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.
Comments (32)
Ya' know, Boland... this recent ostentatious propensity for sesquipedalian banter thats been going on around here comes off a bit vociferous at times. Just sayin'.
lmao
Erik - Didn't the army make movies during WWII about about the dangers of catching that from the girls overseas? A shot of penicillin for Joe M. should do the trick.
Erik, Prediction Kellen will play well vs the Browns. But he is not a practice player. He is a gamer with a lot to learn. This was the same preformance he put on last summer unti he got to play in the preseason games. Still think Chad is the guy unless that other guy gets traded here. Lowery reminds me very much like the way Otis Smith played. Always around the ball. Sometimes good and sometimes he would give up the big play. Erik remember before camp opened and i told you Keller would catch 50 passes this year? Well what do you think now?As far as Carton's act not my cup of tea and surprised the staff took him over to the VIP section afterward.
Let's Get Brett! Let's Get Brett!
Darrell, very sesquipedalian posting there.
Eric, how's the O'line looking
In the blue corner, we have Chad "The Yawn" Pennington and in the red corner we have Kellen "Tons o' Picks" Clemens...
are... you... ready... to.... RUMBLE?!
Who will emerge as tonight's non-loser?
Erik - - Gotta favor to ask thee...
Being that you've quickly become the best beat reporter, in Jetslandistan, and that you're the only one that actually responds to fans' questions, PLEASE, don't become infected by your peers' negative ways, or their belief that fans know nothing.
In other words, please keep your independence.
In the past, other new-ish reporters slowly become jaded, & start following the pack... then, all stories on the Jets, become mirror-images of the rest, and any fan interaction, takes on a tinge of condescension toward the fans.
So, please stay innocent, although you're no longer a virgin ;)
Darrell you get to run 5 laps for the words you used. A lap for every word I had to look up :)
sesquipedalian??????? Dude they don't even give that word out at spelling bee's
In the blue corner, we have Chad "The Yawn" Pennington and in the red corner we have Kellen "Picks" Clemens...
are... you... ready... to.... RUMBLE?!
Who will emerge as tonight's non-loser?
Erik - - Gotta favor to ask thee...
Being that you've quickly become the best beat reporter, in Jetslandistan, and that you're the only one that actually responds to fans' questions, PLEASE, don't become infected by your peers' negative ways, or their belief that fans know nothing.
In other words, please keep your independence.
In the past, other new-ish reporters slowly become jaded, & start following the pack... then, all stories on the Jets, become mirror-images of the rest, and any fan interaction, takes on a tinge of condescension toward the fans.
So, please stay innocent, although you're no longer a virgin ;)
Darrell ??
sesquipedalian??????? Dude they don't even use that word at spelling bee's
sorry for the double post. my internets are fail.
chad pennington is masterful in his game management and without peer in leadership skills. just say it, eric. stop diluting his relentlessly efficient preseason performance with the "dink and dunk" talk. he's completing ALL the throws. flys, outs, seems. and yet you have to read between the lines to really grasp the fact that he is pitching a shutout in this farcical competition.
all you chad bashers, cover your ears. that sound you are hearing is getting louder and louder and soon will be a roar. get ready for it. it's gonna sound like this....
Pennington to Keller...Pennington to Cotchery...Pennington to Coles
thats better than tinker to evers to chance.
man it's gonna be a great year to be a jet fan!
Dundi are you the guy in that Jets commercial that carries around Chads life size poster around with him 24/7?
you're on to me, jaym.
more like: Pennington hands it off to Jones....Pennington hands it off Washington.....Pennington tries a play action.....PUNT TEAM
Another typical green and white season!
Any chance the Jets go after John Lynch? He's a year younger then Favre!!
All this polysyllabic wordplay is making me cry.
Clemens better step it up during preseason or it'll be Tim Tebow time. Which sounds like a creepy clown show held in a dilapidated Winnebago outside Home Depot after hours.
Screw Tebow. Matt Stafford is going to declare. He'll be a three-year starter after this year. NYJ, here he comes. : )
Erik,
Do the QB's in practice have the option of pulling the ball down and running when the receivers are covered, as they would in a real game? That's something that KC had some success with last year, and not having that option could be forcing him to throw all these picks.
I think the most interesting battle in camp will be for the 3rd thru 5th WR spots - it's a crowded field with Smith, Stuckey, Clowney, Henry and Wright. And with Keller being more like a slot receiver than a TE, it makes it that much tougher.
Erik
How do the Jets look as a team? With all the new additions, does it look like it will take a while for the team to jell or does it look like everyone is on the same page now or close to it? I understand it is only 7 days into camp, but I am just curious. Ira and anyone who has been to training camp can give your input too.
