Erik Boland: Inside the Jets

So, it's just after 11 and I'm still at Hofstra. Alone. I need to eat, which I will do shortly. Hey, this still beats working.

Anyway, I had copious notes from which I was prepared to draft the practice report to end all practice reports, but at 9 p.m. or so a story popped up out of Green Bay suggesting the Jets were getting all hot and heavy - my language (don't judge me, it's late) - in trade talks for Favre. Here's what you should know from the story I wrote for tomorrow's paper:

"A published report Thursday night that said the Jets and Packers were in 'serious talks' for retired Packers quarterback Brett Favre exaggerated things somewhat, a person close to the situation said.
The story, which appeared on the Green Bay Press-Gazette Web site under the headline 'Jets' trade talks for Favre heat up,' said the Jets were showing 'a growing interest' in dealing for Favre and hinted that something was close to being done. But late Thursday night the source said that was not so.
In other words, the Jets were no closer Thursday night to dealing for Favre than they were last Friday when they were first mentioned as being one of his suitors.
Though the Jets have not closed the door on dealing for Favre, each passing day makes a deal less likely."

And toward the end of that story there's an item about Favre maybe taking the $20 million marketing job with the Packers and staying retired. Sheeeeeeeeeeeeesh. And you can quote me.

Of course, that is now. I could wake up to the sound of a phone at 8 a.m. Friday morning telling me Favre is a Jet, where we're at Thursday night he's not and still doesn't appear to be any time soon. And if the phone does wake me that early - I'm a sports writer, ok, so 8 a.m. is early - it better be telling me something that major. Otherwise, no calls, please.

So what can I say, we got sidetracked a bit here and hence, no afternoon practice report from Thursday. But as former Mets GM Frank Cashen used to say, "there's always another game tomorrow" and in this case, there's another practice tomorrow. But it's closed to the public. But not to me so I'll have a thorough - or what I consider thorough - review.

Don't forget, however, the Green and White Practice which is at 1 p.m. Saturday at Hofstra's Shuart Stadium. That is free and open to the public. The day of activities starts at 10 a.m. and though we're not always serious on this blog, allow me to be on this point:

The Jets and A-1 First Class-Viking Moving and Storage are hosting a food drive Saturday that will benefit The INN (Interfaith Nutrition Network). There should be a nice crowd Saturday and fans are asked to bring non-perishable food items to donate to a worthy cause that operates 19 soup kitchens and 25 shelters on Long Island.

And with that, lights out.

For the first time this training camp, Eric Mangini was disgusted with his team after a practice and ripped into them afterward. Well, what amounts to a rip job by Mangini. While his tone just now was the same as usual – reserved – his words were strong. And his practice was the longest yet of camp, 2 hours 9 minutes.

“There’s a real progression during camp and there’s so many guys, you’re giving guys opportunities to make a case for themselves, and there are some things that mechanically go wrong,” Mangini said. “Where I get frustrated is when, today, which I thought was the case in our review period, it was more trying to get through practice than practicing with a purpose. And that’s not acceptable.”

There was more.

“It’s going to be hot in Miami (for the season opener), it’s hot now,” Mangini said. “We’re going to be tired in that game, we’re tired now. We have to be able to deal with those things and still get down what we have to get done. And when it gets to the point where you’re trying to get through a rep, you’re trying to get through a period…and look, these (practices) aren’t long comparatively, but c’mon, it’s a joke compared to what we have done. Everybody has to uphold their end of the bargain. To whom much is given, much is expected to be efficient. We’re doing that, we’re not wasting any practices, any periods. So that’s where I’m at.”

This afternoon’s practice, I’m guessing, will go a bit better.

A few quickies from this morning:

* No picks for Kellen Clemens and he actually outperformed Pennington in the two-minute situational drill to end practice. The situation was the offense backed up to the goal line, down 23-16 with 2:04 left. Clemens opened the drive by hitting Jerricho Cottchery on a 20-yard out route on the left sideline. Then came Clemens best throw in a couple days as he hit David Clowney (a reader asked about him in a previous post), who blew past Justin Miller at the line, down the right sideline for a 43-yard pickup (Mangini talked up Clowney today, one of the only players he seemed OK with from the practice).
Clemens connected with Cotchery on the sideline and then over the middle on a slant to move the ball to the 6. But the offense could not get in. Clemens’ third-down fade for Chansi Stuckey was knocked away by Drew Coleman and on fourth down, Clemens’ corner fade for Marcus Henry got disrupted, again by Coleman.

* Clemens fared better than Pennington in the drill, though it started well enough. Pennington got the offense away from its goal line by hitting Wallace Wright on a 25-yard deep slant, caught in front of Hank Poteat. Pennington followed with a short pass over the middle that gained 8. The offense stalled and faced a fourth-and-4 from midfield but Pennington converted by throwing a 16-yard strike to the 34. Problem was, only 15 seconds remained on the clock. A Hail Mary to the left side of the end zone was nearly grabbed by David Ball, but he couldn’t hang on as he hit the ground. Even had ball held on for what would have been a spectacular catch, he likely would have been ruled out of bounds. That left six seconds and a final ball into the end zone got batted away by linebacker Cody Spencer.

* Kerry Rhodes delivered what to this point was the hardest hit of practice. Clemens rifled an 18-yarder to Stuckey over the middle, where Rhodes was waiting. Stuckey had no sooner brought the ball to his chest when Rhodes leveled him, leading with his right shoulder. A win-win if you’re a Jets fan – and let’s face it if you’re reading this blog, you probably are – because that’s just the kind of hit you want to see Rhodes delivering. But Stuckey hanging on despite the shot is a good sign as well.

* But as Mangini said, a sluggish practice overall. Bubba Franks dropped a 5-yard pass over the middle – he dropped one yesterday as well – and Brett Ratliff threw another interception. In an early 11-on-11, Ratliff threw for Jason Pociask on the right sideline. But his ball skimmed off a defensive lineman’s hand on the release, right into the hands of Ahmad Carroll, who returned the pick 25 yards for a touchdown. To DCJetsFan, I don’t see four quarterbacks being kept on the roster. It’s going to be Ainge or Ratliff and that competition is far from over. Ratliff has come back to the pack – a pack of one – in a big way the last couple days. Ainge hasn’t shown much in the limited opportunities he has had to throw.

