A day at Jets camp in Cortland – 8/9/14

[Libero_2]

Today was not a stellar practice, some good moments for both sides, but in reality it was just a low energy kind of day. It should be pointed out that I have never attended a practice this late into camp before. As a result, that could be why I felt the energy today was pretty lackluster on all sides.

I also must apologize because this review will seem pretty lackluster in comparison to those I’ve done in years past. I have been going through some back trouble, and needed to spend a significant portion of practice sitting down. As such I was mostly looking through their “fencing” and sometimes missed out on some numbers of players, and also wasn’t able to keep my head on a swivel like I had in the past that had allowed me to take in all portions of practice at once.

The first two players out on the field were Tajh Boyd and Chris Pantale (TE), next up were the kickers and punters, and then Matt Simms came out with Colin Anderson (TE – 89) and then Vick came trotting on the field about the same time as most of the players. The last guy on the field (other than the guys who ended up riding bikes) was Geno Smith.
Also prior to the practice and anybody but Boyd/Pantale being on the field, coach Karl Dunbar was walking around near the fence and I talked to him for a minute. Cool dude, clearly loves his gig, well spoken. It was pretty nifty to have that opportunity, and awesome of him to take the minute or so to talk to me and my dad.

Warm-ups

For warm-ups, the OL (as always) were the ones who were closest to me, and I actually was extremely surprised this year. After a while, Breno Giacomini actually pulled all the guys in and started doing some teaching. It was related to different ways the OL guys could “play” DL in the warm-ups, and different punch angles and how to “break” arms. I’m not sure if I should have been surprised or not, but it more or less devolved into a conversation (some of which I could make out, but not much) between Brick and Breno with everyone else standing around and taking it in. I was floored that Brick was out there asking questions of Breno and they were going back and forth and Breno was teaching Brick. I would have figured as an All-Pro LT who is going into year 9, Brick would know pretty much anything there was to know. What’s also good is that everybody was listening to Breno (aside from Colon who was doing his own thing off to the side) it seems he is already a leader on the unit despite only being here a short time.

Notes: I never saw Mangold today (apparently he was released from practice because his wife gave birth) and Dakota Dozier did warm-ups, but I don’t remember seeing him later in practice, perhaps I missed him, or he left I have no idea which is disappointing because I wanted to see him practice.

ST Work

They did a lot of ST work next, and saw a lot of guys on the teams unit I wouldn’t have expected out there, Rontez Miles, Troy Davis, Dawan Landry, Antonio Allen, Kyle Wilson, A.J. Edds, Demario Davis, and Salim Hakim. Most of those guys are people that are either too high on the roster to usually play teams, or were guys I thought were long shots to make the roster, but seeing them out there on teams means they are at worst seriously in the conversation for making the roster.

Next they did some basic walkthrough work with just the offense, and the most interesting tidbits is that  Stephen Hill played over David Nelson on the outside, Decker left after a couple of reps, and Tajh Boyd got zero reps while Simms got about 6 throws in. Actually on the day, I believe Boyd threw 5 passes in practice, he seems to be significantly behind Simms for the 3rd QB gig, although he had the throw of the day IMO, but more on that later.

QB – WR/DB drills

These drills are always fun to watch. Today the offense was killing the defense, firmly scaring the crap out of me as I was already terrified about our coverage on the backend. It should be noted, no Dimitri Patterson today, although he had a rough Colts game as it was. On the whole, the DB’s sucked, but Dee Milliner never got “beaten” but did give up a completion on a great throw and catch just past his outstretched hands. Outside of Milliner, the CBs were atrocious, and the best coverage actually came from the safeties, Landry, Allen and Jarrett. I only saw Pryor take one rep, and he got beat across his face by Quincy Enunwa (he had a great day) but he showed the best closing speed in the drill, once he reacted to it he closed quick. Kid is going to be very fun to watch once he gets it (and is allowed to hit people)

