Days after suffering a blowout 34-0 loss to the 49ers, the Jets said they had one of their best practices of the season. One wrinkle coach Rex Ryan added was the first-team offense facing the first-team defense.
This is a common practice in training camp, but usually during the season the starters face a “scout” team of reserves. The players said the pace of practice was one of the best of the year.
“During the course of the year when you’re going against the scout team a lot there is a certain tempo,” guard Brandon Moore said. “When you can go against a guy that’s playing on Sunday you’re going to get a different tempo, as close as you can get to having physical play.”
Ryan has emphasized fundamentals this week after the 49ers pushed the Jets around.
“We went back to the basics, just day one stuff,” safety Yeremiah Bell said. “Just making sure that we see things the right way, that we’re in the right spot, and just playing with some of the aggressiveness that we started off training camp with. We just got back to the basics, a little bit more pad-popping, but it was good.”
One of the biggest issues for the Jets this season has been missed tackles — leading to being ranked 31st in run defense. A more aggressive practice might help that.
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Quarterback Mark Sanchez has spent extra time this week working with his wide receivers now that Santonio Holmes is out. Without Holmes, the Jets need Chaz Schilens and Jeremy Kerley to take on bigger roles. That means learning some of the routes that were required of Holmes.
Schilens said the receivers and Sanchez have done extra work between drills and after practice. Sanchez said they’re just working on getting extra reps.
“They know the system,” Sanchez said. “They know the routes. We’re just moving guys around and trying to put guys in positions to be successful. I think that’s more of what we’re after, just repping those situations, repping those exact formations and just going over them again and again to make sure it’s second nature when they’re out there so they’re not thinking too much and they can just play.”
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TE Dustin Keller (hamstring) and WR Stephen Hill (hamstring) both missed practice again. Ryan was not prepared to say whether he thought they would miss Monday’s game. NT Sione Po’uha (back), LB Bart Scott (toe), LB Bryan Thomas (hamstring) and FB John Conner (hamstring) all missed practice, too. Safety Eric Smith (knee/hip), safety LaRon Landry (heel) and CB Aaron Berry (ribs) were all limited. … Texans RB Ben Tate (toe) did not practice, but he is expected to play.