Thanks
Love your work, EB
I hate to be pedantic -- but in NY we call it a shovel pass. (Maybe it's a shuffle pass in Buffalo.) There's an simple way to remember this. Think of Mr T's press conferences and the word "shovel" will easily come to mind. :)
So Darrell and Mr. green T both made my day today.
Erik, Brown or Green; the fans want to know.
RC Meany, your pedanticalness suits me fine, THOUGH the two are technically synonyms. At least in Ohio. But since I've lived in NY since August of 2001, I'll try to fit in better. Besides, shoveling is something I do well, I think, so I can adjust seamlessly, just not in the seam.
Now, Darrell, Cliff and others (Mr. Green T, I KNOW you're listening on this one, too) who have asked about the Cleveland thing: let's remember, as a reporter you're supposed to be objective, and not particularly care who wins. And wouldn't this convo be much more fun if the Browns and Jets played a game that matters this year instead of a preseason game?
But OK, here's the deal and I'll expand on this next week (it'll give me an extra blog post which is key). When the Browns left after the 1995 season, the team I rooted for as hard as any as you do the Jets, ceased to exist. When they came back in 1999, it wasn't the same - hard to explain - and I was already in this business, which discourages "cheering in the press box," anyway. Though that's a myth, too, to a degree, but that's a discussion for another time.
It would be insulting to your intelligence to suddenly act as if I'm a lifelong Jets fan because I've been on the beat for three months. You wouldn't buy it and I can't and don't want to sell it. And that's not my job, anyway. My job is to be a conduit of information, opinion, speculation, analysis and maybe the occasional laugh line - provided either by me or someone else - to readers/fans. Hopefully I can do that in an all-encompassing way both on the blog and in the newspaper. And it doesn't make me any less an objective journalist to tell you a winning team is, generally, more fun to cover.
Sheesh, it's late, and I've got doubles tomorrow. Ok, the players do. I work on my tan. But it's still work. (btw, in no way do I anticipate this being the end of the Cleveland ribbing and I'd be disappointed if it was the end).
As for some other questions, allow me to get to them tomorrow. For the many who have asked about the O-line, I should have a little something more than usual on that. You should find it worthwhile.
Bravo, Bo-Man.
"My job is to be a conduit of information, opinion, speculation, analysis and maybe the occasional laugh line - provided either by me or someone else - to readers/fans. Hopefully I can do that in an all-encompassing way both on the blog and in the newspaper. And it doesn't make me any less an objective journalist to tell you a winning team is, generally, more fun to cover."
Seriously: Thanks for your mission statement and perspective. I see you as intelligent, honest and hard-working--a breath of fresh air--doing your job without the posturing or self-importance.
But, I have to test you on something. Was Chris Baker inbounds or forced out vs the Browns two years ago? Were the Jets jobbed on that play or what?
Your Mom says hi.
Jaym, Its really hard to tell but the secondary coverage seems to be very good. Gholston is strugggling and has a lot to learn. He will be just like J.Abraham was as a rookie before he was hurt. Just a pure pass rusher. We will get a better feel once the preseason games start.Barton has looked the best he has since joining the Jets.
Baker was inbound in Cleveland 2 years ago. Now questions asked he was forced out. The new rule now should be called the Baker rule.
RC Meany, funny story about that Baker play: I was on assignment that day elsewhere in NY and heard the final quarter of that game on the radio. Afterward, driving home to the Island, I called my father, who still lives in Cleveland and is a big Browns fan. The first thing he said, and keep in mind this was coming from a Browns fan, was, "Boy, did the Jets just get screwed."
Watching the replay that night I saw that indeed they did.
Boland, does it just feel this way from the blogs, or is Keller absolutely DOMINATING. He seems to make 1-3 big catches in every session just in your notes.
And it's been a couple of days since we heard, has Clowney gone the way of the training camp flash?
Perhaps we've all been a bit too hard on Mangini and Tannenbaum, or maybe they've been reading the blog. But Mangini's injury report, “North of the ankle, south of the hip,” rather than as obfuscation, qualifies as positively expansive for him.
E-Bola, been meaning to ask, have the Jets been spending much time working on the no-huddle offense? I was expecting to see much more of that last season, and we had even heard that Chad would be given the opportunity to call his own plays.
With the Jets O-line problems last year, I can understand why they would have gone away from the no huddle and shotgun, But, seeing as the Jets had some success with the "muddle huddle" the year before last, any chance we could see more of it this year?