Monthly Archives: July 2006
Mangini announced in Day 4's press conference that Phil Silva is gone along with some others but Monsanto Pope has had to leave camp.
Pope has left camp… what?? What are all the area skank strip clubs supposed to do for celebrity endorsements? (Type Monsanto Pope into google image search to understand what I am talking about… I don't recommend doing it at work). Don't worry too much, at this point, it sounds like he will be back soon enough.
PS – Mangini mentions my boy Stacy Tutt by name… boo ya! Tutt is offically my next Kerry Rhodes.
We just can't help it, AI, we love talkin' bout practice!!!!
Oh sure, we don't have full-time staff or Jets' pinup babes, but we do have issues… Jets issues!!!
As a lowly blog about the Jets, we are calling all readers to submit their thoughts from attending training camp. R in CT threw down the proverbial gauntlet with the first ever TJB training camp report, now it's your turn. Again, I am planning on heading to the Meadowlands “practice?!” this Saturday. If you want to submit a report or meet up on Saturday. Email me at thejetsblog@gmail.com and I will be happy to reply.
AI: We talkin' bout practice!?!?
PSA News Team, Assemble!!!
PSA: Hello Mother, Hello Father …
After months of thinking and discussing how things would go, some things have gone off according to plan, while some others have suprised us. Here is a list of a few developing storylines as camp progresses. The sage Allen Iverson would remind us, “we in here talking about practice.”
Shaun Ellis' Readjustment – Randy Lange notes that Shaun Ellis isn't particularly fond of the 3-4 (which linemen who have played well in the 4-3 would) but sees the vision that Mangini is trying to put in place with the Jets and is excited about it. Says Ellis about the new regime “It's not a knock on Herm or anything. He was a great coach. I miss Herm. But I'm really excited about what's going on around here, too.” Mangini also had some kind words for Ellis “Shaun has taken on a leadership role. He's done some really good things in terms of working with the young guys, trying to help them get adjusted. That's been a positive.”
Jerricho Cotchery moving to the #2? – Once McCareins was put on the PUP, Cotchery's emergence was clearly a possible development. It appears though that this has been in the works for a while as Cotchery's efforts were noticed during the offseason by Mangini and the team. For as much talking about as Herm did about Cotchery over the past few seasons, the guy rarely saw the ball. It does take time for Wide Receivers to develop into solid contributors at the NFL level, and maybe now Cotchery is due.
P.R. Department in full spin on Leon Washington – Don't take that as a negative, but if one of your star players wasn't even able to practice and you are the media department for that organization, wouldn't you want to reassure your customers that everything is going to be alright? Granted, if Mangini is saying that he likes Washington's ability to pick up rushers, that's a VERY GOOD sign. Anyone remember J.J. Arrington last year? There was a ton of hype around him, but he couldn't pick up rushers effectively, and so he spent most of the season on the bench. One of the most important things for running backs to do that they rarely get credit for is to pick up the rush on passing downs. Jamal Lewis is a great example, why do you think he spends many a third down on the bench?
Kerry Rhodes still plugging along – Apparently, Kerry Rhodes has 3 picks in three days. Now in his second year, it will be interesting to see how he develops.
More physical, more real tackles – Mangini has stated that he wants this team to be more physical or else. Good! As fun as it is to see missed tackles and pushing players out of bounds, I think I would rather see defensive players get their arms around a guy and drop him. That being said, why do you think that Vilma had so many tackles last season? Could part of it be because he was one of the few guys out there who did it right?
Kellen Clemens stock settling – Remember when I said that Dave Hutchinson was the only one writing about how Kellen Clemens should be the starter in September, and I thought he was jumping the gun a bit? Well, it looks like Clemens has struggled some in the past few days while Ramsey and Pennington are settling in.
Chad NOT being on the PUP – Although McCariens, Reed and Martin have dealt with the PUP list, Chad didn't. To me, it's a painfully obvious story that I haven't seen anyone mention. The fact that a player like Martin was put on the PUP and Chad wasn't should be a sign as to his level of recovery. More than that, I don't know that it means much.
