Category Archives: Lisa Zimmerman
FLORHAM PARK–Offensive consultant Tom Moore is now ensconced at the team’s facility for the remainder of the season. When Moore was hired just before training camp, the plan was that he would spend all of camp in Florham Park and then make a couple of other scheduled visits during the year, one was during the bye week and originally, the other was the week before the Redskins game. The rest of the year, Moore has worked from his home in South Carolina communicating via phone and fax.
Ryan expressed his desire to have Moore around regularly, but joked that permission would have to come from Moore’s wife. However, it worked out, Moore is now here for the duration. “His wife does have that veto right,” Ryan joked. “She didn’t exercise that.”
Questions have been raised as to whether this is some sort of knock on Brian Schottenheimer or indication of the organization’s lack of confidence in him. Ryan said that it would be “completely false” for anyone to think that.
FLORHAM PARK–Yet another comeback win. Everyone should be getting used to those by now. And, it builds character.
OK, I made that last part up.
The biggest news to come out of yesterday’s game is that Rex Ryan said today the Jim Leonhard will now be the team’s primary punt returner. He praised Jeremy Kerley, and talked about how hard he’s worked. “He catches 200 passes out of the jugs machine every day,” Ryan said. “And I’m not sure how many punts he catches.”
However, at this point, Ryan is “more comfortable” having Leonhard return especially given the potential for bad weather this time of year and he repeated what he’s always said, that he thinks Leonhard could catch a punt “in a hurricane.” (more…)
FLORHAM PARK–Offensive consultant Tom Moore made an appearance today. Moore usually works from home, but has several scheduled visits during the year and today was one of them. Moore was first brought to the team at the end of July and spent the entire training camp with the team in Florham Park.
Both Rex Ryan and Brian Schottenheimer like having Moore in town for face-to-face consultations as opposed to the faxing and emailing that normally suffices. Both coaches called Moore the most positive person they know, which is uplifting to everybody. Ryan likened Moore to his father, Buddy in that way. “The older they get, they see things through rose-colored glasses,” Ryan said. (more…)
FLORHAM PARK–Bills wide receiver Stevie Johnson was fined $10,000 for his touchdown celebration on Sunday. Plaxico Burress’ response? “He can pay for it.” And that, was that.
For whatever reason, there are still communication issues, even 11 games into the season. The disconnect on third-and-two between Mark Sanchez and Santonio Holmes is just one example. Rex Ryan voiced confidence that the kinks will be worked out. He said the two are, “Definitely working through it…It’s things like that we’re trying like crazy to clean up.”
Burress gave a similar statement. “It all works together,” he said of the responsibilities that the receivers have to their quarterback. “Getting to the proper landmarks, be disciplined in our routes, Not cutting our routes two-to-three yards short.” (more…)
FLORHAM PARK–Jeremy Kerley and LaDainian Tomlinson were held out of practice again with their respective MCL sprains. Both are listed as questionable for Sunday. It’s not looking good for either, especially Tomlinson. Rex Ryan said that Tomlinson is leaning more toward the doubtful category. Both players could be game-time decisions.
Tomlinson seemed visibly depressed by the situation. “It’s never fun to have injuries,” he said and added that no matter how hurt they are, players always want to play and that’s why they leave it up to the coaches and trainers to make the final decision. (more…)
FLORHAM PARK–Rex Ryan shared today that he took a couple of snaps away from Mark Sanchez during practice this week and gave them to Mark Brunell. This is the same thing he did last year to try to light a fire under Sanchez. And it worked. Last year, Ryan said Sanchez was so mad, “He wanted to fight me.”
This year, Ryan said he hasn’t spoken to Sanchez all week, leading to questions whether the quarterback was, once again, upset with his coach.
According to Ryan (who was laughing when he said it), “[Sanchez] hasn’t talked to me, for real. He has not said one word.”
When asked if he’s upset with Ryan about giving Brunell the snaps and is not talking to him, Sanchez looked surprised and said, “It’s not on purpose.” (more…)
FLORHAM PARK–$75,000. That’s the amount that Rex Ryan is going to lose from his paycheck after swearing at a fan during the Patriots game. The fine was announced this morning. Ryan said that he will not appeal it. “The commissioner’s got a tough enough job. I’m an NFL lifer. I accountable for my actions.” Ryan said he spoke to commissioner Roger Goodell after the incident to apologize.
