E-Boland & Gang Green

By Tom Rock

We know the Jets have an affinity for smallish nose tackles, but Dewayne Robertson has taken it to the extreme. He looks to have dropped about 100 pounds. The Jets even had him out there fielding punts. Then there was Justin Miller, who seems to have fallen out of shape pretty quickly during his time on the injury sideline.

No, no, no. It’s just that a few of the Jets defenders had a jersey swap and were wearing each others’ numbers. So it was Miller who was No. 63 and D-Rob was wearing 22 (though he barely squeezed into it). Vilma wore 24 and Revis wore 51 (which can certainly be interpreted as a sign of respect for the rookie). Kerry Rhodes and Victor Hobson switched, as did Eric Smith and Eric Barton, and Shaun Ellis and Andre Dyson.

No official word on why. Maybe the Jets think someone’s been peeking in on their practices, a Patriots-sponsored Sputnik. Or maybe it was just to play with our minds a little. Coulda just been for some laughs, break up the preseason drudgery. We may never know.

A funny moment in the locker room that I neglected to mention in the earlier post: It’s fair to say that the players aren’t very comfortable with all of the reporters on their turf. They look forward to the time when we are all ushered out. But David Bowens came up with an ingenious way to shoo us all away. At a moment when it was quiet, he announced “Pete Kendall to the podium!” Very clever stuff.

Everybody practiced except Thomas Jones, who continues working without pads but seems to be making progress, and the Jets’ lone PUPpy, Matt Chatham.