* David Harris, Laveranues Coles, Jesse Chatman and Artrell Hawkins did not practice. Bumps, bruises and mild strains are a part of any training camp so don’t go crazy yet on these guys missing, though Coles, because of his injury issues last year, is worth watching. If he, or Harris for that matter, miss the Green and White scrimmage Saturday, then it might be problematic.

And with that, at 1:30 we have NFL officials giving a seminar on any new rules that go into effect this year. Back with more later.

Go ahead, name a stranger situation in sports over the last 10, 15, 20 years than what's happening in Green Bay (Ok, Manny's thing in Boston is pretty good right now, too, but still...).

The runaway highlight to the above link to the espn.com story:

"A Milwaukee television station reported the Packers had offered Favre about $20 million over the next 10 years to remain retired. The Green Bay Press-Gazette offered a similar report, although it did not name the dollar amount. If true, the reports revealed a startling lack of lack of insight into Favre's makeup and what he is looking for."

Um, ya think? And now we're paying people to stay AWAY from work? What a train wreck.

As for the Jets today, practice at 8:45 a.m. with player availability afterward and Eric Mangini at about 11:30. Another practice is scheduled for 5:45. Both practices are open to the public. Tomorrow's activities, however, are closed to the public.

And dmb, I'm seeing your Keller question now as I'm about to post this and head outside but the quick answer is, yes. Keller has been running free almost every practice. A couple days ago Bryan Thomas dropped back into coverage and tipped a ball away from Keller over the middle but other than that, the rookie has been open and caught almost everything thrown to him. I can remember just one outright drop and for a rookie - even a veteran - that's a decent start to camp.

We’ll get the Craig Carton report out of the way first. The WFAN morning man showed up around 1 p.m. wearing a Jets jersey and carrying a bullhorn. He spoke to a group of about 40-50 for a little over five minutes, pronouncing undying love for all things Jets and ending it with a “Let’s get Brett!” chant that maybe half the 40-50 participated in. A good time had by all. Nothing inflammatory. Carton, who seemed like a good sport, signed some autographs and overall it was a nice little pre-practice diversion that I could have done without.

Now to the practice:

* I feel suddenly like I’m beating up on Kellen Clemens and was prepared to write about an improved day – and it still was in the big picture – but on what turned out to be the afternoon’s final play, Drew Coleman baited Clemens into throwing a pass for Brad Smith (more on Smith in tomorrow’s paper), who was running a curl. You guessed it, Coleman intercepted the 12-yard throw, making the interception tally 6-0 in favor of Clemens this camp. The Jets were in a two minute drill – with the offense down 16-13 in this case – so that ended the practice.

* Prior to that throw, Clemens threw a good-looking 10-yard slant to David Ball and a beautiful deep ball down the middle (about 20 yards) that B. Smith picked off the shoulder pads of Hank Poteat, who was not looking back for the ball. But a delay penalty negated the 20-yard pickup. The highlight play of the 1-hour 56-minute practice was a Clemens throw 30 yards down the right sideline for Dustin Keller. Cameron Worrell interfered with Keller – and drew a flag – but with the ball placed perfectly over his inside shoulder, Keller made the catch anyway. Worrell earned a lap.

* There was another interception during the practice. It came from Brett Ratliff, who threw a big-time wobbler downfield intended for Marcus Henry that James Ihedigbo (decent camp so far) easily picked off. And speaking of Marcus Henry, Newsday’s own Marcus Henry, a high school and general assignment reporter, was at practice and afterward, naturally, interviewed Marcus Henry. Henry is taller. No, the other Marcus.

* Anyway, on to Pennington: he wasn’t tremendous but did show some things during his two-minute opportunity, which again had the offense down 16-13 with 2:23 left. He lofted an 18-yarder down the seam to Keller – yes he gets open in the seam a lot – and connected with Jerricho Cotchery on a 13-yard out pattern. A shuffle pass to Thomas Jones gained about five yards and a 10-yarder into the flat to Keller set up a Mike Nugent 38-yard field goal that “tied” things at 16-16. A reader asked about Nugent; he only had that one situation today and he easily knocked it through. Yesterday he went 7-for-10 in field goals. He hits everything up to 48 or 49 yards pretty consistently but beyond that is a coin flip. The positive is on those misses, typically the distance is there. His kickoffs are getting inside the five with regularity.

* Just before the Nugent field goal, a pair of draftees went at it on a timing throw by Pennington from the 21. Pennington put it in the left corner of the end zone where the 5-11 Dwight Lowery got good inside position on the 6-4 Marcus Henry and knocked the ball away. Lowery’s has been beat at camp but he’s still made more good plays than bad.

* David Harris sat out practice, as he did yesterday. Laveranues Coles, who missed yesterday afternoon, was out again.

“They’re both legs,” Eric Mangini said of what kept those players off the field.

Mangini did say Coles’ problem had nothing to do with the ankle sprain that gave him problems last year.

“North of the ankle, south of the hip,” Mangini said, clearing things up immediately.

Harris rode an exercise bike, with his left thigh apparently wrapped. Matt Chatham sat as well, with a “foot” issue.

* Also missing, though not because of any physical problems, was Leon Washington. As the team’s overall offseason award winner, he took his reward of getting to sit out one training camp practice yesterday.

“He distinguished himself in what I think was our most competitive offseason,” Mangini said of Washington. “For him to stand out the way he did, I think it’s a very good reason why you’re seeing him having the camp he’s having.”

* I began with a media note and I’ll end with one. Steve Overmyer, the talented and very funny Jets beat reporter for SNY, was at training camp practice for the first time since the morning practice of Day 1 of camp. That was last Thursday, leading me to believe they must define “beat reporter” differently in television. Anyway, I became even more concerned when he watched Brad Smith make a nice grab during practice and asked me, “Who’s number 16?”