2 of 3 Jets players put on the PUP shelf on the eve of camp have been cleared to practice. (Center Trey Teague will likely remain on the PUP for a few more weeks.)
Justin McCareins and Rayshun Reed both passed a “test” early morning yesterday and joined the team shortly there after. Exactly which “test” did they have to re-do? Here's what Mangini had to say: “”Something I wouldn't want to do, but something that was very well defined and we needed from them to operate effectively in practice.” Huh? More here from Cannizzaro.
That leaves Curtis Martin as the only remaining player on the PUP from the “surprise” group added late this past week. Things seem a little more serious than I originally predicted for Martin, but little is actually known. Cimini's piece is the most concerning. (Does anyone remember the Jets attempting to trade for Julius Jones? I didn't.) Speaking of obscure quotes, what's up with this one: “My fire will always burn. My fire will burn until the day that I stop playing football.'' And, this one: “I would not be working this hard if I did not want to play.” Don't say things like this, Curt. You're not mortal, remember?
Despite heavy-hitting in the early going, practices have remained (knock-on-wood) virtually injury free. The same can't be said elsewhere in the league. Some haven't fared as well. Bentley was considered a player Tennenbaum might have targeted earlier this year to replace Mawae.
Okay, I'm not a professional photographer by any means, so I apologize
if these shots aren't things of technical beauty–I won't be confused
with Annie Leibovitz or Ansel Adams any time soon, that's for sure. I
took 60-something pictures and these 19 or so are the better ones.
And I'll try to keep from making this sound like looking at slides from
someone's family vacation . …
[Speaking of family--a quick thanks to my father for letting me borrow his camera. For a Patriots fan, he's all right.]
11-on-11, base offense facing a 3-4 defense.
Defensive players running agility drills. The coach to the left there would randomly throw the ball at players during the drill.
The Four Horsemen of the Offense, rumbling in . ..
And going through passing drills.
Chad Pennington with the first-team offense.
Kellen Clemens in drills.
The team (including coaches) hustling from one activity to another at
the sound of the horn before Mangini starts yelling at them.
Who was asking about Mangini being vocal? (I had two other shots of him yelling, but this was the clearest one. Sorry)
Mangini inspecting the team during stretching, probably quizzing the linebackers. “Quick!
A train leaves Chicago going 55 miles per hour, and a boat launches
from Jamaica going 5 knots. . .. so on 3rd and 7 on the opponents 42,
are you Will or Ted? ANSWER ME NOW!”
Offensive line drills. Looking at the pictures, I notice that
almost all of
the lineman are wearing knee braces. (Hmm . . .must be after they heard
what happened to LeCharles Bentley in Cleveland.) In this first
one, the
lineman line up under the frame and have to lunge forward–practice for
run-blocking.
D'Brickashaw in drills (with coach Tony Wise in the hat, ready to shout)
Stone Cold Nick Mangold with Pete Kendall in o-line drills.
Special teams drills under the watchful eye of “Mickey” Westhoff . “Come
on kid, I want to see speed! Speed! Like greased lightning, youse
oughta be! Come on! Take it to the house, kid, to the house!”
And look who came out to check up on his multimillion dollar investment–Mr. Robert Wood Johnson III himself!
Okay, that's it for now. Hope that gives you a better feel for the day.
In his Day 1 training camp diary, our man R_in_CT referenced comments made by Rich Cimini concerning Don Majkowski, the former Packers QB. Beat reporters have invoked Majkowski’s name of late because he suffered a rotator cuff injury at the height of his career…and never recovered.
Cimini told some of Majkowski’s story in a recent article, but a more in-depth story on Majkowski and his attempted comeback was written last year by Keith Goldberg, a columnist for the Hudson Valley’s Times Herald-Record. I recalled this article this morning when I read of Pennington’s ‘rustiness’ at yesterday’s practice. Although medical science has advanced quite a bit since his injury, Majkowski’s story really puts Pennington’s rehabilitation task into perspective.
