Thursday OTA Report From Cimini

May 29, 2008
OTA IX: More shaky offense
Back at Hofstra today for OTA IX. Oh, the majesty of it all.

? Today was Chad Pennington?s turn to work with the starting offense, but it was a hard day to grade the quarterbacks because most of the practice was devoted to situational drills. They worked on goal-line situations, Hail Mary passes, hurry-up drives, you name it.

Things perked up a bit in the hurry-up portion, although neither Pennington nor Kellen Clemens was particularly sharp. Pennington completed his first three attempts, mostly underneath stuff, but his drive fizzled at the opponents? 40 after three straight incompletions (one on a drop by RB Leon Washington). Clemens drove to the opponents? 34, but he also was inconsistent. His best throw was an 18-yard strike to WR David Clowney.

? Overall, it wasn?t a good day for offense. There were a bunch of drops (Jerricho Cotchery, Laveranues Coles and rookie Marcus Henry) and the receivers had trouble getting open. The highlight was a 15-yard TD catch by rookie TE Dustin Keller, who made the catch with two defenders draped over him. It came on a throw from Clemens, who was flushed to his left and fired a wobbly ball to the speedy first-rounder.

Another positive moment for the offense came in a Hail Mary drill, when RB Jesse Chatman made a diving, shoestring catch in the corner of the end zone. It wasn?t really a Hail Mary, as Chatman broke free because of a blown coverage. Clemens found him and hit him from 35 yards.

? It also was a shaky day for PK Mike Nugent, who missed from 53, 43 and 43 yards in one sequence. On the positive side, he absolutely crushed a 55-yarder down the middle, reminiscent of a Cannizzaro (Post) drive on a par-5.

? Practice ended on a somewhat scary moment, when WR Chansi Stuckey went down hard after being leveled by rookie S Nate Lyles. Stuckey stayed down for a couple of minutes before walking off slowly.

? Brad Smith?s undisclosed injury was disclosed by, of all people, Eric Mangini, who said the third-year receiver is suffering from a back ailment. He has been very limited in practice. CB/KR Justin Miller (recovering from knee surgery) and LS James Dearth (undisclosed) also have been limited, although both appear close to 100%. Miller continued to work with the first defense.

? After practice, OLB Bryan Thomas gave one of his best interviews, coming clean on his subpar performance last season. With refreshing candor, he admitted he slacked off in practice and it carried over to Sundays. With the additions of Calvin Pace and rookie Vernon Gholston, Thomas knows he has to shape up or else ?my ass will be out of here.?

? Mangini on why they signed FB Tony Richardson: ?I wanted to bring in a cotemporary (of mine).? Richardson is 36, Mangini 37. They graduated high school the same year. But, seriously, Mangini complimented Richardson?s blocking ability, although he noted that Richardson ?isn?t a classic fullback, huge collision after huge collision.?

? The Jets haven?t been using the new radio/helmet system on defense. Mangini said he wants the players to learn the ?old-fashioned? way - sending in calls with hand signals by coaches - before switching to the new technology. The thinking there, he said, is he doesn?t want to become too reliant on the radio system, just in case it goes on the fritz in a game. He mentioned LB David Harris and S Kerry Rhodes as the leading candidates to wear the radio. The new rule, put in place because of the Patriots? notorious spying tactics, allows one player on the field to wear the system in his helmet.

? DE Shaun Ellis was excused to attend his daughter?s grammar-school graduation

 

Boland's Report

Throw it away
Chad Pennington did not have a great day Wednesday working with the second team. His day Thursday working with the first team wasn't much better. But Kellen Clemens didn?t distinguish himself much, either. In short, it was one of those days, for both quarterbacks. It was a Thursday filled with an array of balls that came up short, sailed long and otherwise failed to reach their intended targets. When there were well-thrown balls, often times the receivers ? including standouts to this point like Jerricho Cotchery, Laveranue Coles and Chansi Stuckey ? dropped them. One receiver who did catch everything was rookie Dustin Keller.

