Joe Flacco was like a hood hero. Yeah, no, Joe Flacco was super cool. He did a really good job in the huddle. He just made sure everybody had to play and knows what to do before we get out there and spin. It's always fun playing with Joe just to play with a legend like that. He'll downplay, but in a lot of eyes, he is a legend.

It's just fun to play with one and learn. How is Zach Wilson progressing? Very well. He's healthy. He's been working. His mental is strong. He's going to be ready to go when he gets back. We're in a win-win situation at quarterback. Do you have a feeling when he's going to be back?

I don't know. He probably has to ask coach or his lawyers or something. Michael Carter here with us. What type of quarterback do you think Zach Wilson can be? He can be whatever quarterback he wants to be. He's got all the talent in the world. He's got the hard work ethic to match it. I do think that Scott is one of my friends and he knows that I feel that way about him.

We talk a lot of times. We're on a path trying to be great along with the rest of the guys. There's no pressure on Zach at the end of the day. It's a team sport as much as people in media try to put everything on him as a quarterback. It's a team game.

He's got to come to work every day like he does and just continue to get better. Talking to Michael Carter from the Jets, what do you think the biggest difference is from last year to this year for you individually and then also the team so far? I'll start with the team. We're just a confident group. We know that we can win in the game. Even last week, we won. People couldn't say what they wanted to say about the Browns clock management. That's just the game we play.

It's a game of inches. We took advantage of the opportunity that we had. Whereas week one, defense played lights out and offense, we weren't able to put any points on the board.

But we came back the next weekend. We took what we had to fix in practice. We put points on the board. From last year to this year, we're an even more confident group. I know that we can go win any game in any stadium.

Individually, the game is slowing down for me. I really feel like at any point, things are going the way that things are going my way in the game. I can do whatever it takes to win the game.

I can do my part in a little extra just to go help win a game for the team. I feel very confident. My confidence is at an all-time high. I'm blessed to be where I'm at. I'm just grateful for it all. I'm happy. I think that's the biggest thing. What was your reaction when the team drafted Breece Hall in the second round this year?

I didn't know Washington College was a really good player. I was excited to go in and work him. Things are working out. How has that relationship been so far? You guys are obviously splitting carries, but how have you guys been so far as teammates?

We've been doing well. He's a guy that works hard. I'm going to always juggle guys that work hard because I'm a hard worker too. He's a cool guy. He has a good personality.

All around he's a guy. Take me through on that second and ten catch that you had. Then you got the first down for 12 yards late with under 1 minute 30 to go.

You made a nice little move there. Just take me through that play if you don't mind. I've always wanted to do that. Just go out of bounds a little bit. Try to get the first down.

I saw Michael Vick do it one time. I was like, hey, this is probably not the best time to try. What else am I going to try? My mind was on game. Doing the award did a good job of taking it away. I had to go find the stick. That was all my mind. My mind was just getting the first down. The confidence to try something you've never done before in a game there. You have to be confident in this league. Everybody is talented. Not everybody is confident as they say they are.

As they appear to be. The more confidence you have in a game, the better off you'll be. You saw Michael Vick attempt that one time. That's how you remember something like that. That comes naturally to you? It wasn't like, oh, I'm going to try this if I get the rock.

I did it and I was like, ah, it works. You know what I mean? Michael Carter here with us from the Jets. Jets play the Bengals this weekend. That was a successful game for you guys last year. You guys got a victory. I know Mike White was playing at quarterback.

Now it's going to look like it's going to be Joe Flacco. Is there anything you can take away from that game? Or is it just, hey, it's a whole new year. There's not really much you can take away from that one.

I think it's a little bit of both. They're familiar with us. And we're familiar with them. We played them last year.

They're the same group of guys. And they've gotten better. So it's just going to be a matter of, yeah, we learned from the film that we played them last year with.

We're also the first couple games this year. Despite losing, they've done some really good stuff. So it'll be an interesting matchup. It'll be a fun one. Their roster's extremely talented.

And it'll be fun to just go compete. We've got a lot of respect for those guys. How do you describe your head football coach, Robert Salah? Michael Carter? Yeah, he's juiced up. He's a leader and someone that can bring people together.

So there's nothing but love for him and a lot of respect for him. You know what it's like to be a rookie going through it last year? Garrett Wilson is a first round pick. A lot of high expectations coming out of Ohio State where he was a heck of a wide receiver. On Sunday, had eight receptions, 102 yards. Got those two touchdowns.

The last one was the biggest one. What has stood out to you the most so far about Garrett Wilson? Yeah, he's a good athlete, man. And he loves to compete. I think that's the number one thing that has still got to me is that he just loves to compete.

He talks a lot of trash. And he backs it up. And he's been doing well. He's been doing well. He came in.

And he has the right hand on his shoulders. I know it's cliche to say, but he has, man. He's really put his head down in the work and earned a lot of respect from his teammates. We've seen receivers recently. Justin Jefferson stepped into the league right away, had an immediate big-time impact.

Last year, Jamar Chase, who the Bengals are going to play you guys this weekend, right away took the league by storm. Do you feel like with what he's shown the first two weeks, especially on Sunday, that he could be one of those guys, like a Jamar Chase, like a Justin Jefferson? You know, I feel like it's not really my job to foresee that. I think that it's also, you know, I don't want to put any expectations on him. It's just, you know, it's his life, and I know he's capable of doing that.

But at the end of the day, you know, it's going to be up to how life goes. But at the same time, yeah, he's very, very capable of doing something like that. He is.

He's got all the talent in the world. And, you know, he's my dog, so he's, you know, we're going to continue to take it week by week. Before we let you run, do you sense a different energy with this team? I know it's only two games in. I know you guys are one and one, and I know you want to win every game. It's a building process, but I thought the Jets had a pretty positive offseason. Do you feel that energy, or do you still just say, okay, we're not there yet?

No, no, I do feel that. And I've been feeling like that probably since the end of last season. And I know we were unnecessarily winning, but we were playing much better football. So, with the guys that we got in the offseason and the guys that we have in the building, you know, just getting better and better and better, just improving every day.

I do think that we're at a place where, you know, we should be, you know, we should feel confident about going into each game and winning them. Before we let you run, I got to ask you about UNC Tar Heels. They're 3-0, they had that wild game up against App State a few weeks back. They got Notre Dame this weekend. You've been keeping tabs with your Tar Heels?

Yeah, I have, for sure. You know, man, I got to. I love my alma mater. And everybody was laughing at me about the App State game until they beat Texas A&M. And everybody was like, oh, you know what, maybe App State is good. Well, no, I could have told you that, that they were good.

App State is a great program. And they do a lot of good things, and they got a hell of a run game, actually. But, you know, they played a lot of good football there, and they got a draft pick. Actually, one of the guys I played when I played App State in college played for the Bengals, so we played him this week.

So it'll be funny just going up to him and, you know, joking about when we played and stuff like that. So here we go. Well, Michael Carter, always great to catch up with you. A heck of a win over the weekend, and good luck the rest of the way. Thank you. Alright, appreciate it, man. Thank you. Thank you.