Chad throws first picks at today's 'pre-scrimmage' It wasn?t a practice, per se. It wasn?t a controlled scrimmage; that happens tomorrow with the Green & White game at Hofstra?s Shuart Stadium. So what would you call this afternoon?s secret, closed-to-the-public session at Shuart? I guess you?d call it a pre-scrimmage. It lasted 1 hour, 34 minutes. They split the team, Green vs. White, and faced off in a no-pads, non-contact ? uh, event that emphasized various situations. The biggest news out of the session: Chad Pennington lost his perfect game. It took 11 practices, but Pennington threw his first interception of training camp. Actually, he threw two. The first came from the opponents? 13-yard line, where he tried to thread a pass to TE Bubba Franks on a seam route. Trouble is, he didn?t see S Kerry Rhodes. Interception No. 1. A few minutes later, Pennington was picked off by CB Justin Miller, who caught a deflection. Sorry, but I didn?t catch the number of the guy that tipped the pass. That turned out to be Pennington?s last pass of the day. He put on a headset and made like a coach on the sideline, helping out QB Brett Ratliff for the remainder of the practice. Meanwhile, Kellen Clemens had another solid outing. Working with the second teamers, he threw a nice fade to WR Wallace Wright for a 15-yard TD. Clemens got so excited that he pumped his fist to celebrate. Even with no TV cameras and no crowd, these guys are prideful, competitive athletes. It had to be a feel-good moment for Clemens, who struggled through the first several days of camp. Other observations: ? CB Justin Miller continued his strong camp, making two interceptions. You already know about the first; the second came near the very end, when he plucked a Ratliff pass out of the air - a ball that was tipped at the line by OLB Bryan Thomas. Miller?s interception, which came in a simulated overtime period, set up the game-winner - a 54-yard FG by Mike Nugent. Miller is battling David Barrett for the starting job at right corner, and I?d have to say that Miller has the slight edge at this point. He has more speed and athleticism than Barrett. For Miller, it?s always been about the neck up - keeping his head in the game and playing smart on his feet. Maybe he has matured. This is a contract year for him, so there?s plenty of motivation. ? WR Jerricho Cotchery, having a quiet camp, made some really nice catches. With Laveranues Coles (thigh) on the sideline, Cotchery is the No. 1 receiving option. Late in the practice, he made a nice play on Miller, stealing the ball from him on a 37-yard completion from Ratliff. Earlier, Franks made a similar play on rookie CB Dwight Lowery, ripping the ball away from him on a 23-yard pass in the seam by Pennington. http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/jets/
Thanks flgreen. Whats the deal with Hofstra?s Shuart Stadium? Is there a parking lot on that side of the road, or should i park near Jetsfest? I am thinking of going tmw. I see there is a food drive there tmw., so if anyone goes, bring some canned food to donate.
Mangini isn't going to make Chad the starter unless he has no choice at this point. Coaches who choose to sit down a veteran QB for team performance issues rarely go back to that guy down the road. If Mangini starts Chad and the Jets lose badly again as they did in the first half last year it would probably cost him his job when all was said and done. Losing with Clemens isn't a lot more appetizing but losing with Chad is a pitfall for Mangini.
Just curious...isn't it normal for all QBs to throw int.s in the first few weeks of camp? Does it happen to all veterans, or are they expected to be perfect from day 1? Isn't it also normal for KC to have some early camp jitters? I am not ready to give up all hope, especially this early in the game.
The Jets have been very risk averse about INT's as an organization for the last decade. It's a Parcells trait that worked it's way into the organizational DNA and then got reinforced by Vinny and Chad when Parcells left. Vinny threw a bunch of speculative picks in 2000 and 2001 where he was powering the ball up the seams and hoping his guy would get it for a gainer and instead a safety took it away in double coverage. Chad in turn almost never threw up the seams because he saw Vinny having problems there and he didn't have Vinny's arm to try to force it in. Since 2003 the Jets have just played a very safe passing game that minimized all chances of significant impact positive and negative. The Jets offense has been correspondingly stagnant over the last 4 seasons and it's going to be tough to get that mindset out of the organization. Clemens probably needs to have things really opened up before he's going to have a chance to succeed. If they make him play the same short controlled passing game that Hackett installed and Chad implemented he's kind of guaranteed to be just a weaker QB than Chad. He might hit 60% of his passes in that offense when he really learns the ins and outs but Chad hits close to 70%.
Without an offensive line that enforces a successful running game, every pass is an opportunity from the defense's point of view. If the putzes can't run on your D then your D can rush the passer to death -- that's the rule of thumb that turns the DBs into the bandits that they so desparately want to be. The NYJs' OLs have always been so much cannon fodder to some teams that like to take advantage. The exception to this is when the offense is able to generate some 'balance' between successful runs and therefore unexpected passes. It's how you can fatally upset the D to lose the game. You want to see a good example, take a look at the Green Bay game in 2006. GB got played by the NYJs like a little girl's piano by Shostakovitch himself. Bewitched, befuddled, baffled, bothered, and bewildered. What a fun defeat that was. -- Let's have some more of that!
Both of these guys will see significant time this year. Which is why I have pretty much bowed out of the QB debate.
thanks for the report--seriously,it is really appreciated and gives us insight we would not otherwise learn
Well it's his 3rd training camp, and every player is coming into camp in the same situation, so I wouldn't say it's normal. But it's still early and the preseason games are going to count as much, probably more as the practices, so there's still plenty of time for Clemens to win this thing.
Man, would this be sweet. I hope these beat writers aren't deeming his camp "strong" just because he has a few picks in practice. Is he covering guys? Is he reading plays? Is he maturing as a football player or does he just have a couple lucky picks?
Nice to read that Miller's having another strong camp, it'd be a huge lift to the defense if he can settle in to that 2nd corner spot and succeed long-term.
mangini loves this 'green and white' scrimmage. in part that's why we have so many dbs, rbs, recievers, in camp so he can field two complete teams (nugent plays both sides) watch heads roll right after the game. a lot of camp fodder will be loading semis next week.
Well if these kinds of days continue, along with the kinds of days that Clemens has been having so far, we're pretty much screwed.
Pretty dumb don't you think? KC should win this based soley on his ability to be the best QB. We should hope ALL our QB's have a great TC... hoping that one screws up to give the other one the starting job? Hoping that one of the Jets fails in order to give another a chance? Sad.