These days happen. Every team has a bad practice. No need to go crazy. Anyway, a brief review:

1. After saying all that about the quarterbacks, this wasn?t the best of days to evaluate either one because the practice was spent mostly working on special teams and game-specific situations. For example, the quarterbacks spent the first half of the practice throwing to each other [except for Erik Ainge who still is not throwing] on the lower field at Hofstra while everyone else worked on special teams.

Stuckey returned kickoffs along with Leon Washington and Danny Woodhead. The 5-7 Woodhead drew some ?oohs? and ?ahhs? on one return when he essentially looked hidden behind the blockers, then darted through a hole on the right side. It was a non-contact drill - all of them are - but had it been full-contact, the play would have been a long one. When it came to punt returns, nothing huge there other than Ben Graham?s Thursday was much better than his Wednesday. There were some spirals and no shanks. Jeremy Kapinos had another solid day.

We got our first look at the Jets ?good hands team? for opponents? onside kicks. The unit included Darrelle Revis, Jesse Chatman, Kerry Rhodes, Bubba Franks, Justin Miller, Dustin Keller, Cotchery and Coles. Last thing on the kickers: Mike Nugent missed a 53-yard field goal and two from 44 yards. He stayed after practice to work on his kicks. Nugent?s day wasn?t great but he did absolutely hammer a 55-yarder through the uprights that would have been good from 65 or 70.

2. The offense went through about every game circumstance it can face ? goal-line situations, two-minute drives, Hail Marys, etc. Clemens completed a 35-yard Hail Mary to Chatman, who came back on the ball at the goal line and made the reception in front of Abram Elam and James Ihedigbo. Both Clemens and Pennington had Hail Mary passes from the 45-yard line ? meaning they ended up throwing the ball from beyond the 50 ? knocked down short of the end zone by Kerry Rhodes. The Jets went 1-for-4 on the goal line [Clemens was 1-for-2, Pennington 0-for-2], the one conversion coming when Clemens rolled to his right at about the 10 and hit David Clowney in the back of the end zone. In a later drill, Clemens, from the 15, found Dustin Keller at the goal line between two defenders.

In the two-minute offense drills to end practice, Pennington completed his first three passes ? two were dumpoffs ? but had three consecutive incompletions, including a nicely thrown touch pass down the left sideline that Leon Washington dropped. Pennington saw an 18-yarder bounce off Coles? fingertips ? though the ball was slightly underthrown - in an earlier drill.

3. Stuckey, whom I wrote about yesterday, stayed down on the field for several minutes after practice as, on the day?s final play, he got clipped by safety Nate Lyles going after a badly overthrown 20-yard pass from Clemens. After a few minutes, Stuckey was up and walked to the post-practice team huddle, even sharing a laugh with Mangini as he walked.

As I?ve been saying, overall, not a good day for either QB and that was an appropriate end to the afternoon.

4. Mangini, whose record on disclosing injury information is well established, actually disclosed some regarding Brad Smith. Smith has been limited to mostly holding on field goals and riding an exercise bicycle the days the media has been able to watch OTA practice.

?He?s working through some things with his back,? Mangini said Thursday morning. ?It?s an on-going process of rehab. When he?s ready to go he?ll be back out there.?

Mangini quickly reverted to typical nondisclosure disclosure when asked about long-snapper James Dearth, who has also been limited in the practices.

?He?s rehabbing something,? Mangini said, restoring order to the universe that had momentarily been thrown into disarray.

Also limited today was Artrell Hawkins and Kenny Patton, the cornerback from Hawaii signed last week. Speaking of corners, for the second straight day, Justin Miller started with the first-team defense.

And finally, the Mangini standup comedy moment of the day: Asked about 36-year-old Tony Richardson and what the fullback brings to the Jets, the 37-year-old Mangini said, ?I wanted to bring in a contemporary. Graduated high school the same year. Could actually relate to the same songs, things like that, someone to hang out with personally.?

The man can deliver a punch line.

As for tomorrow in the paper [on line too], I?m writing about a very motivated Bryan Thomas, who after practice today copped to ?slacking? last year during practice, which carried over to the games on Sunday. He was open about things, to say the least.