08/10 ? The situation was ready-made for heroics. The final "situation" of this afternoon and evening's late training camp practice was a 23-second two-minute drill. The offense, trailing, 24-16, got the ball first-and-goal at the opponents' 9. And Brett Favre, participating in his first two-minute drills as a Jet, was up with the first offense. But he didn't get to go right away ? RT Damien Woody bounced up a split-second before the snap for a false start and a penalty lap. Then at first-and goal from the 14, Favre's first pass, for TE Dustin Keller, was batted down by CB David Barrett. But second down was the charm. WR Laveranues Coles, quiet for a while, erupted for the big play, taking off straight down the field, then curling behind CB Justin Miller to gather the Favre bullet for the touchdown with seconds to play. However, the O still needed a two-pointer for the tie. Favre took the snap, made one bounce-read, then another. Finally he had to pull the trigger. He tried to zing it to Jerricho Cotchery in traffic at the goal line. The throw was too hard and too wide and skipped through the end zone, hitting the wooden Toyota advertising board with a loud smack. So the O lost, 24-22, but Favre-to-Coles looks like a winner just as Favre-to-Cotchery looked in today's first practice. In earlier team drills, Favre also lasered a couple of completions in a row to WR Chansi Stuckey over the middle before finding Keller over the middle past Hank Poteat for a score. Kellen Clemens answered with a TD drive of his own. It featured a completion to Wallace Wright in front of rookie CB Dwight Lowery; then a rollout dumpoff while being chased by Calvin Pace to Leon Washington, who darted up the sideline running up the backs of teammates and defenders to the 10, then a TD to RB Musa Smith. And Brett Ratliff got into the act with a long ball to Wallace Wright against Poteat and Drew Coleman. But Ratliff was also rejected when he tried to get the ball to Washington downfield a little, only to have the pass emphatically swatted away by Lowery. And Favre also had a ball deflected by CB Darrelle Revis when he tried to throw into traffic. Revis also offered a good-natured gibe toward the new QB in town after Favre had to take a delay of game during goal line drills. "Hey, Brett," Revis called out. "This isn't Madden '09. Record Weekend The crowd for this late practice was held down to 1,500 due to thunderstorms that rolled across Long Island earlier. Although the rain tapered off and stopped during practice, the weather seemed to subdue the Jets and the crowd. But the total attendance for the three "Favre practices" this weekend was smashing: an estimated 16,000 fans, no doubt shattering any two-day training camp total in Jets history. One in attendance at the morning session and in fact for several sessions is former Jets, Patriots and Rams LB Roman Phifer, who's been known to drop by to say hello with Eric Mangini, one of his former Pats coaches. Ratliff-to-Clowney II My feature on Ratliff and David Clowney, who conspired on two 70-yard-plus touchdown passes at Cleveland on Thursday, went up on newyorkjets.com around 6:30 p.m., right before I headed out to practice. What was one of the first plays I saw? Ratliff trying to find Clowney on an intermediate route ? and throwing a high, hard one that S Abram Elam leaped up to intercept. Nevertheless, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Also, here is some more research on two 70-plus TD passes in a game, courtesy of my good friends at Elias Sports Bureau: Last player to throw two-plus TD passes of 70-plus yards in one game: None other than Favre, Green Bay at Denver on Oct. 29, 2007. Last player to catch two-plus TD passes of 70-plus yards in one game: WR Lee Evans, Buffalo at Houston, Nov. 19, 2006. Last pair of teammates to connect for two-plus TD pass plays of 70-plus yards in one game: QB J.P. Losman to Evans, Buffalo at Houston, Nov. 19, 2006. What Does Waived/Injured Mean? Jason, a Radar commenter, asked a question that I'd like to expand on. OL Clint Oldenburg was waived/injured Saturday, as was undrafted free agent RB Danny Woodhead earlier in camp. Jason asked me earlier this afternoon: "What happens when a player is put on the waived injured list? Do they leave camp upon being waived and return home? Do they wait the time frame to possibly be picked up? What is that time frame? Do most injured athletes get picked up even though they are injured?" I turned to Ari Nissim, the Jets' director of football administration for an explanation. "A player who is Waived Injured will revert to the club's injured reserve list once he clears waivers and will not count against the 80-man roster limit," Nissim told me. "And yes, during the waiver period, that player may be claimed by another team. "Simply put," he said, "Waived Injured is a way to place someone on IR without him counting against the 80-man roster." Also, Jason, the waiver period is a 24-hour window.
Not sure if this has been posted yet, but here are some highlights of Favre in Camp today.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkWIPaVlxYc
Very encouraging...it will only get better....I'm really hoping out Defense will meet its potential...