E-Boland & Gang Green

By Tom Rock

I hate to start trouble with only my second blog, but I can’t help but wonder if the Jets like their New Jersey fans more than they like their Long Island fans.

The team pulled out all of the stops for the announced crowd of 6,000 or so who came to the Meadowlands to watch Saturday’s practice. Not only was radioman Bob Wischusen on the public address mic announcing the players and explaining what the heck was going one, the NJ faction of the extended family received a 10-minute autograph session in which everyone on the Jets – EVERYONE including Coach Mangini and Woody Johnson – bellied up to the wall and signed autographs. And they signed EVERYTHING. At one point Woody Johnson put his signature on someone’s sneaker.

I understand these were special circumstances, and I’m not honestly saying that the Jets don’t respect their LI faithful. But it would be nice for the fans to see some of those perks at Hofstra, if not in the coming weeks then maybe next year when Jets Camp makes its final stop in Hempstead. Having someone explain the format and the goals of the drills was extremely helpful as the chaos on a training camp field can be overwhelming to the non-initiated. And the autographs, well, I can see where that can be difficult to do on a daily basis. But maybe the Jets should have one or two days when they approach the fences around the soccer field at Hofstra and, in unison, pull out their Sharpies. Obviously there are many things -- scoreboard entertainment, sound systems -- that will never translate from an NFL stadium to a college soccer field, but I think Jets fans would enjoy the little details.

As for the practice itself, it was very uneventful. Pennington didn’t play much – he was out of rotation so to speak – and Clemens and Bollinger took most of the reps. Ramsey didn’t take an 11-on-11 snap.

Mangini said this trip to the Stadium was to simulate a game-day experience. The idea of a field trip to check out what is supposed to be a home field is so simple, I can understand why it had been overlooked.

With about 20 minutes left in practice and some visitors making their way out of the Stadium, Andrew Gross of the Journal-News had the line of the day when he noted that even the fans were getting ready for the regular season.

Practice ended with Mike Nugent attempting a 60-yard field goal that came up short. This after both Bollinger and Clemens failed to get into decent scoring position during the two-minute drill. The lesson was this: If success hinges on the ability of the third- and fourth-string quarterbacks to drive the ball in the closing seconds and Nugent’s ability to kick field goals from midfield, 2006 will be a long season.