Day 2 of the Favre Era dawns
A dramatic headline for no reason whatsoever.
Before getting to a couple of questions posted by commenters yesterday, I neglected to mention Eric Mangini's outstanding opening line from Saturday's press conference. Several other bloggers - including Cimini and Pelzman, which really irritates me - already posted this and I'm disappointed in myself for not relaying it in a timely fashion. Feel I've let the team down but all any of us can do is move on to the next blog post.
So Mangini walks into the media room at Hofstra yesterday, looks at the unprecedented number of media shoe-horned into the room and says, "I guess the word's out on how much better my press conferences are. Good to see."
Mangini has had his share of one-liners this training camp and that one was among the best.
A few of you, including Jay $ and skyman96, asked about the receivers. My very unofficial depth chart is as follows: Cotchery, Coles, Stuckey, Smith, Clowney (moving up) and Wallace Wright. That's hardly set in stone and there's no question Clowney is rapidly moving up the charts. Sixth-round pick Marcus Henry has missed the last few practices - along with the first preseason game - and I suspect he could be stashed on IR at some point. A hunch that, like the rest of them, I can change at any time and still say "I told you so." Sort of like "I don't see the Jets getting Favre." Yeah, nice call by me. And it's on record in soooo many places, including, as some of you keep reminding me, video. Oops. But what can you do?
Back on topic: as of now, I see four tight ends - Baker, Keller, Franks and Pociask - being kept. No one asked, I'm just throwing that in.
Back to something that was asked: commenter flgreen asked about the battle for the No. 3 quarterback spot and I can report that one isn't even close. Brett Ratliff, Brett Ratliff, Brett Ratliff. All you need to know about that one is Erik Ainge only played briefly toward the end of Thursday's game and just handed the ball off when he was in. I recall two good throws he's made all of training camp: a nice slant to Chansi Stuckey and the 43-yard Hail Mary TD to Wallace Wright. This isn't to hammer Ainge, and to be fair he hasn't gotten that many opportunities in camp, but the bottom line is when he has had those chances, not much has happened. Ratliff has made some mistakes but there's been far more good than bad. And there's no question, as several of you who have been out here have said, Ratliff has a gun. I wouldn't go so far as to say he's outperformed Clemens, but Ratliff has been one of the surprises of camp.
All right, a pair of practices today; 8:45 a.m. and 5:45 p.m. Both are open to the public. We'll be back here around 12:30 or so after Mangini talks and player availability. You will not hear from Favre today.
Another good crowd outside it looks like, though not quite as much media today as yesterday when everyone but Matt Lauer showed up. And he probably would have, too, if he wasn't in Beijing. Long Island television legend Carl Reuter, however, just walked in, which more than makes up for Lauer's absence.
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Comments (13)
E-bo,
Appreciate the shout out. This is the first time in a long time that the Jets have actually HAD a depth chart. At least one that has players on it worth watching. With Kassell going down, and Harris banged up, seems as if we've got a bit of a concern with the ILB position. D.Bowens is a bit out of position but so far so good. Cummings looked pretty good against the Browns, chance he'll make the team or do you think a waiver wire veteran out there might leak onto the squad?
Cliff I think you wear that republican label on your sleeve and I don't agree with you on most of what you said. That's my right. All I can say is that the republicans were all for deregulation, well you see what happened from it so don't blame presidents from 8 years ago. Plus this is not the place for political opinions. I read this blog so I can get away from the 24 hour news channels. And the other nonsense pertaining to the election. It's time for my favorite sport so please find some political blog to post your opinions.
IT"S TIME FOR FOOTBALL
TIA
I just got back from practice. Favre did a lap after fumbling the ball. Expect to hear about that later.
I also got it on video, Favre and Mangold doing a lap. It'll be up on Youtube soon.
as promised...Brett running a lap.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJxTvyXOXjs
Farve must be packing his bags as we speak, saying to himself I got to get the hell out of here what was I thinking :)
My exposure to Ratliff is limited to a single preseason game on teevee but one thing stood out. His footwork was excellent. One college scouting report claimed he was slow to drop into the pocket. I didn't see that Thursday. He seemed to cover a lot of ground on his first couple steps. His forward shuttle also seemed deceptively quick. He has a nice overhead release with height to boot. Frankly, I surprised he wasn't drafted.
Erik: Do you get a sense that he can improve or has he already peaked?
Erik, Why would in the world does Favre have schedule media days? It's prob the last thing he wants, is to talk to a ton of NY reporters all the time. Is it really necessary ?
Carl Reuter is the poor man's Gregg Sarra
Jay $, Cummings did make a few plays against Cleveland. I'd say right now he's 50-50 to make it, which doesn't sound great but considering his chances were significantly worse than that two weeks ago that's not all bad.
J., Ratliff hasn't peaked I don't think. I sense there's an interesting situation developing there that's worth keeping an eye on in the next couple years.
BigM, c'mon, I don't seem ALL that bad, do I?
J, check out Mangini's press conference today, he had some interesting things to say about Ratliff and his ability to read defenses.
I just listened to E-Man's press conference and I must say, I'm a little concerned. He opened by reporting that Brett had 2 hard boiled eggs and hash browns for breakfast. Is it me, or is that a blatant disregard for cholesterol? I had no idea he was THAT reckless! :-)
Erik, Yes you are! Now stay away from our QB before you scare him off back to mississippi! I feel like every press confrence is a ticking time bomb with him.
Great job Erik. As much as Ratliff has apparently improved over the last year, it's very exciting to see an UDFA QB step it up the way he has.
It's not very Jet like for that to happen, but we can only hope. Sounds like a few camp battles to be fought yet. Clowney has got to be worrying Smith,