Ah, we kid…

* Anyway, Steve O. was here along with Katie Sadler, his fine producer. I would italicize ‘fine’ but that might offend…Steve. They were here to do work for the next episode of “Jets Nation, which will air Saturday morning at 11:30 a.m. Sadler, it seemed, had the roster down cold, so Overmyer has some work to do before the Cleveland game next week, which will probably be the next time I see him.

Back for two practices tomorrow; 8:45 a.m. and 5:45 p.m. Oh, and to Joe M. who dropped “pusillanimous” into a comment earlier…there’s stuff you can buy for that I think.

The Jets will practice at 1:30 p.m. It is open to the public and, apparently, WFAN as well. Gotta love stories that are media-created and media-covered, and then propagated as news. As the old saying goes, "nothing draws a crowd like a crowd." How that relates, I'm not sure, and to quote Newsday's outstanding Knicks beat reporter Alan Hahn, just bloggin'. Hey, if we can't laugh at ourselves at times in the media, who can we laugh at?

So Eric Mangini in the press room at 12:45 p.m. where he'll be asked about a variety of things; among them certainly David Harris - who missed both practices yesterday - and Laveranues Coles, who missed the late afternoon workout. Maybe he'll, all together now...OBFUSCATE, but then again, maybe not. I'm really hoping to hear Mangini use the word "obfuscate" sometime this year for some reason.

Also, Mario Gonzalez from newsday.com will be here shortly to film a video segment. He was at training camp a couple days ago collecting questions from fans that would then be asked of me, your humble Jets beat person. I am working on a purple dot to be placed where my head would be for said video, and I'd say negotiations are "progressing."

* First "aside" of the day: my apologies to Jets interns Christie, Matt, Amanda, Andrew and Jeanette - hope I'm not missing anyone - who I'm told on a rotating basis have to read the beat reporters' blogs to see what is what (they also prepare a daily "clips" package that is helpful so we can all see what everyone else wrote on a given day). But back to the blog thing: I don't know who got the short straw last night but sorry to have written, to used a Mike Tannenbaumism, something "north of" 1,100 words in yesterday's afternoon practice report. You should get today off, and probably tomorrow too.

This quarterback race is starting to remind me of some of the classes from my high school and college days; maybe from some of yours, too. You know, those classes where you maybe didn’t quite have a handle on the material for the first, second and third tests, tanked the mid-term and then really, really had to cram for that final to get some kind of grade.

Kellen Clemens needs to get to the final (s) - meaning games - and he needs them quickly because after this evening’s practice this quarterback derby is starting to get away from him. He threw another interception, telegraphing a pass to Wallace Wright about 15 yards down the sideline that Darrelle Revis read from the start and easily picked. That makes it five interceptions for Clemens and zero for Pennington. Now, there was a sixth interception and there’s some debate on whether to count it. Because the quarterbacks are to finish each play out, Clemens, after being “sacked,” tossed a ball up for grabs in the back of the end zone that Eric Barton (E.B., again?!?) intercepted. Let’s keep it at 5-0 in interceptions because in a game situation, he would have not had a chance to throw the ball anyway. Besides, 5-0, 6-0, whatever; doesn’t matter at this point. Clemens is behind. Is this over? No, because some guys are just better in practice and these still aren’t “game” situations. But I would say the Cleveland game can’t get here soon enough for K.C.

* The evening was a “review” of previous things covered which meant mainly situations; two-minute, goal line, Hail Marys, etc. During the Hail Marys, neither Pennington or Clemens threw a touchdown, though with eight DB’s back, you’d have a better chance of hearing “Keith Olbermann” and “criticized Barack Obama tonight” in the same sentence (we don’t do PC here and I’m a registered Indy, so whatever) than a touchdown getting thrown.

* Anyway, James Ihedigbo knocked down a couple of the Hail Marys, but the one thing that stood out from that drill was that when the quarterbacks lined up at the 45 – meaning they let loose from the 50 – Pennington’s toss reached the end zone. Clemens’ pass came down at the 2. Does Clemens still have the stronger arm? Yes. I’m just reporting. I’ll also report this: Pennington’s best play was a 20-yard touch pass down the left sideline that Brad Smith made a great grab of over Drew Coleman, whose coverage was fine. As I furiously wrote down that sequence, Jets PR person Jared Winley gently let me know the official on the far side of the field ruled Smith to be out of bounds. Striving for accuracy as we do, Winley’s contribution is appreciated.

* An entertaining part of the practice – oh, heck, it’s all entertaining of course – was when the Jets worked on their version of Cal-Stanford. If you don’t get the reference, Google it. Just add the word “laterals” and then don’t ever come back to this blog. We jest, of course.
So the situation was the offense was down 31-28 with eight seconds left and the ball at its 32. And so it was a Clemens handoff to Leon Washington who tossed to Jerricho Cotchery who tossed to Wallace Wright and back to Washington and, hey! there’s Clemens with it, and, whoaaaa, Bryan Thomas knocks down Clemens’ cross-field – but legal lateral – throw but doesn’t cover it up so the ball is still free and…

I lost track at that point, but seven more laterals ensued as the ball got just inside the 20 with the madness finally stopped when Thomas fell on the loose ball at the 35 or so. When Pennington’s group tried it, there were just five laterals before the ball hit the ground where Cameron Worrell recovered.

* Speaking of Bryan Thomas, he became one of the first defenders to successfully cover Dustin Keller this camp. In an 11-on-11 drill, Keller looked to come open in the seam but Thomas, dropping back in coverage, stayed within reach of the increasingly-looking fleet-footed tight end and poked the ball away at the last moment. Nothing wrong with Clemens’ pass there, just a nice play by Thomas.

* Tight end Jason Pociask has quietly had a good camp. I can’t remember him dropping many and his juggling end zone catch tonight of a Brett Ratliff pass was particularly good. Tight end A.J. Schable did not have a solid evening, dropping a pass early in practice, then false-starting later to earn a penalty lap.