Jalen Saunders started the drill off with an absolutely disgusting triple move that turned Kyle Wilson all the way around (he bit hard on the second move thinking it was a post-corner route) and Saunders had an easy catch to make before strolling into the endzone. Saunders had another rep against Ellis Lankster where he set him up with an inside move and torched him for the post corner with an easy score. Saunders was really impressive today in his route running, it was crisp and flat out good, outdoing even Kerley (to my extremely limited and untrained eyes). Stephen Hill seemed to go against Josh Bush and Dexter Mcdougal (Hill towers over McDougal who’s helmet barely came to his shoulder pads) Hill ran a straight go blowing by Bush for the easy score, he did the same to McDougal (who bungled his jam, looked like he whiffed from my angle) and Geno threw the ball 5 yards out the back of the endzone. Hill also beat another bottom of the roster player (can’t remember at the moment) and Vick threw the ball on the back corner of the endzone and Hill tried too hard to get his feet down and ended up bobbling the ball. Clyde Gates made a few solid moves beating the likes of Ellis Lankster, and Brandon Dixon. Brandon Dixon actually held his own against Jacoby Ford a couple of times, and Ford had to make a couple really nice grabs. Jaiquan Jarrett had the coverage play of the day (that still almost lost) though in my eyes, he went up Quincy Enunwa and completely smothered him to the sideline and Vick just lofted in this perfect pass right on the sideline that Enunwa skied to go get, wrestling it away from Jarrett, he tapped both of his toes in bounds and hit the ground hard elbows first knocking the ball from his grasp. It was three guys who made awesome individual efforts. Enunwa rebounded on his next rep against Kyle Wilson and destroyed him on the same triple move Saunders made, it certainly wasn’t as smooth or pretty, but he still beat Wilson. Last note, Salim Hakim is FAST, this dude can run in a straight line faster than anybody else we have. He torched everybody he went against on go routes. He tried one cut across the field, and was super sloppy with it, and his hands are suspect, but man can he run like lightning. I don't know if Hakim still has PS eligibility, but if he does, I would consider keeping him around because you just cannot teach that kind of speed.

OL-DL Toting the Rock vs. Setting the edge

On the other field, the OL and DL were “going at it” in controlled run blocking drills, without running backs or QB’s. I won’t lie I didn’t pay much attention to this drill. But I did notice that Aboushi was not with the first team, Colon and Winters were. Dalton Freeman was in the C spot for Mangold. I would be utterly terrified if Freeman has to play any form of significant time, as he was manhandled by Snacks and Ellis today. Also in teams, he had some flat out atrocious shotgun snaps to Vick. Vick was all over the place trying to field some snaps from his ankles to above his head. It’s a huge reason why I think he had such a frustrating day.

[Libero_2]

7 on 7s

Smith took the vast majority of the reps, Vick took a middle road amount, basically subbing out while Marty talked to Geno. Simms took a few throws and Boyd got one pass in. Geno made a few good throws to Saunders and Kerley. He went deep to Nelson and it was broken up by Ellis Lankster on a brilliant play by him peeling off the outside guy (Hill) and coming over and batting Nelson’s hands just as they hit the ball, essentially playing FS even though he was lined up outside on Hill. Antonio Allen had a great pass break up on a throw by Vick to Amaro. Amaro probably could have used his body better to shield the ball, but it was a great play by Allen.

It was in this portion of the practice that Geno really started to separate himself from Vick in my mind. Geno made quicker decisions and while he wasn’t really any more accurate, but he was sharper. Vick held the ball for quite awhile, and on a few plays actually looked at open receivers (Kerley on one, Amaro on another) and held the ball longer looking to make a play down the field. He actually held the ball so long on one play Demario Davis got bored and went and “sacked” him. That said, he did have a brilliant throw to Enunwa (dude had a practice that will get him a long look to make the roster) that dropped in over the top of the safety (I think it was Landry) and Enunwa laid out for it. Great grab, he landed hard, but held on this time, then laid on the ground for a bit before slowly getting up and limping off (he was back for team drills). Amaro looked half-way decent in this drill given all his negative press. He made a few solid grabs, and absolutely has an imposing physique. The dudes shoulders are wider than most of the offensive and defensive lineman (and Sudfeld) who have a few inches in height on him.