I know, I know. This story is a bit tired. However, the more I understand the severity of the Pennington’s injury, the more I admire the guy for his competitiveness. He may be prone to injury, but no one should question his toughness.
The official first day of this season under Eric Mangini was an
interesting one, that's for sure. I was at Hofstra in the heat and
humidity on Friday morning, and for reasons which will be disclosed
later, I was also “inside the ropes” with media access for the full 2
hours and 25 minutes of the first practice, and then some. I snapped
many pictures, which I will hopefully be posting later on the weekend.
I didn't stay for the evening practice.
Rather than re-hash much of the stuff you've probably already read from
blogs of the beat writers about Chad and his arm or the absence of
Martin and McCareins, here are a few general things that I haven't seen
really talked about yet:
- To start the day, the team broke up by individual squads (offensive
line, defensive backs, etc.) for warm-up drills. (With temperatures
topping out in the 90s, especially when the sun peeked out from behind
the hazy clouds, I found it funny they had to “warm up” at all.)
- Practice was very regimented, following a specific schedule. Each
segment would go anywhere from 7 to 10 minutes, and when it was done, a
horn would blare and the players (and coaches) would switch areas. Over
the course of 2.5 hours, there were a lot of different
variations–7-on-7s, 11-on-11s, qbs and wrs vs. lbs and dbs, qb and rbs
vs. dbs, special teams work, etc.
- The coaches were constantly on the players about their tempo, pushing
them to hustle through drills and to each activity. This was a theme
for the day, playing fast and hustling–at one point during the
two-minute drill, Mangini felt Bollinger's unit was too slow (either
running the plays or getting off the field, I wasn't sure), and he had
the entire unit–Brooks, too–run a lap around both practice fields,
which near the end of practice, looked like a Battan death march.
- Early on there was a one-on-one open-field tackling drill–this is
where Victor Hobson nailed Phil Silva to the delight of the crowd.
(Later on, during the 11-on-11 scrimmaging, Silva got his revenge,
making a couple of nice catches from Clemens, including nifty one after
Clemens threaded it between two defenders.) The media on the sideline
were buzzing about this, saying they hadn't seen tackling practice like
this on the first day of camp around Hofstra in years.
- A group of officials were on hand to call penalties during scrimmaging.
- The 3-4 defense was on display all day, especially during the 7-on-7s
and 11-on-11s. As Berger noted, I had also seen that Trevor Johnson was
lined up as a lb with the first unit a lot, as was Matt Chatham (with
Vilma and Barton). The defensive lineman rotated quite a bit. David
Barrett and Justin Miller seemed to be the starting cbs, but there was
a lot of rotation here, too.
- There are two fields–a turf field and a grass field. The majority of the scrimmaging took place on the turf field.
A few player and coach nuggets:
- Kellen Clemens was the first player on the field. He got there about
five minutes before anyone else. Jovan Witherspoon was next on, and he
took passes from Clemens until the rest of the team arrived.
- While the team was stretching, Mangini went down the line to each of
the four qbs, chatting with each one, although he may have been
quizzing them for all I know.
- Obviously D'Brickashaw reads his own press because after practice, he
went over to the fence by the main grandstand and signed autographs,
much to the delight of fans. He then came over to where the press was
interviewing players after practice and spoke (kinda softly,
surprisingly) to all the reporters that came up to him.
- As reported in multiple places, early on, Pennington did not look
sharp, but as practice wore on, he looked better. I happen to be
standing next to Rich Cimini, Dan Leberfeld and Sal Paolantonio, who
were discussing that they thought Pennington's throwing motion had
changed, like he was tossing a javelin. Cimini pointed out that former
Packer quarterback Don Majkowski had told him this might be the case
after a second rotator cuff surgery. Leberfeld questioned whether maybe
Pennington has thrown like this all along and no one really noticed
until it became an issue. Pennington was picked by Kerry Rhodes and Jon
Vilma. On the 65-yarder TD, the db bit on a nice pump fake which allowed
Jerricho Catchery to gain separation on a go route.
