Cimini - TC day one

A rainy day in Cortland
July 31, 2009

Mark Sanchez outplayed Kellen Clemens in Practice No. 1 (barely). Brian Schottenheimer cursed out the penalty-prone offense. Rex Ryan talked about his new diet. Thomas Jones talked, period. Leon Washington didn't -- not yet, anyway. And the weather was crummy.

That pretty much summarized the first part of Day 1 at Camp Ryan.

Let's start with the quarterback competition, which really isn't a white-hot battle just yet. Praticing in a steady drizzle at the SUNY-Cortland stadium, Clemens' performance mirrored the weather -- dreary. In 11-on-11 drills, he completed three of eight passes for 24 yards, with an interception.

The interception was ugly, as Clemens threw long for David Clowney. The ball hung up too long, and CB Darrelle Revis was in coverage, and that is a deadly combination for a quarterback. Revis made the pick, one of two in the practice.

According to the Ryan philosophy, which emphasizes ball control, defense and field position, the quarterback CAN'T commit turnovers. If Clemens keeps it up, he won't the No. 1 on the depth chart for any length of time. (By the way, Clemens seemed surprised that he was designated No. 1 when it was brought up by a reporter.)

Let's cut him some slack, though: The ball was wet and, as you know, the defense usually is ahead of the offense in the early stages of camp.

Sanchez, who worked exclusively with the second team, didn't commit any turnovers, the only reason he gets the edge in practice 1. But it was hardly a flawless performance by the $48 million rookie. He completed only one of five passes (a nice strike to Wallace Wright on a deep out) for 15 yards. The Sanchez-led offense also made three false-start penalties, causing an R-rated eruption from Schottenheimer.

Sanchez also threw a pass over the middle that probably should've been intercepted by OLB Marques Murrell. He also showed his inexperience, failing to recognize a backside safety blitz that would've been a sack in a real game. Commenting on the play, Sanchez suspects it wasn't his fault because he didn't hear about it from Schottenheimer.

Nevertheless, Ryan was happy with Sanchez.

"I thought he had a really good day," said Ryan, also mentioning the almost-interceptions into "trap coverages" by the defense. Specifically, Ryan mentioned that Sanchez threw the deep out and come-back routes "exceptionally well." The rook's best moment was a long completion to Chansi Stuckey in a one-on-one drill, drawing cheers from the sparse crowd.

Ryan said Clemens showed "good command of the huddle," which is akin to saying your blind date had a great personality.

Other practice nuggets:

NT Kris Jenkins, flashing his early '08 form, blew up the first two running plays by the starting offense ... Soon-to-be-suspended OLB Calvin Pace worked with the first team. Vernon Gholston practice with the second group; it was a quiet practice for him ... Backup NT Howard Green was dominant in 9-on-7 drills, as was singled out for praise by Ryan ... CB Drew Coleman scored on an interception return, picking off rookie QB Chris Pizzotti.

Let's get to some of the post-practice stuff.

Jones spoke to the New York media for the first time since the end of the season. Believe me, it wasn't worth the wait. He didn't want to talk about you know what.

"I'm not going to answer any contract questions at all," he said. "If it's football, I'm good with that. Any contract questions, I'm not going to even talk about those."

Naturally, I asked a contract question, wondering if he cared to comment on the perception that he's unhappy with his contract. (He's in the third year of a four-year, $20 million deal.)

"I'm happy, I'm here for camp, I'm excited about the season," he said. "I'm excited about Rex. This is where I need to be."

Speaking of unhappy campers, Leon Washington was in uniform, as we reported earlier today. Actually, he showed up last night and was in his room for bed check. At 6 a.m., he passed his conditioning test, which left him so gassed that Ryan decided to keep him out of team drills in practice. He also won't practice in the afternoon.

Curiously, Washington didn't want to address the media after practice, fueling speculation that a contract extension is imminent and that he'd talk about it later in the day when it's finalized. But from what I hear, a deal isn't imminent. To me, Washington staged a mini-holdout to make a statement about his frustration with the negotiations.

Washington missed Ryan's first team meeting, which was easy to miss because it wasn't that long. I've heard of coaches who talk for more than 30 minutes in their first training-camp address to the team, but Ryan kept it short and sweet. RT Damien Woody told me it was the shortest eve-of-camp speech he'd ever heard in all his years in the league.

"He was quick to the point," Woody said. "He was like, 'We're here now. We play for one reason and that's to win a championship. Be ready to go tomorrow.'"

In his daily press briefing, Ryan entertained the media with comments about his new diet. Stunningly candid, Ryan admitted his weight has ballooned to 340 pounds (30 pounds more than he was at the end of last season) and that the trainers and doctors in the organization have encouraged him to diet. So he's trying a liquid diet, which means a lot of fruit and veggie shakes. It's a five-day program, and he didn't sound too fired up about it.

In that case, I probably won't mention to him the terrific meal we had last night at the famous Dinosaur BBQ restaurant in Syracuse. Oh, man, the pulled pork was amazing.

 

Well, to be fair to Shit-mini, that's his blog. His columns are proof-read by an editor.