Erik Boland Thurs AN TC report -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Blogger Erik Boland Erik Boland: Inside the Jets Breaking news, commentary and insider information on the New York Jets Printer-friendly posts July 31, 2008 Day 8: Morning practice 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.
I'm trying to look on the brightside of it. He took a hit, did not get hurt and held onto the ball. I keep hearing good things about him, just want to see him play and stay healthy.
He's gonna have to be able to take those hits if he wants to play the slot for us. Considering he probably wasn't expecting a hit like that in practice, it's amazing that he hung on to the ball.
Oh believe me, I'm totally with you. I've heard of his potential and can't wait for him to slide into a starting role. It's just that given his past injury history you hope that his durability has improved through strength/conditioning training. I'm glad that Rhodes laid a hit on Stuckey and that he was able to get up in one piece. It's just that you can't help but cringe when you hear "Stuckey" and "Big Hit" in the same sentence.
Unfortunately if Stuckey really is as brittle as he was made out to be then I don't think we'll see him starting anytime soon, if ever.
His durability reminds me of the receiver we had a few years ago, guy with VERY skinny legs but was super fast, sometime around when Santana started playing for us. Can't remember his name for the life of me.
Jonathan Carter? And give Stuckey a chance. He's not the most durable, but it's his second year, you can't label him that yet.
Bottom line I hope Stuckey can stay healthy consistently and turns out to be as great a receiver as it sounds like he can be.
Wasn't Jonathan Carter the KR we picked up from the Giants? Fumbled the opening kickoff against the Bengals in the home opener but then had a KR touchdown later in the game?
"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" I thought all Chad did was dink and dunk. Stop that Chad, your confusing your devoted fans here.
Yep that's who I'm thinking about. Guy was built like something constructed from a set of pickup sticks.
25 yards isn't terribly deep, is it? Or is 25 the new 45? Ever see Chad try and throw across the field? It's a thing of beauty- in someone's glaucoma ridden eyes..
I thought I read somewhere Chad threw a 50 yard bomb a few days ago? Not that I am defending his arm, but that would have been a better example.
Pennington threw one of the nicest bombs a lot of us has ever seen to Santana Moss. No one will confuse him with Dan Marino though.
does anybody besides me hate the fade route? Of course we didn't score from the 6 with Clemens if we went with two fade routes. Why did we improve our o-line if we're not going to punch it in with 4 downs from the 6?