* Laveranues Coles spent the evening practice on an exercise bicycle. He did practice in the morning so I don’t imagine there’s an issue there. We’ll see tomorrow. Also worth checking on is David Harris, who missed both workouts, but was on the sideline and spent some time on the bike, too. D’Brickashaw Ferguson got to sit out this morning’s practice as a reward for his offseason accomplishments in the weight room but he was back this evening. Someone earlier asked about Coles; good camp so far. I’ve probably not mentioned him as much as I should but I supposed I’ve tried to focus on some of the lesser-proven receivers. Coles has made several one-handed catches and he did the same things in the OTAs and minicamp. I really believe Coles and Cotchery combo is going to be a dangerous one. And Brad Smith is back in the picture as the No. 3 guy, but Stuckey is still ahead I’d say. At least that's what I told Mangini when he asked me (it's late, ok?)

* A couple of nice bursts out of Jesse Chatman, particularly during an under two-minute situation when the offense led 16-7 and was in “protect” mode. On third down, Chatman blew through a hole on the left side and went for about 30 yards. An aside to loyal blog poster Bryan, Tony Richardson will help this running game immensely I think. Totally selfless and happy to be a lead blocker.

* Finally (yes, we’re definitely in rambling mode here), Dmb asked about Bill Callahan’s influence on the offensive line. We have not yet talked to Callahan – we will get access at some point this preseason – but based on something Alan Faneca said today, dmb, I think it’s more tweak than outright change in terms of blocking schemes.

“He’s a great technician,” Faneca said. “He does a great job of not only coaching the big picture, but the little things. Sometimes, even a guy like myself, an 11-year vet, may not have thought about in a while and may not have been doing – a hand placement or a foot placement. He’s very wise in the game.”

Speaking of wise, this was a long post for a “specialty” practice, and it would be wise to end it now. Just one practice tomorrow, at 1:30 p.m. I also forgot to mention earlier today that Newsday’s NFL columnist Bob Glauber was in Hempstead this morning and I am sure that produced something fascinating for tomorrow’s paper. Check it out in the paper or on newsday.com, or I’ll provide a link to it here tomorrow if I like it.

I mentioned to Bob today that I thought it was nice, him acknowledging a second football team in New York. Ever hear crickets after saying something you think is funny? Get it all the time. Got it from Bob there.

Time to hit the lights at Hofstra.

GMs like to say the roster is "fluid" at this time of year and the Jets showed as much today with some moves, a couple of which I mentioned in the morning practice post. Here are the moves in full:

The team signed safety Ron Girault (Rutgers), linebacker Brandon Renkart (Rutgers), receiver Rudy Burgess and linebacker Jerry Mackey (Freeport HS grad). The Jets released punter Joe Smith, safety Darnell Bing and cornerback Andre Woolfolk, who just never could get completely healthy it seemed.

Time to head out for practice.

Since many of you asked about, and opined, about this – along with my choice of vocabulary – coach Eric Mangini opened his press conference this morning by explaining his thinking of giving players yesterday off.

“In researching the patterns of training camp and researching the trends over the years, what we’ve seen is there’s a dramatic spike of injuries early on in camp and that makes a lot of sense because guys will go from the offseason program to a break and then they come back and they jump right back in to very heavy, high intensity exercise and all the contact,” Mangini said. “So you go right from the break, to the conditioning run to a one-a-day, two-a-day and between fatigue and all the elements that go into it, you have a lot of injuries early in camp. We looked at the different things related to recovery and we planned the day out accordingly.”

Also, Mangini disclosed that backup punter Joe Smith had been waived and Danny Woodhead, who injured his knee last week, had cleared waivers so he has been placed on the Jets injured reserved list. Additionally, the Jets signed WR Rudy Burgess and LB Jerry Mackey, a Syracuse and before that, Freeport High School, graduate.

And for those of you who recalled – and hopefully only a very few of you know this – Smith, that backup punter, was wearing No. 4 during camp. Yes, some witling in the press – it might have been me but I’ll have to check the transcript to be sure – asked Mangini if the roster move had been made to free up Favre’s number.

Um, no.

As for this morning’s 1 hour 50 minute practice, it was a lot of special teams and specialty situation work so there isn’t as much detail to share in the way of in-depth 11-on-11s or even 7-on-7s. But there were a few things from the morning, a lot of which was spent in goal line situations:

*Sixth-round pick Marcus Henry made the best catch he’s made all camp, catching a bullet thrown from the 10 by Kellen Clemens in the back of the end zone with Drew Coleman hanging on him. Henry went high in the air and got his feet in bounds, despite Coleman drawing a flag for interference. Maybe the best catch of the morning. Coleman earned a lap for the penalty.

* Laveranues Coles made great grab in the end zone on a 15-yarder thrown by Pennington during an early goal line shell drill, but it was negated because he had been forced out of the back of the end zone first by Justin Miller, making the catch an illegal touch. Still, good hands by Coles, who during a later 11-on-11 caught a short dump off over the middle for a touchdown by Pennington.

* Again, not a ton to report in terms of throwing the ball because they were working a lot on screens and runs rather than downfield throws. Besides Clemens’ throw to Henry, he also connected with Brad Smith from the 10 on a nice slant play that resulted in 6. A lot of carries from Thomas Jones and Leon Washington and they both saw their share of screens as well.

* Kris Jenkins made a highlight play on the goal line, shedding two blockers at the 2-yard line and just stuffing T. Jones cold on an off-tackle. Jenkins clearly – CLEARLY –is an upgrade over who was in the middle last season and you can see the effects on Ellis and Coleman. I might have neglected to mention it in Sunday’s report because of the focus on Gholston, but after the team moved indoors to the bubble, Ellis had a couple of plays in which he was in the backfield bothering the quarterback.

* Dwight Lowery had outstanding coverage on Brad Smith on a goal line fade thrown by Clemens into the right corner. A series later Darrelle Revis deflected a Pennington pass intended for Bubba Franks in the back of the end zone. I’m already on record as predicting Revis as Pro Bowler this season and have seen nothing this camp dissuade me from that opinion.

* And this was nice to see: a group of 20 kids, ages 8-13, from the St. Joseph’s School for the Deaf in the Bronx attended this morning’s practice. David Harris and David Bowens posed for a group picture and then they, along with several other players, stayed and signed autographs.

Next up: the 5:45 practice.

