TC Report 8/10: Getting To Know You

When i got to Hofstra at 8:40, the stands were full. It's hard to estimate the crowd since I was smack in the middle of it, but i'd say there were at least 5,000-6000 there today. As i approached the field, i heard the ka-ching of cash registers in the tent shop. Sure enough, it is stocked with Favre merchandise for people and aliens of all ages and genders. Jerseys, t-shirts with his image on them, t-shirts with the Jets logo on front and "Favre 4" on the back (yup, i got me one of those). Pink shirts for the fairer sex, little shirts for little people, big shirts for big people, all adorned with the magic, green "4".

Cheers went up when He took the field. He seemed to make a deliberate effort to stay on the far side of the field and away from the stands when he walked back and forth from the turf to grass fields. He wasnt looking for any more adulation than he was already receiving.

This was a pads and uni day- no shorts today, it was football pants and pads day.

After the stretching, the QBs moved back to the field in front of the stands and did a couple of walk-thru snaps and simple handoffs and short passes to each other. Favre stood nearby with Schottie, who was explaining each play as the other QBs ran through them. There were lots of hand gestures between "4" and Schottie, and very concentrated conversation (I had them closeup in my binocs at the time.) Schottie also demonstrated and explained some of the hand signals to Favre as the QBs did them and ran through the plays.

Afterwards, the four QBs played catch with each to warm up the arms, and a fifth Jet came over- Coles stood next to Favre and caught Clemens' throws and handed the ball to 4 to throw back to Clemens. They chatted some while this was happening. Franks stood a few feet away, listening in.

Favre and Coles were also gesturing to each other with their hands and arms while playing catch- the up and over type of gestures indicating whether WRs were going to run straight or cut, etc. Clearly, everyone is trying to get on the same page as quickly as possible.

I think there were about 60 other guys in green and white on the field doing stuff, too, but i wasn't watching them today. :smile:

Then the RBs came over and Favre started practicing the handoffs to each of them, having quick conversations with each of them in between each play to get in synch with what they were all doing. It was back to basics- get on the same page, work on the simple stuff first.

Then they all moved to the grass field and ran 11 on 11s. It seemed that Favre took about 75% of the snaps today. Ratliff continued to look sharp on his reps, and Clemens continues to look like, well, Clemens. But it is obvious that Clemens is still listed as the #2, for the time being, anyway.

Favre has star power, baby. I am not going to sit here and say otherwise. I am as in awe of him as everybody else is. He gets the ball where it is supposed to be, and he moves through the reps effortlessly. He really doesnt look out of shape or lacking timing at all. The guy's a natural. The quick square outs are tight, and the ball gets there fast and accurately. He did throw a couple of low balls on quick square-ins, but overall Favre looks great out there.

In His second stint of 11s, there was a botched snap on the first play. He was informed He would have to run a lap (along with Mangold) and Favre quickly took three or four exaggerated fast steps away from the huddle, as if to clearly signify that he was delighted to have to take a lap for screwing up the snap. He got a bunch of cheers as he and Mangold ran the lap.

Later on, i noticed Keller split out wide and had a feeling he was the primary target, so i kept an eye on him as the play developed. Favre threw it 15 yards downfield to him, but Rhodes came out of nowhere and smacked the ball away. That was the best defensive play of the day, imo.

Gohlston got a lot of reps with the first unit, and Harris was back in action.

The HIGHLIGHT of the day came towards the end of the session, when Favre took a snap deep in his own territory and let it fly at least fifty yards downfield right into the hands of Cotchery, who was streaking down the left sideline. Barrett had the good coverage but the ball dropped into Cotch's hands perfectly and he ran it in for a TD. Fiddy yards in the air, bebe!

This was a crisp practice, and there seemed to be a lot of good effort on the field. Richardson and Baker both seemed to have strong days today. Not only will the WRs and TEs be more productive with Favre chucking the ball around the field, but i have a feeling the defense is going to get much better from practicing against Favre.

They also worked on kickoffs this morning. I left a few minutes before the end of practice, because i didnt feel like waiting 15 minutes to get out of the complex to make the left on to Hempstead Tpke., so perhaps someone else who went today can add on if anything interesting happened at the very end.

Favre is The Man. It was great watching him practice in person. His arm is unbelievable, he is extremely accurate, has a great release, uses no more motion or effort than is required, and though he is one of the greats of the game, he just comes across as very unassuming and as one of the guys. While i'm sure there may be fans of a couple of teams who are content with who their QB is, I say to the rest of the league:

Don't you wish your QB was hot like ours!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88-L-jnCPNQ

(direct linky)

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88-L-jnCPNQ[/YOUTUBE]

 

Ha ha, TC Freak.

I asked one of the mods to change it to the default tag when the regular season started last year.

Thanks all for the nice reaction to the report.

i dont know why i titled the post 10/10- it should be 8/10. Brain fart, i guess.

Also, i want to add that there were more than a handful of GB fans there, wearing their green and gold stuff.

And there was a play where Favre hit Coles on a 15 yard curl pattern- Coles put a move on some TC fodder guy and blew by him for a long YAC TD.