- Bollinger was picked off a tippped ball during 11-on-11s, but looked
okay (not great) throughout. I don't know if it was the rotation, but
he and Clemens were usually the last two in drills, and got the least
amount of reps. (Cimini asked Mangini about this later during the press
conference, and Mangini gave his usual “we have a specific schedule and
everyone will get the same number of reps” line. Interpret that as you will.)
- Although it was widely reported that Ramsey looked better than in
minicamps, he had passes knocked down early in drills pitting the qb
and one receiver versus a db. He made a nice pass to a diving Reggie
Newhouse later in the 11-on-11s. He overthrew a wide-open Lavernaneus
Coles on a deep post pattern, which probably hasn't happened to Coles
since Vinny from Elmont retired.
- Tony Wise is an intense offensive line coach. Not only was he
constantly on the players to ratchet up their intensity and hustle, but
he started chewing out a ballboy that was too slow at one point,
yelling at him to move faster and lift his feet! Very vocal coach.
Brian Schottenheimer could also be heard barking throughout practice, but with more of wisecracking tone to it.
- Derrick Blaylock seemed to get a lot of reps with Curtis out,
although like everywhere else, there was a lot of rotating of players.
Nick Hartigan looked good on a few runs up the middle. Brad Smith made
a few nice catches (including one in traffic from Bollinger), as did
Witherspoon.
- After practice, certain players are made available for the media.
Vilma was one of the first, although practically the entire media
contingent left him en masse when Pennington came over. Sorta funny to see–like a swarm of bees.
- Some of the sizes on the press sheet don't seem to add up: D'Brick is
listed at 6'6 (generously, I think), but while I was standing there
watching the group around Pennington, the sun was literally blotted out
behind me–I turned to see Shaun Ellis right behind me, and he was
huge! Seemed much bigger and taller than D'Brick, although he's listed
at 6'5 (maybe it's just their bulk throwing me off?). Ramsey and
Clemens are both listed at 6'2, but I was standing between them both at
one point, and Clemens looked to be taller. Vilma does not seem very big at
all, and neither does Anthony “The Beast” Schlegel.
- Speaking of “The Beast,” he was totally gruffed out today–unshaven,
long hair–as was Stone Cold Nick Mangold. (Must be an Ohio State thing.)
Mangold, by the way, in person looks to be about 15: blonde hair, blue
eyes, total baby face. If he shaved, they would mistake him for a
ballboy in a heartbeat.
- Following at 2.5-hour practice in the heat, Joel Dreessen worked a
10-minute session catching passes from the juggs machine by himself.
And some media stuff:
- The Jets press room is tiny–forty by forty, tops. There is a podium
up front, four rows of six chairs and a platform for cameras in the
back, and around the outside of the room are little work stations,
designated for each of the beat media.
- Leberfeld (a very nice guy) was laughing about the whole D'Brick
running away from the beat reporters episode and was surprised that it
had become any sort of story. He said that he knows the fans could care
less about the media's griping about access to the players under the
new regime, and it shouldn't be “a story.”
- Mark Cannizzaro is clearly the dean of the group; he got to ask the
first question during Mangini's post practice press conference. When Canny arrived to the
press room, Dave Hutchinson was sitting in his chair, which brought
laughs from the group.
- On the sidelines, I was between Hutchinson and Cimini at one point,
and I overheard Cimini saying that he thought that although the team
would have a hard start, if they could finish strong and finish on a
good note, that would be a good year for them.
- During Mangini's press conference after practice, there were at least
50-60 media people jammed in that tiny room. One TV reporter joked
loudly with his camera man that if Herm was still there, they'd have to
put in a fresh tape, but with Mangini, they would probably only need
whatever was left at the end of a tape, which wasn't too far off. His
whole press conference lasted about 15 minutes.