Or at least soon will be as the temperatures are supposed to reach the low 90's today. The barometric pressure is…

Right.

So there’s a double-session today; 8:45 a.m. and 5:45 p.m.

Here is the rest of the week’s schedule, and note Saturday’s practice at Shuart Stadium:

Wednesday, July 30th: 1:30 p.m.
Thursday, July 31st: 8:45 a.m., 5:45 p.m.
Friday, August 1st: Practice open to the media, but closed to the public.
Saturday, August 2nd: Green & White Practice at 1 pm; located at James M. Shuart Stadium at Hofstra University.

*sidenote: I wrote some 600 words on Tannenbaum’s WFAN interview yesterday, and in response to many of the comments, allow me to do this:

Obfuscate: to confuse, bewilder, or stupefy; to make obscure or unclear.

Put another way, my writing on a daily basis.

And hats off to commenter RC Meany, who dropped “vacuous” into one of his comments yesterday. That, coupled with obfuscate, turned this into a one-day blog version of “The O’Reilly Factor.”

And with that, practice shortly.

Mike Tannenbaum this morning on WFAN with Boomer and Carton started promisingly.

“Here’s where we’re at with that,” Tannenbaum said upon being asked his first Brett Favre question.

The “here’s where we’re at” clause, while tantalizing, led to not much of anything.

“Teams call us, we call them as we’re tweaking the roster throughout training camp. Those conversations have been and always will be private between us and other teams and this is no different.”

And so here’s why I respect Tannenbaum. He told beat writers the exact same things – no matter how many different ways the questions were asked – on Friday. Everything was “private” and would remain as such. Regardless of his audience and who is asking the questions, his non-answers are the same. That kind of consistency is either maddening or admirable and in Tannenbaum’s case, I choose the latter.

Tannenbaum even opened this morning’s interview with a joke about backup punter Joe Smith (he wears No. 4) and that was nice to hear because “numbers” guys like Tannenbaum should attempt humor more. They’re usually funnier than they think they are. And if you’re going to do nothing but obfuscate, might as well be funny about it.

Tannenbaum this morning did, in what he called a “big picture” perspective, discuss why trades aren’t always such a simple thing.

“That’s why trades are difficult,” Tannenbaum said when Favre’s nearly $13 million cap number was mentioned. “You need landing spots from a salary cap standpoint.”

Boomer asked some great questions, particularly about how, from his perspective as a former quarterback, even "kicking" Favre’s tires potentially creates trust issues between Kellen Clemens and Chad Pennington and the front office, which had maintained all offseason either Pennington or Clemens would be the starter.

All conversations between himself and players, Tannenbaum assured Boomer, would remain “private.”

Still a solid question, though.

Carton, for all his bluster, asked pretty good questions, too. [Sidenote: I was in high school when a young Craig Carton, early in his career, hit the airwaves in Cleveland, my hometown as some of you know, and are suspicious of me for. Regardless, Carton created a bit of a stir with some of his offbeat takes. He didn’t last long – not much more than a year as I recall but could be wrong – at old WWWE. I found him kind of entertaining but that’s not important right now].

Anyway, good interview by both guys, but it needs to be pointed out they were flat wrong in referencing a “circus” atmosphere surrounding Jets training camp. Boomer even talked about “people holding up signs.” I’ve been at training camp every day. It was one sign. Held up by one guy. On Saturday.

Yesterday, I saw one Favre jersey and that guy went pretty much ignored. The whole “Jets Nation demands Favre” line is simply not true. Some fans want him, some don’t, and it’s far from a mandate either way.

In the end, as Pennington said yesterday, one way or the other, the Jets should clear this thing up, “and the sooner the better.”

Four days and six practices into training camp Eric Mangini decided he had enough of the Brett Favre questions and decided to give the team’s beat writers the day off.

But seriously…

Mangini, as a surprise – and I’m guessing a pleasant one – to players, told them he was canceling today’s scheduled double session. No practice. The Jets will be back on the field for two practices Tuesday, at 8:45 a.m. and 5:45 p.m. Both are open to the public.

And I'll have a few thoughts in a bit on some of what you might have heard this morning on WFAN when GM Mike Tannenbaum joined Boomer and Carton.

We know this about Vernon Gholston, at least based on this afternoon’s practice: the Jets backup linemen can’t block him.

* After the Jets moved their practice indoors to the bubble – a storm forced them indoors after 58 minutes outside – Gholston provided many of the highlights for the defense in the 50-minutes that followed. Maybe Gholston had been made aware (obviously he wasn’t but it’s something to cheeky to write) of Eric Mangini’s comments at the morning press conference, saying that the rookie was “swimming” in terms of being overwhelmed with information.

* In one sequence, lining up on the right as the nickel rusher, Gholston left Jacob Bender flat-footed in getting to Chad Pennington for a sack (non-contact). Still thinking about that on second down, Bender false-started – earning a lap – and his replacement, seventh-round pick Nate Garner, was promptly beaten badly by Gholston on the next play for another sack. The following play resulted in Pennington flipping a shuffle pass to Thomas Jones, a good thing because Gholston was in the backfield again.

* Kellen Clemens, working with the first team, threw another interception, giving him four thus far in the preseason compared to zero for Pennington. On the latest one, toward the end of practice and in a sequence where he had been “sacked” by Shaun Ellis (remember, the QBs cannot be hit but a coach can blow a play dead for a sack), Clemens lofted a spiral about 20 yards down the left sideline for Laveranues Coles. David Barrett, however, had good coverage, stepped in front of the slightly underthrown ball and pick it off.

* Clemens, though, still looked better throwing the ball than yesterday. There was a 25-yard dart to Bubba Franks down the middle and a 20-yard strike to Dustin Keller in the seam. A better day, though not a great one.
As for Pennington, he had his share of nice throws: a 12-yarder to a slanting David Clowney [yes, HIM again], a 15-yard beauty on a crossing route to Chansi Stuckey, who had gotten away from Ahmad Carroll, and, before the team went inside because of the lightning, a nice deep ball down the left sideline to Clowney (again!). Pennington also connected with sixth-round pick Marcus Henry, who had not seen a lot of balls to this point, on about a 15-yard slant. Oh, and before the team headed indoors, Brett Ratliff threw his first pick of camp, overthrowing a ball down the sideline, intended for Coles, that safety Eric Smith swooped in for and intercepted.

