Notes from Sunday’s Training Camp Practice

OFFENSE

Players stepping it up:

With Jeremy Kerley out due to a hamstring injury, the Jets need a couple of receivers to step it up. We all know about Stephen Hill, who is working his way up in the depth chart. Also, Rex spoke about Antonio Cromartie playing WR and installing his “Cro” package. But who else stood out?

Raymond Webber.

Webber has a couple nice catches (see above), and spent some time talking to veteran WR Santonio Holmes. I like to see Holmes talking to Webber, as well as DaMarcus Ganaway, to help them improve in anyway possible .

Speaking of Ganaway, he continues to impress me with his size and speed. Oh, and he’s got some good hands too!

Update on Mark Sanchez & Tim Tebow:

It wasn’t the best of days for Sanchez or Tebow. Both struggled in team drills, going 1 for 7. That’s something that we never want to hear as fans… 1 for 7… that’s terrible.

It might be wise to forget about the numbers and move on. Then hope that tomorrow is a better day. Better yet, let’s hope it’s a much better day.

On a positive note, both QB’s looked good releasing the football today. Here’s a picture of Mark Sanchez throwing a dart to WR Chaz Schillens…

Schillens has been an impressive addition in the offseason, and injuries to Jeremy Kerley and Jordan White have opened the door to a lot more playing time for #85.

Tim Tebow looked good as well. He had a couple of nice throws, but there’s one thing to remember (and this goes for Sanchez too)…You can’t throw an interception when there’s only two players on the field—the QB and WR.

Mark and Tim, both need to be more consistent throwing the ball with the defense on the field.

If the defense isn’t on the field, there isn’t a whole lot that can disrupt a completion. Therefore, all of these throws are supposed to look good… and they do.

Here’s a picture of Tim throwing, while he’s on the run…

Now here is me (JETSerious) below and to the left, playing Quarterback, during my High School days…

Anybody see the resemblance? Haha..

Brick looks better:

I’m not sure if D’Brickashaw Ferguson lost weight, but he looks good! He appears to be in great shape, and is blocking well during position drills.

He’s not exactly “Giving him the Business” in this picture, but you can tell just by looking at him, that Ferguson is ready to get back to work. He means business.

Conclusion on Offense:

Overall, the offense needs some work. I like what I am seeing, and the defense is great, but there’s still a lot of room for improvement. Especially the passing attack. Whether it’s Sanchez or Tebow, if we are completing only 1 of every 7 passes, no one will fear our offense. We need to get better. The tempo is great, and the intensity is there but we need to get better. It starts now.

Continue to Page 2, where JETSerious will break down the Defense and Special Teams notes from today’s Training Camp in Cortland!

DEFENSE

D-Line Tip Drills:

I remember during Minicamp practices, seeing Karl Dunbar’s new Defensive Line running the Tip Drill.

I can’t emphasize enough, just how smart this is for our defense. A tipped pass can ruin a completion, end a drive, and even cause a turnover. There are many perks to a tipped pass on Defense. So by running this drill during practice, the players will begin to adapt to the quick reaction they need using their hand-eye coordination. It all happens so fast…. so by practicing it more, it improves our chances of creating an interception off of it.

New Look Pass Rush:

With the addition of our new 1^st Round Pick, Quinton Coples, the pass rush has a new look to it. Between Aaron Maybin, Muhammad Wilkerson, Calvin Pace, and Quinton Coples, opposing offenses are going to see a lot of heat coming in their direction.

Today was the first look to everybody in full pads, so there was a lot more intensity out there. The drills that were run along the line of scrimmage were physical—enough to make it seem like the NFL is officially back! The Defensive Line looked great!

Wilkerson & co. were very effective using their power-swat move to shed their block. I really enjoyed watching them rush passed their block, and down the field in a quick flash.

One standout player (noticed by Rex Ryan as well), was Nose Tackle Damon Harrison—who is currently pushing for a spot on the final 53-man roster. He stands a great chance if he can play like he did today—with great passion, commitment, and determination. If Harrison can keep this up on a consistent basis, he’ll be the perfect guy to sub in for some of these other D Linemen, who eventually are going to need a breather.

Special Teams

Special Teams today, as usual, continued practicing aside from the more “popular” action. #4 TJ Conley (pictured below) had a nice boot, or two, leading the Punt team.

Conley is looking forward to another season as the Jets Punter. However, ideally, we would like to get more from him. By we, I mean us fans. I’m assuming that everyone’s on the same page, agreeing that Conley has some room for improvement.

Nick Folk and Josh Brown, on the other hand, continue to battle it out for the Starting Kicker position. Personally, I’m favoring Brown, because of his consistency throughout his whole career.

Brown made all 4 field goals today, while Nick Folk went 3-5 missing from 45 and 46 yards.

Advantage: Josh Brown.

Look out, Nick. You’ve got to start making those kicks, or Tannenbaum will show you the “Folking” door!

Other Notes:

Will the Otah trade even go through?

Jeff Otah, who the Jets recently acquired in a trade with the Carolina Panthers, remains on the sidelines. He continues to take his conditioning test after failing it, but looks like he’s out of shape for the most part.

Here he is, sitting on the bench after a simple jog…

He’s going to have to get up and get going, plus pass his physical, before there’s any possibility of hearing his name and the words, “Play Like a Jet” in the same sentence.

Front Office View

I don’t want to say that Jets Owner Woody Johnson was absent from today’s practice… but I didn’t see him. I did, however, see Mike Tannenbaum and Rex Ryan talking today, as they observed the Jets practice from the field.

Here is a picture of the two…

JETSerious Training Camp Coverage Continues!

Tomorrow, JETSerious will remain in Cortland to give the readers’ another inside look at Jets Camp. I will provide as much coverage as possible, to the best of my capabilities. Thanks for reading… and stay tuned!!!

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