The team is banged up, although outwardly at least, no one seems overly concerned about this. LaDainian Tomlinson (knee), Shonn Greene (ribs), Brodney Pool (knee) , Matt Slauson (ankle) and Jeremy Kerley (knee) were all held out of practice. While the media was on the field they were heavily involved in some agility work that involved a lot of hopping.
Ryan said that he expects everyone to be ready for Sunday. Pool said he hoped to be ready, but right now he’s day-to-day.
Oddly Kerley, Tomlinson and Pool are all suffering from the same injury, a sprained MCL.
If you want to know how bad this time of year is physically for players, Slauson has cleat marks on one of his legs… from the Buffalo game…and two of the holes continue to bleed. (more…)
FLORHAM PARK–It was dreary and overcast, which didn’t help what seemed to be a pall over the Jets facility today.
Darrelle Revis admitted on Monday that players were still thinking about Sunday’s game and with only two days now to prepare, they will need to move on.
LaDainian Tomlinson, who has a sprained MCL of his left knee, did not practice. He was walking normally, but it’s looking less and less likely that he’ll play against Denver. Ryan said that they will only fly players to Denver who they think have a legitimate shot at playing. (more…)
FLORHAM PARK–Sunday’s game against the Patriots didn’t go quite as well as the Jets had hoped. All week long, the focus was on beating the Patriots and taking over the division lead. Not only did it not happen, but New England’s win turned into a trouncing.
It was odd, especially since the first drive of the game was exactly what the Jets had wanted to do all season long — efficient and maintaining control of the clock. It worked like a charm until not only couldn’t they score a touchdown, but Nick Folk missed a 24-yard field goal. It was only his second miss of the season.
In the locker room after the game, the players who were still in there were at a loss to explain what happened. “Inconsistent” and “miscommunication” were two of the words used by more than one guy. LaDainian Tomlinson said he thought that failing on that first drive was so deflating it actually put the team in a lull for a while. Certainly a “lull” is not optimal against any team, and especially the Patriots. (more…)
FLORHAM PARK–Bart Scott was listening to Aries Spears. It was loud and it was off-color. Mark Sanchez was in the middle of the room testing out a pile of footballs for Sunday’s game. Dustin Keller was holding his iPod with the music blaring, chasing Jeremy Kerley around. Kerley was trying to get away from Keller so he could complete the phone interview he was doing. It was a typical Friday locker room.
The real news of the day is that pretty much everyone is healthy, except for Brodney Pool (knee) who was held out of practice again. It does not look good for him to play on Sunday. However, in better news, Mike DeVito proclaimed himelf “100%.” He hasn’t played since he injured his knee againt Miami.
Plaxico Burress, as he promised on Thursday, returned to practice today and said he’s ready for Sunday.
Joe McKnight was also back at practice and said that his toe didn’t afect him at all today. More to the point, “It’s Patriots week,” he said. “I can’t sit out this week.” (more…)
FLORHAM PARK–For a week when they are facing the Patriots, things have been extremely low-key and hype-free. Everyone seems calm and focused as they ready themelves for Sunday night’s showdown.
Plaxico Burress missed practice again today, but seemed relatively unconcerned that it will have a negative impact. He said that he’s in “constant communication” with Mark Sanchez, watching film and talking through all the details. In addition, the receivers all meet on their own, outside of practice and outside of their regular meetings to watch film, discuss and go through everything, so a lot of work is being put in.
Santonio Holmes said they started holding the meetings as soon as the team signed Burress during training camp.
Burress has apparently made a pretty big impact behind the scenes. He is very dialed in to game planning through his film study. In fact, Brian Schottenheimer said that Burress noticed something on film that the Jets will incorporate into this week’s game plan. (more…)
FLORHAM PARK–By all accounts the Jets are ready to roll for Sunday’s match-up against the Patriots. Shonn Greene who suffered both a head and groin injury against the Bills said he’s fine and ready to go. He looked relaxed and said he’s totally comfortable with where things are at offensively, “Knowing we’re finally back to the ground and pound.”
The question of whether the Patriots being last in the league on defense would have any impact on them, Nick Mangold answered, “I don’t get sucked into those stats. That’s a quick way to lull yourself to sleep.”
If you want to know how important Mangold is to this team, Ryan equated him with Darrelle Revis in importance and talent, and said of when Mangold was sidelined with his high ankle sprain, “We never make excuses, but I wanted to.” (more…)
← Older postsNewer posts →