* Much of the work done indoors was on special teams. The order of the kickoff returners today was Leon Washington, Darrelle Revis, Stuckey and Justin Miller.

* Finally, to touch on a couple of questions from before: Erik Ainge is throwing the ball but not often and not particularly well. He is clearly the fourth quarterback at this point as Ratliff has thrown some of the best balls at camp. But Ainge just hasn’t thrown the ball enough to make any longterm judgments.
Sione Pouha is working mostly with the second defense and has had a couple of bursts through the line. As for Miller, he’s still sharing time as the starting corner opposite Revis and is also returning kicks. While there is a time-share with Barrett, it should be noted Miller gets those first-team reps first.

* Back to two practices on Monday, at 8:45 a.m. and 5:45 p.m. For the first time this camp, the practices are closed to the public so don’t show up to Hofstra. Well, you can show up but you won’t be allowed to watch. The good news – I think – is we’ll be there for both workouts, dashing off another missive or two afterward.

The storm clouds moved back in and settled over Nassau County. Fifty-eight minutes into practice, the sirens went off, signaling lightning was in the area and everyone, basically, get the heck off the field. Not sure what's next in terms of heading into the bubble or whatever. Like Brett Favre, the situation is in a bit of a holding pattern. Pretty good crowd, btw, that showed up for the practice, given the weather.

UPDATE: practice to continue in the bubble, which is where we're headed shortly.

The sun is trying to break through here so maybe practice will be outside after all. I can't be held responsible for any of this. Show up, what the heck. It's Sunday.

Last thing before heading out/or in/or wherever for practice and that's the Eric Mangini Humorous Moment of the Day: there were a couple but one that stands out was when the coach was asked about Brett Ratliff having a nice camp this point.

"The guy that's here now and the guy that was here a year ago, it's night and day," Mangini said. "In getting out the play, it was like an act of Congress to get that done in the huddle."

Mangini also highlighted something we've talked about here the last few days; he's quite happy with the work of the young corps of receivers after Laveranues Coles and Jerricho Cotchery.

"In the early part of camp, one of the groups I've been really happy with is the wide receivers," Mangini said.

Mangini also confirmed something else we've noted: Leon Washington seems really, really explosive.

"He had an excellent offseason," Mangini said of Washington. "He was actually our overall offseason award winner this year, and you can see the work that he did in the offseason translate onto the field, in all the different areas."

Practice at 1:30 p.m. Back with a report after player interviews and such.

UPDATE PART II: I quit. Anyway, Meghan Gilmore, the team's coordinator of public relations [as opposed to the senior director, director and senior manager of media relations that the Jets have], just came in to tell us that the JetsFest and Jets Shop are in the "process" of reopening. And yes, I did write about 20 minutes ago that both were closed for the day. In light of this new information, I know I have a lot of work to do in order to re-enter your circle of trust, but we'll give it a try, starting with the practice report I'll do later off the practice that is now outside.

As I write this, thunder is booming outside the media room (not just here I'm sure) accompanied by lightning strikes and some heavy rain. No word yet if practice will be moved indoors. If the 1:30 p.m. practice stays outside, it is open to the public. If they end up inside, no dice. As of now, I'm told practice will be outside. I'll update if that changes. My guess is it probably will but we'll see. Lots of lightning in the area.

As for your questions at the bottom of yesterday's practice post, I'll get to those in this afternoon's practice report. Try to keep it as fresh as possible here.

On to something else real quick: a very good story by the Associated Press' Jets beat reporter, Dennis Waszak Jr., on cornerback Ahmad Carroll, a former Packers first-round pick signed by the Jets last week. Carroll is pretty open about his arrest in 2007 that led to him getting cut by the Jags.

All right, Eric Mangini in the press room coming up at 12:45 p.m.

UPDATE: JetsFest and Jets Shop are officially closed for the day, David Tratner, of the PR department, just came in and told us. He said practice had not officially been moved indoors as yet but that it likely would be. I tried to pin him down for a concrete answer and he said to use common sense. He doesn't yet know - I'm new - that that's not a strength of mine. What's the old saying: "common sense is the language of genius." As you know, I ain't no genius.

Tratner then suggested I stand outside and reach skyward with a metal pole as way of getting the most up-to-date forecast. It's a laugh a minute around here (to be clear in this age of PC nonsense, yes, I thought it was funny). Anyway, the suggestion seems to be to stay home.

I ran into Ira, who we can probably agree is one of the most positive Jets fans out there, on my way off the practice field tonight.

“Looks like it’s Ratliff,” Ira said of who looked the best this afternoon.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, was the story of the quarterbacks today.

* First things, first: Clemens did bounce back from a bad morning session in which he threw an interception (it was a deflection off Laveranues Coles’ hands) and lost a fumble. There were no interceptions this afternoon and he suffered from a couple of dropped passes (a problem last season as you all know). Clemens’s nicest pass? A 20-yarder over the middle to a diving Bubba Franks during one of the day’s last 11-on-11s.

Pennington made a strong throw into the prevailing wind that blew the entire 1 hour 54 minute practice, a spiral that traveled 20 yards down the middle to Jerricho Cotchery. But emblematic of the overall afternoon – and really the day on offense – the next two plays were as follows: Dustin Keller, false start; Alan Faneca, false start. And so it was, Gentleman, start your laps. (Faneca had to run another one later in the practice and Rich Cimini from the News commented that was probably the most laps the veteran lineman has had to run in his career. But that's Mangini; love 'em and lap 'em).

* Incidentally, when Faneca came out to run, Will Montgomery, who had a strong minicamp and a good first day here, replaced him. Might be some depth developing there. Also of note on a screen pass, thrown by Clemens, to Thomas Jones, Robert Turner and Clint Oldenburg were far out in front impressively clearing space down the left sideline, helping on the big gainer.