- After the press conference, the coach and PR people go back through a
locked door with only keypad access, but apparently the regular beat
guys like Cannizzaro and Cimini have the code and are allowed to follow
the coach into the back offices, which they did. For all their
grumbling about “access”–and I overheard a bit on the sidelines from
Cimini, among others–they seem to have more than most.
Anyway, I'll hopefully get pictures up later with anything else I can think of.
I was very impressed with the standard of last week's “homework”. Lots of creativity shown, there. We are clearly gearing up for the season.
For this week's task, I thought I would set up something much more difficult. This week's task is to design a novelty play. If one of us can come up with something that couldn't possibly fail, perhaps someone could slip a note into Mangini's pocket at camp and maybe we'll see it happen! Maybe it will be the play that wins us the Superbowl. Highly doubtful, of course, but it should be fun.
I'm sure all of you have had flashes of brilliance where you've thought, “why don't they try this?”. Cast your minds back.
In recent times, coaches have been quite creative, with recent developments such as “the chin strap fake” and “the running off the field pretending there are 12 men, but then stopping on the sideline fake”. These are the sorts of ideas anyone could have come up with, though.
As ever, some lame ideas from me to get the ball rolling…
“The fake knee” – a variation on the fake spike, the QB makes like he's going to take a knee (say just before half-time), but sneakily pitches the ball to his RB just before his knee hits and his RB runs or throws it downfield. Linemen can sell this by standing about. Potential drawbacks: Risk of a turnover, difficult to sell by having linemen stand about when they do that a lot anyway (hopefully less of an issue this year), inadvertant whistle from official if he is fooled too.
“The Adrian MacPherson” – QB lines up under guard by “mistake” (yes, MacPherson did this last year) and then looks confused, but the center snaps directly to the RB who runs or throws it downfield. Potential drawbacks: A Lamont Jordan-esque QB decision making episode.
“The Globetrotters” – A variation on the music-city miracle, but involving behind the back passing, gyrating on the floor, depantsing the opposition and gatorade buckets filled with confetti. Potential drawbacks: Risk of unsportsmanlike conduct penalties.
“Mega ball control offense” – Situation: Any long touchdown scored in the fourth quarter with your team in the lead (or taking the lead with the touchdown). Invariably, the defense will give up the chase…so the entire offense hustles down to the ball carrier who doesn't cross the goaline. They then surround him as he waits on the goal-line and stand there fending off defensive players for the remainder of the quarter, so he can score with no time left. Potential drawbacks: Fights, too many men penalties, holding calls, but if it starts to look a bit hairy, the guy can just cross the line and score.
“The interceptarooskie” – The ball is deliberately thrown deep downfield to the most timid looking of the opposing teams defensive backs, but the wide receivers all time their routes to try and smack the ball loose. Potential drawbacks: Interception deep downfield (not that much worse than a punt). “Deep downfield” might be a problem if Chad Pennington is your quarterback.
“Sneaky punt returnage” – When the ball is left to roll by the return man, the defense usually watches the ball slowly rolling to a halt, but rarely look around, so if one of the special teamers suddenly charges over to the rolling ball and laterals it to the punt return man (who has, up to this point, feigned disinterest) he could be away. Potential drawbacks: Muffs or botched laterals. Should be safe enough for the two players involved to gauge when it's worth a try.
“Onside kick shenanigans” – In a non-onside kick situation, instead of a squib kick, boot the ball as hard as possible at the slowest, least athletic looking lineman on the other team. It should hopefully bounce back off him. Element of surprise could be added by having a lineman do the kicking. Potential drawbacks: Bad field position if he catches, recovers or avoids the ball.
I'm not sure we have any winners there, but perhaps we have the beginnings of some workable ideas.
Over to you…
No coffee allowed! TJ practicing at WOLB ahead of BT? Chad still shaky? Justin Mcareins in the doghouse?
Berger Blog: Inside the Jets
Rich Cimini's [Name Redacted] Blog
The beaters and fighting for supremacy Mortal Kombat style and WE the fans are the beneficiaries… muhahahahahaha!!! FINISH HIM!!!!
