So within a couple of hours after I posted that rather long wrapup of OTAs and such - the same wrapup where I declared Jeremy Kapinos slightly ahead of Ben Graham in the punter battle - I find out just now the Jets cut Kapinos. WR Chris Davis and K Mark Myers were also cut and all I can say is I'm glad I didn't declare Myers ahead of Mike Nugent. As for my evaluation - and I do promise Kapinos showed a strong leg - I'm reminded of something a coach told me years ago: "Sometimes you need to keep in mind what you didn't see rather than what you saw."
Words to live by.
Oh, added to the roster in this afternoon flurry of activity was WR/KR Ashlan Davis and P Joe Smith. Brief bios, from the Jets PR staff - and by that I mean the overworked interns:
"Smith (6-2, 195/Central Washington/Enumclaw, WA) was selected as a Division II All-America and led the league in punting at Central Washington. He finished his senior season (2003) with a 44.2-yard average and served as the national leader every week of the NCAA’s statistical report. Smith spent the last three years with the Yakima Mavericks of the Evergreen Football Semi-Pro League. He averaged 42.8 yards per punt and was named the league special teams MVP in 2007."
"Davis (5-10, 180/Wake Forest/Atlanta, GA), originally signed by the Jets as a rookie free agent on July 26, 2007, was waived Sept. 1, and signed to the practice squad Sept. 3. Davis appeared in two games for the Jets in 2007. He made his NFL debut on Nov. 4 vs. Washington, carrying the ball once for three yards. He recorded his first career reception for three yards at Miami on Dec. 2. Davis spent portions of the 2005 and 2006 seasons with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League, tallying nine catches for 83 yards."
So there you have it. Might have to put up more borderline salacious pictures as way of distracting from my poor evaluation of the kicking game.
Comments (9)
hey erik, stay on top of things k? remember im watching you
Boland, Boland, Boland, whatever are we going to do with you? At least we've still got the Aussie around. I know it's easy to allow your mind to wander when it's fixed on Bethpage Black. Haha, anyway Boland, try not to work too hard these next few months buddy.
Mr.Boland,
A lot of folks on the NYJ blogs think that what they read from you media guys and what they see in the pre-season games is what there is.
I figure this is maybe 20% of what the coaches see and make their judgments on.
There is an awful lot of surmising that we do. But what we can't do, as fans, is ask the coaches a lot of leading questions to see if we can get any insights about how they feel about what they're seeing.
To get creative, i.e., with Bill Callahan for instance, he is famous for working with a man to man blocking scheme at the Raiders which emphasized very large players -- OGs at 335 lbs etc..
Alex Gibbs has a preference for molding zone blocking folks, and works well with smaller OLs.
What's Bill Callahan thinking about the guys we have? What are the strategies that fit these guys? I mean, you have to create opportunities for the skill-sets you have, right?
How does Bob Sutton feel about inside LBs versus outside LBs...?
We suddenly have a lot of LBs to get on the field and are the techniques of the weakside OLB all that Bryan Thomas can excell at?
Can Mr. Pace play effectively next to D.Harris so we can get Ghoulston and Thomas on the field at the same time?
We are in a tantalizing dark during this off-season period, and we need some hifalutin detecting on our behalf.
Are you the man?
Boland - perhaps an old school pic of spears? The Cedric Benson of Pop stars?
Yes, Boland... are you the man?
KeepChad&Kellen, well, I don't think asking those things would necessarily make me "the man." Rather, that would be me simply doing my job by asking good questions that you pose. Now, here's the issue: not really an issue, just a reality. We will not get to talk to the assistant coaches until an undisclosed [undisclosed to me at the moment] time during training camp. I have no problem asking those questions -as I said, they're good ones - but I have to have access to do so. So the good news is those things can and will be asked; the bad news is not at the moment. I mean I could do some of my own surmising on those questions, but that's not what you're after here.
I will tell you Mangini was asked a couple of questions very similar to the ones you brought up regarding Callahan and Mangini, in his answer, said, "One of the things I like about Bill is his flexibility." That suggests Callahan isn't married to one philosophy. I will follow up on that. Oh, and I think your "20 percent" line is dead on.
DKnyj, I've clearly created an impossible standard here in regard to pictures.
Mike, I heed your warning and Bryan, a year and counting until the Open returns to the Black. A much better course than Torrey Pines where they're playing this year's Open.
Darrell, I was starting to get concerned. I didn't recall hearing from you during minicamp.
It's hard when you don't give me anything to gripe about. You had some very good minicamp reports... but not to worry, we're back to the slow season, this is when my bad attitude shines. ; )
Hey Boland,
Did the Mets dump Joe Smith?
Darrell, does this mean you'll be harassing me when I go on a brief vacation in early July? I know, I know, my whole job is a vacation.
Roger, yes. And as you saw last night when Smith gave up that eight-inning homer to Chris Snyder, he's focusing solely on beating out Ben Graham now.