* Pennington nearly had his first interception of training camp, throwing a short dumpoff pass over the middle that Shaun Ellis (quietly having a nice start to camp) read, tipped and nearly picked off. Pennington also nearly had another ball picked by Eric Barton (Mr. Turnover with an interception and fumble recovery over three days) on a ball over the middle, but Barton could not hang on. Pennington did zip a 10-yarder to the sideline to Chansi Stuckey, who caught all the balls thrown his way after one drop this morning.

* Ratliff, meanwhile, arguably had the afternoon’s nicest throws – an 18-yard completion to David Ball along the sideline and then, later, a 35-yarder that wobbled in the stiff breeze but still found its way to David Clowney, who made a fine catch with Drew Coleman nearby. But Ratliff wasn’t perfect, fumbling later in the practice and earning a lap himself.

* Bottom line: after five practices, Pennington is ahead. But, stressing again, it’s five practices.

* Oh, and any receiver who bests Darrelle Revis this camp is accomplishing something major because it just doesn’t happen often. As I did during last week’s live chat, I’m predicting Pro Bowl for Revis.

* Mike Nugent, who missed his share of kicks during the OTAs, had a good end to the day, going 5-for-7 in field goals, the two misses coming from 50 yards. But Nugent ended the workout by nailing one right down the middle from 55 yards that had plenty to spare. Said it before: Nugent will be/is fine.

And with that, back at it tomorrow. One practice, at 1:30 p.m.

About to head out to the 5:45 p.m. practice, but before doing so I'm going to share this exchange from Eric Mangini's press conference this morning. Has nothing to do with football [it sort of does, I guess, indirectly], but we're all about, on this blog, sharing people's well-roundedness. If I had it, I'd share it.

So anyway, Mangini, at the end of his news conference, was asked how comfortable he was with the research the Jets did into the background of cornerback Ahmad Carroll, who was signed last week despite a past arrest (in 2007).

"We turned that over to Steve, Steve Yarnell, our security guy, and I've known Steve since 1997," Mangini said. "And when he gives an evaluation, he's been right on with the people that we've talked about. I trust him inherently with that stuff. I wouldn't want him looking into me (smile)."

That prompted the incomparable Dan Leberfeld of Jets Confidential to say: "What might he find if he looked?"

"Probably that soft, tender side that's there," Mangini said to laughter.

And then this and, really, who among us hasn't been here? Fine, I'll speak only for myself.

"Frat parties at Wesleyan?" Leberfeld asked, referencing Mangini's alma mater.

"There were some of those I'd like to forget," Mangini said. "At the time I did."

I was half expecting, "Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?" to follow. It did not.

All right, time for practice and a report to follow.

* Spent a majority of the morning concentrating on the defense and that was a good thing. That’s where most of the good plays were coming from. How much of a struggle was it this morning for the offense? Even Chansi Stuckey dropped a pass, from Kellen Clemens, over the middle on about a 12-yard play. It was the first drop I had seen from Stuckey since one of the early OTA practices [for the Stuckey fans, you had to like this: after practice the receiver spent 10 minutes in front of the JUGS ball machine or, as Dennis Waszak Jr. of the Associated Press called it, the “football hurling apparatus.” OK].

* The first thing that stood out was Vernon Gholston. In a tackling drill not yet 10 minutes into practice, Gholston squared his shoulder and hit tight end A.J. Schable with enough force to jar the ball free. The turnover earned Gholston cheers from the crowd watching the drill and earned Schable a lap for fumbling. Later, it was a day of mixing and matching in terms of what makes up the “first team” but Gholston saw quite a few reps in the two-minute 11-on-11 drills toward the end of practice. He mostly lined up at left outside linebacker, sometimes to rush the passer but other times dropping into coverage. On the final drive of the morning, Gholston lined up on the right.

* Bryan Thomas and Calvin Pace look like a nice tandem on the outside. Eric Mangini several times this offseason has complimented Pace on his “smarts” and Thomas looks more than motivated to show last year’s sub-par season was a fluke. Yes, Thomas was the one who, after an OTA practice in May who said if he didn’t play well this year he would find his “a** on the bench.” He’s not on his way to doing that to this point, but let’s not get carried away with much of anything just four practices in. [for the Kris Jenkins fans, I'm writing about him for tomorrow's paper but he feels his adjustment to the 3-4 is going well. And, as he put it, he likes the "grunt" work of the position].

* A solid, and solidly-hitting, morning for safety Kerry Rhodes. Rhodes popped – although he didn’t outright drill because they’re not quite in live tackling mode yet – Wallace Wright after the second-year receiver caught a 15-yard Pennington pass inside the 10. Wright was slow to get up after hitting the turf. After a Leon Washington run, Rhodes stepped in front of Washington to tip away a short pass, a ball Rhodes, from his reaction, felt he could have intercepted.

* Hank Poteat and Drew Coleman covered well and David Barrett (I know his name is a lightening rod to some, but I’m just reporting) intercepted a Clemens pass that first deflected out off the hands of Laveranues Coles. It was the third straight practice Clemens threw a pick, though this one wasn’t his fault.

* And David Bowens did some good things, the most impressive being not taking a Thomas Jones fake on a draw play to meet the running back at just beyond the line for a short gain. Perhaps more impressive was Shaun Ellis doing the same on a draw to Leon Washington, who through three days of practices looked mostly un-tackle-able (not a word, I know) in the open field.

* Of the four quarterbacks, only Chad Pennington led the offense to a touchdown and it came quickly, on the last play of the morning. In his two-minute drill, Pennington from the 32 lofted a ball 35 yards down the middle to Brad Smith, who had beaten Dwight Lowery off the line. Safety James Ihedigbo came late to help and Smith had a 68-yard touchdown. Give the morning to Pennington, though there were lots of throw-aways from both quarterbacks. Actually, all four. Really, just give the morning to the defense.

* Besides the above-mentioned pick, Clemens also fumbled a center exchange with Nick Mangold, with the loose ball quickly recovered by linebacker Eric Barton, who early in camp has become Clemens’ personal pest. Barton, remember, picked off Clemens’ first pass of training camp Thursday. Clemens ran a lap after today’s fumble.