It's here, it's finally here!
I am not going to go off the deep end and say that the first day of training camp is like Christmas morning (I will save that for Week 1) but the opening of training camp brings me hope that football talk will pick up, meaningless games aren't far behind that, then a season where our beloved Green & White will often get their teeth kicked in for four solid months and then another seven months of boredom… I think I now want to cry.
Which reminds me of something that Ken Berger posted on his blog (Yes! That's right, his blog has risen from the proverbial ashes!!!) about how Mangini pulled a quick one on the media.
I swear, Vic Ziegel of the Daily News was so bored I thought he was going to weep.
Now look at Siegel's column today… and take a look at Cannizarro's only if you want to raise your blood pressure.
The entire day represented a low point in public relations for the Jets.
GASP!!!! Public relations low-point!!! A family of loyal Jets fans shunned for autographs!?! I can't believe it!!! This is a national emergency!!! Send in the National Guard right away!!!! Get me Herman Edwards!!! THE IMPORTANT THING IS NO ONE PANIC!!!!! OH MY GOD WHAT AM I SAYING?!?!? NOW I AM BEGINNING TO PANIC!!!!!!
Siegel's is all fluff about how a poor family didn't get autographs. Cannizarro states that if Ferguson is so afraid of the media, how will he take on Freeney?
Well BOO-FREAKING-HOO. Don't get me wrong, I feel bad for the guy and his family who got spurned from autographs, and if I was D'Brick, knowing that the print industry is lagging and they are making desperate attempts to sell papers for whatever reason, I would be more scared of the media than Dwight Freeney too.
Bottom line is, what did you expect with the new regime? Are you not reading the signs from the coach or in the news like everyone else and know this is going to be an issue? Would I rather have unlimited player access and a team that backs into the playoffs again and again, OR limited player access and a team that is prepared for the long haul to make a legitimate run at the Super Bowl and actually plays to win (not lose) the game? Hmm, that's a tough call. Seemingly, the only reporter who didn't make the Ferguson non-story into a story was the Times Karen Crouse, a reporter who I have never taken that seriously because most of her articles are bio pieces. Writes Crouse:
Ferguson declined to comment on his contract Thursday morning after grabbing breakfast in the Hofstra cafeteria. “I don't want to get in trouble,” he said.
Under the Mangini reign, up until now the pressers up to this point has been funny to listen in on. At first, questions about specific team information was asked and brushed aside with the generic “flexible scheme” type answers. I saw this ratchet up a bit during minicamp. There were more questions about quarterbacking, schemes, injuries and such that were brushed aside by Mangini again, but this time with a nervous laughter from the media. Now, we have full out skirmishing, and it appears that many in the media's diplomacy has taken this into “conflagration mode.”
Reporting freely is a right (just as the Constitution allows) but that doesn't mean papers have the rights to full access to private organizations… anything released outside of whatever mandates the NFL has in place is a “privelege.”
Hell hath no fury like a New York sports beat writer scorned. I will do my best to sort out the mess and assign TJB Snarkies accordingly in the new few days… this could be a long year…
What with all the uncertainty that the Jets have had to deal with at Quartberback, I didn't know if you had seen the news that there are actually FIVE quarterbacks looking to compete for the starting job heading into camp today…
Think your boss is harassing you? How about this tidbit from Andrea Adelson of the AP:
Mangini is a taskmaster and disciplinarian, and modeling his regime after Patriots coach Bill Belichick. He quizzes players in the hallway on formations and schemes. He wants them all to be accountable not just for their own play, but for what everyone else is doing.
Pop quizzes in the classroom were tough enough. But in the hallway? Yeeesh! Think Kevin Mawae would have tolerated hallway pop quizzes?
I have to say all this whip-cracking stuff sounds good as I sit here in my rocking chair, but the jury is still out (waaaaaay out) as to whether this hard-ass approach will work for Mangini.
One thing is for certain. The beat reporters will beat us over the head this season with 'Eric the Disciplinarian' stories and comments.
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