CORTLAND – Jets coach Rex Ryan decided to liven things up in Sunday’s practice with a dizzy bat relay race among the rookies.
The rookies (plus giant defensive lineman T.J. Barnes) had to run to a bat, put their forehead on the bat and spin around a number of times before trying to race back to the start. The defense prevailed in the race. Quarterback Tajh Boyd appeared to take the worst of it, laying on the ground for a while after he was done. Tight end Jace Amaro also took a while to recover.
“I was just trying to get the energy level boosted up and get guys smiling and laughing and feeling good and now you’re ready to work,” Ryan said. “It’s like even in the classroom you want people to smile. You can get more out of them and their attention. I thought I’d break it up just a little bit and start with that drill. I thought it was good. I thought we had a good practice outside of the injuries. It was very competitive. I think we got a lot out of it.”
The big story from practice was the injuries to cornerbacks Dee Milliner (ankle) and Dexter McDougle (knee). The Jets also had several other players sitting out: WR Eric Decker (quad), CB Dimitri Patterson (quad, ankle), CB Jeremy Reeves (knee), LB Tim Fugger (knee), WR Shaq Evans (shoulder), RB Chris Ivory (ribs), OT Markus Zusevics (knee), OT Brent Qvale (concussion). Qvale practiced with a red jersey on.
Geno Smith took all the first-team reps at quarterback Sunday and went 2-for-6 in team drills. He connected with rookie WR Quincy Enunwa on a 40-yard strike over Milliner that might have been a touchdown in a real game. On the next play, he found a wide open David Nelson for another potential touchdown.
Michael Vick worked with the second team and went 2-for-2.
Before team drills started, the quarterbacks went through different stations. It appears quarterbacks coach David Lee is really stressing conditioning in this camp. The first station was a ball security drill where the quarterbacks ran through a sled that has three pads on each side and a large pad at the end. They had to run through, protecting the ball and then make a cut at the end of it. From there, they ran to the goalpost where they had a bungee cord tied to them and the goal post and had to run with it. They then ran across the field to do a 1-on-1 red zone passing drill.
Rookie S Calvin Pryor worked with the second team. … Rookie LB Jeremiah George showed a few flashes, making two nice plays during the 9-on-7 running drill. … It’s fun to watch offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg coach. He was working with the wide receivers in the morning and had them running 12-yard patterns. When rookie Jalen Saunders cut his route off at 10, Mornhinweg stopped the drill and asked Saunders how far he was supposed to go and then ordered him to do the drill again. Details.