* We saw Dustin Keller gain some good yardage on an end around. That was something new we hadn’t seen yet from the rookie tight end.

* When I got out to the practice field at 8:45 a.m., at the far end of the bleachers was a fan chanting what he had written on a two-sided poster board. On one side was, “Woody, cut the check. Make it happen. Favre (4).” On the other side was, “Chad we love you But we need Brett Favre.”
A few people laughed but no one cheered. But a lot did after practice when Pennington came over to the bleachers and spent 45 minutes signing just about everything put in front of him.

Afternoon practice here at 5:45 p.m.

Just got in from practice and Eric Mangini's press conference. I'll have a morning practice report in a little bit but not good news on the Danny Woodhead front. Woodhead, the NCAA's career rushing leader from Division II Chadron State, was helped off the field toward the end of Friday's practice with an apparent knee injury. Mangini, out of character when it comes to injuries, answered a question about Woodhead directly a few moments ago.

"Nothing certain, but I’d say it's not looking good for him to be back anytime soon," Mangini said.

Asked if it was a leg injury, Mangini said, "Knee. I think he then said it was the left knee, but I couldn't be sure."

Good morning. Two pratices today as the Jets, after one afternoon practice Friday, go at 8:45 a.m. and 5:45 p.m. Sunny with temperatures in the mid-80's and both workouts are open to the public. And that concludes our Jets PR segment for today.

As for all the coverage today, lots of flapping jaws weighed in on the Brett Favre news from yesterday, including Newsday's NFL columnist Bob Glauber who said the Jets should forget going after the quarterback. Other columnists said the opposite, with media opinion pretty much mirroring the public it seems. But everyone has something to say, one way or the other, which keeps sports interesting.

Anyway, we'll have the usual quarterback updates today and also a little more along the way of observation about the defense. To one of our loyal posters, KeepChad&Kellen, yes we will get to the o-line as well. Also this morning we'll be on the lookout for Danny Woodhead, who was helped off the field yesterday afternoon with what appeared to be a knee injury.

Indeed, there was a practice today. But just one. The Jets will go twice on Saturday, at 8:45 a.m. and 5:45 p.m. Some thoughts/highlights, none of which involved a No. 4 unless you count backup punter Joe Smith. On a related note, Greg Bishop, the Times Jets writer, was seen interviewing Smith after practice. That was probably a first for a backup punter the second day of any training camp. And with that, to the workout:

* Much improved Kellen Clemens performance today as the Jets offense spent most of the afternoon working on their red zone offense. Clemens hit Dustin Keller on a quick slant over the middle for a touchdown during an early 11-on-11, then came back to the rookie tight end for two more scores later in the afternoon, an 11-yarder – again over the middle when he lost the linebacker trying to cover him – and a 6-yarder in the right corner. Yes, Keller has been one of the offensive standouts the first two days.

Another nice Clemens throw came in the two-minute drill when he hit David Clowney deep down the right sideline in stride. Clowney had blown past Dwight Lowery at the line but Clowney, after catching the ball, did not score, knocked out at the 1 for a 59-yard pickup. The following three plays did not yield a touchdown from the 1. Lowery used the end zone sideline well against Marcus Henry on a fade – he made a nice catch but he was well out of bounds – on first down and Ahmad Carroll dropped what should have been an interception in the back of the end zone on second down. Lowery covered Brad Smith well on third down and the offense settled for a short field goal. Still, Clemens overall had a good day.

* Pennington was solid in the 11-on-11’s, twice hitting Jerricho Cotchery, who had several drops Thursday, with a pair of strong intermediate throws over the middle (10-15 yards) in his first two-minute situation. And in a 7-on-7 red zone drill, Pennington threw a beautiful timing pass to the right corner of the end zone, where Brad Smith made the catch despite tight coverage provided by Darrelle Revis. Pennington also connected with Chansi Stuckey on a 15-yarder over the middle, a ball that only the receiver had a chance to get. The Stuckey/Smith battle for No. 3 receiver is going to be a good one. Stuckey has continued what he did in OTAs/minicamp - which means catching just about everything - but Smith, limited during those offseason activities, has caught almost everything thus far as well (yes, that's a poorly constructed sentence).

* Thomas Jones looks like a beast and Leon Washington can’t seem to be tackled in the open field. If there’s a smallest of gaps in the offensive line, Jones is exploiting it. No one will benefit more – besides the quarterbacks of course – than the improved offensive line play than Jones, who looks plenty motivated. And getting Washington the ball in space, whether on screens or on dump shots over the middle, could be a nightmare for opposing teams. There’s just a burst whenever he touches the ball, whether on a swing pass or returning a kick.

* Some more on the running backs: Musa Smith and Jesse Chatman were both on the practice field after missing Thursday on the non-football injury list (basically meaning they passed their physicals). Also a Danny Woodhead update because who isn’t rooting for this guy? Woodhead again received a lot of carries and work on special teams, though he was helped off the field late in the practice by Jones and Tony Richardson. We should have an update on him tomorrow morning. Woodhead, despite taking some shots going into the line, has not yet fumbled.

* After tomorrow morning’s practice, we’ll start focusing a bit on the defense, Kris Jenkins in particular. Two days in, though, I will tell you if he stays at his current weight, Jenkins will prove to be a significant upgrade over you-know-who in the middle. And yes, Vernon Gholston was out there today, lining up as an outside linebacker with the second team. He did not have a tremendous amount of reps, though I counted twice where he lined up on the left and quickly got into the backfield.

Mike Tannenbaum confirmed he talked to both Chad Pennington (as mentioned below) and Kellen Clemens after practice but that was all the GM confirmed just now in an unscheduled press conference. What was said, Tannenbaum said, would remain between him and the players. He did not confirm or deny that he told Pennington that the Packers had reached out to the Jets and not the other way around.

"Relative to conversations I have with other teams or with Eric (Mangini), those will remain private," Tannenbaum said.

He said this several different ways, including, "Again those conversations with other teams would remain private. We have conversations with a lot of teams about a lot of things so those will be private conversations."

Tannenbaum did say he did not make it a habit of talking to p