Overreaction and the First Week of Training Camp New York Jets Style

The Jets have completed five practices and have not yet completed a week’s worth of work at training camp, but you wouldn’t know that by reading Twitter during and after a practice. Beat writers tweet out their sometimes skewed version of how the practice is going and who is succeeding or failing as practice goes on and Jet Nation, myself included, react and overreact. Since the practices go two hours, which is eternity in the Twitterverse, it feels like the team has been at camp a couple of weeks when in reality it has been only 5 practices.

For example, Chris Ivory has yet to fully practice with hamstring tightness and considering his injury history some people are projecting this out to last for the season. The reality of the situation is that the team is holding Ivory out to protect him from a long-term injury that would threaten his participation in the regular season. The regular season is still over 5 weeks away. As much as I am anxious to see him run over people it has been less than a week and I am not ready to panic yet. If he is not ready for the first preseason game on August  9th then I’ll start to worry.

The quarterbacks are dissected to an even greater degree. Each throw is a referendum on that player and each practice sways the opinion in one direction or another. Twitter exploded when Geno Smith threw an interception in a one on one drill. Not a seven on seven or a full team 11 on 11 drill but just a one on one drill. Sanchez’s interceptions are reacted to with such vitriol it seems like it brings joy to many to tear him to shreds. I understand everyone’s frustration with Sanchez and his play the last two years and he will pay for that by losing his job either now or during the season but I don’t understand the hatred toward someone who plays on your favorite team.

Each unheralded player that has a good practice is going to make the team and contribute while a starting player who struggled is overrated and on his way out. Some people have already begun to speculate that Clyde Gates could have a Victor Cruz-like impact. It is nice that he has improved himself in the offseason apparently but he hasn’t even played a scrimmage or preseason game yet. Remember David Clowney? Yeah, me too. That’s not to say that Gates won’t be a breakout player, or Donnie Fletcher, or even our annual guess that this is the year Ricky Sapp stays healthy and lives up to potential. I just think a sample size should include weeks not days as well as some games.

I am guilty of getting carried away and acting like this too but at the end of the day I’ve got to take a step back and realize that this is a marathon not a sprint. There is a scrimmage this weekend them preseason games the next four weeks for it all to sort out. Now isn’t the time to anoint stars or write off players just yet, there is plenty of time just step back and enjoy the show.