E-Boland & Gang Green

First, happy Memorial Day to all.

This week’s OTAs start tomorrow (Tuesday) and we get two days - Wednesday and Thursday – of access compared to the one day of practice we’ve seen the last two weeks. Plenty of things to keep an eye on, though one of them won’t be Vernon Gholston who, because of the previously talked about NFL rule, won’t be joining the Jets until the June minicamp. Among the points of emphasis for Wednesday and Thursday, in no particular order and, no, this is not an all-encompassing list:

1. The goings on with Brad Smith. Smith, with an undisclosed injury, was limited two weeks ago during the practice we saw, relegated primarily to holding on field goals. Kellen Clemens did some of the holding last week as Smith was even more limited, spending part of the practice on the sideline on an exercise bicycle. Chansi Stuckey, as previously written here and elsewhere, has been impressive and is the third receiver at this point.

2. Where Dwight Lowery is working and is any other cornerback starting to stand out? Lowery, the Jets fourth-round pick, worked mostly with the third team last week but everyone knows the preference is for someone other than David Barrett, who has been opposite Darrelle Revis, to start. Drew Coleman took the place of Hank Poteat in some nickel packages last week. The Jets signed two corners May 20: Jonathan Zenon and Kenny Patton. Asked about those signings last week and if the apparently stockpiling of players at that position reflected some uncertainty, Eric Mangini, still very much a defensive backs coach at heart, said with a smile, “I love corners.” It remains to be seen how many on the current roster are truly worth loving.

3. Clemens and Chad Pennington have been alternating working with the first team early in the quarterback competition, but this will be the first time we’ll get to see the QBs working back-to-back days, as opposed to seven days apart. Clemens had an impressive day throwing the deep ball last Thursday and Pennington showed some zip on mid-range throws. Seeing them consecutive days should be interesting.

4. Sixth-round pick Marcus Henry had a quiet first week of practice, but that was the case for all the rookies, other than tight end Dustin Keller, who worked, though not exclusively, a lot with the first team. We’ll probably see a little more involvement on the part of the rookies who, remember, missed the first week of OTAs because of another league rule.

5. For Gridderbob, I’ll have a long-snapper update. And one on overall offensive line depth, too.

6. And finally, for Roger and others who have asked, Eric Allen over on newyorkjets.com has been profiling the 51 finalists for this year’s Jets Flight Crew. Twenty-one will be picked for the Flight Crew on June 1, and fans will be given the chance to vote for the final member, giving the squad 22 total dancers. I, to this point, have not been asked to participate in the judging but am willing.

Also, I just flipped on the NCAA Division I lacrosse final between Johns Hopkins and Syracuse, a game being played in Gillette Stadium. Bill Belichick, a huge lax junkie, is in attendance. That likely means a gratuitous sideline interview with overwhelming odds on the first question being, “So, Coach, tell us about your love of lacrosse.” The answer? "We're just thinking about the Chargers."

In fairness to ESPN sideline reporter Rob Simmelkjaer, there’s probably no reason for him, in this circumstance, to set himself up to get the Solomon Wilcots treatment from Belichick [the classic clip is on Youtube and worth a watch if you haven't seen it, or haven't in a while].