Allen Lazard said he was "a little caught off guard" when he learned that he would be inactive for the Jets’ Week 12 game against the Miami Dolphins last week.
The wide receiver revealed that he learned he would be inactive for the Black Friday game the previous Wednesday and that after talking to head coach Robert Saleh about the decision he “could see his reasoning for it and everything.”
"It is what it is, you know?” Lazard said. “You gotta continue just working to get better and keep improving."
He later added that prior to being informed that he would sit out, there were no "previous discussions or talk about any of that, so I was preparing for the week to play.”
The Jets would go on to lose to the Dolphins 34-13 in his absence.
Lazard, who signed a four-year, $44 million deal ($22 million guaranteed) this past offseason after spending the first five years of his career in Green Bay, has struggled in his first season in New York.
The 28-year-old has just 20 catches on 41 targets through 10 games for 290 yards and one touchdown. Lazard is averaging just two receptions and 29 yards per game, nearly half the production from his final year with the Packers.
When asked if he believed his play this season warranted being inactive, Lazard said that is “not my decision. I just try and go out there and be the best every single day.”
“I think everyone would agree that we haven’t reached our expectation or our goals as far as individuals and collectively as a group and there’s always room for improvement,” he said when asked about how he would evaluate his play this season.
Lazard said there could be “numerous” reasons why his production and the offense as a whole have failed to produce on the year.
“Individually, collectively, it’s a team sport. I would like to think football is the most team sport that there is,” he said. “There’s so much that has to happen for individuals to be successful, for the group to be successful, for the team to be successful.
“There’s a lot of things that me as an individual can improve on and collectively as a group improve on, as well.”
Saleh said earlier Wednesday that Lazard would be active for Sunday’s game against the Atlanta Falcons, but that won’t change how the receiver prepares.
“I approach every week the same. I don’t try to look at any opponent or guys that I have to go against or what happened last week to deter me from how I approach the week and what I plan on to do into the game,” he told reporters. “Once the game happens and the play gets called and opportunities get presented that’s when I gotta go make the play. I just handle it day by day and week by week.”