Going into Saturday night’s game, the Jets’ offensive players, almost to a man, said their focus is tightening up their play with better first-down efficiency and fewer silly penalties — especially in the red zone.
“I think getting ahead of the sticks on first down [is vital],” quarterback Mark Sanchez said. “Second and long is hard and it really handcuffs the offense and it lets the defense do whatever it wants. If we can just get to second and medium it really gives us a lot of opportunities to play well.”
Wide receiver Santonio Holmes — whose acrobatic catch Tuesday in practice still had Sanchez gushing yesterday — agreed.
“Shooting ourselves in the foot with penalties, being better in the red zone, those are things we can work on,” he said.
A key to that will be tight end Dustin Keller, who caught a nice touchdown from Sanchez in 11-on-11s yesterday and whom linebacker Bart Scott called “a security blanket, a quarterback’s best friend . . . and a matchup problem.”
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Coach Rex Ryan said he will play his starters a series into the third quarter Saturday vs. the Giants, no more than he usually does for the third preseason game. But he won’t gameplan on defense, and doesn’t expect this game to have the same intensity it would if the teams weren’t playing for real on Dec. 24.
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Backup QB Mark Brunell (calf) didn’t dress yesterday. TE Jeff Cumberland (hamstring) and guard Trevor Canfield (knee) worked on the side. Rookie first-round pick Muhammad Wilkerson from Temple took part in individual drills but sat out the team portion because of illness. He was replaced by Ropati Pitoitua.
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The Jets waived OL Chris Stewart and LB Brandon Long.
“You have to give the guy a chance [to sign elsewhere],” Ryan said. “If you know in your heart that you’re going in a different direction, you need to be honest and give that young man an opportunity, and that’s what we did in both cases.”
The Jets signed undrafted free-agent safety Tracy Wilson (Northern Illinois), and claimed tackle Nevin McCaskill (Hampton) off waivers from Pittsburgh.
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Today the Jets will practice at 6 p.m. at Hofstra, their former home. Some may recall Ryan giving some of his players a tongue-lashing on HBO’s “Hard Knocks” for stopping at a nearby McDonalds and bringing cheeseburgers on the field.
“We’ll be traveling with our cheeseburgers on the bus this year, if I have to go up there and buy them myself,” Ryan said jokingly.
Scott quipped “no pickles though. I want a Krabby Patty,” referring to the fictional food from Spongebob Squarepants.
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Ryan made a vague reference to having “one guy that’s a phone call away” should FB John Connor suffer an injury. One could deduce that player might be free agent Tony Richardson, 39 and a former Jet.