The Wildcat

Yes, the rumors are true, Vick and Geno on the field at the same time. It only makes sense given Vicks ability to move and his ridiculous track speed and elusiveness. They did exclusively run the ball, Vick in the shotgun/single wing with Geno out wide. They ran one snap with Geno in the gun, and Vick wide, who after the snap ran into the backfield for what I can only assume is to setup some kind of flea-flicker or reverse. They also ran what appeared to be some kind of read-option with an oldschool pitchout option trailing Geno around the rightside of the line.

They also ran the same formation with Simms and Boyd (Simms was wide, and Boyd in the gun) and the only reason I bring this up, is because Boyd ran the read-option (or rather appeared to) and as he broke away to the left, he actually pulled up and threw the pass of the day down the field to TE Colin Anderson (#89) splitting between 2 players (Bush and CB Brandon Dixon) it was also over the head of Rontez Miles. The ball was perfectly on the money, Anderson caught it in stride and walked effortlessly into the endzone. It roused quite a few cheers, and was probably only one of three or four times the crowd got really involved all day. There was still 50 seconds on the clock, but the staff decided to end this portion of practice on a high note.

Team Drills

In team drills, it was hard for me to see a lot of what was going on, because they were going the other end of the field. Geno struggled a bit throwing a couple of passes that either got batted down or intercepted (based on the crowd groan) to the far side of the field out of my view. The entire staff had to drop and do pushups on 4 occasions today for penalties, 1 PI, 1 defensive holding and 2 false starts (this included officials, and the guys way up in the scissor lifts, and the Cortland Jets-Interns near us). Vick really really struggled here, he was under constant pressure and dealt with some horrific snaps (I am pretty sure Dalton Freeman still snapped with the 2’s even though he had taken Mangold’s place with the 1s for the day. He threw one ball deep down the middle of the field, and got visibly angry when the TE broke to the outside, pointing and violently gesturing. I am pretty sure the TE was Amaro (he seemed to work only with the 2s and specifically when Vick was out there.) He also got really miffed when he missed a throw to Ford who was open on a curl route and he threw the ball at a depth of about 6 yards instead of the 8 or 9 Ford was at. Vick also appeared to take a sack from somebody rushing up the gut, but I didn’t get the number (he was huge so I can only assume it was either Ellis or T.J. Barnes because Snacks still has his dreads.)

Some other notes on practice: At the end of practice kickers kicked FGs, and I was pretty sure that Andrew Furney made 5/6 while folk was 3/6. So take that for what it was worth, it was also NOT a windy day today. At some point the ST guys were practicing blocking on PR’s, and 3 guys were back to receive punts, Saunders, Kerley and Ford. I wouldn’t even mention it, except there was a guy wearing 81 in full gear with them, and it was the only time I saw him all day. 81 is supposed to be Shaq Evans, given the article about his injury the other day and potentially IR’ing him, I find it hard to believe it actually was him, but I was pretty sure his white jersey said Evans on it. He also didn’t do anything, so I have no idea what he was doing.

RBs

I just remembered and thought I should add this in here. Yesterday there was no Ivory (off to the side in just his jersey, but he jogged around ok. I'm guessing if it was a game day he could have gone) and Johnson did very little, I'm pretty sure it was his rest day. Powell was on his first day back from his hamstring so he got limited reps, but showed good burst and cutting ability back there. Gotta say Powell is turning into a glue guy for the RB group, he's versatile and can do it all, just nothing super well, as such he will be tough to cut ever but will probably never be considered a non-injury starter. The guy with the most reps on the day was Alex Green, who at least to me appears firmly ahead of Daryl Richardson on the depth chart. Which is surprising for obvious reasons. Then again Richardson could be nursing an injury that I don't know about and they were simply limiting his reps yesterday. That said, all of our backs looked pretty good going against a defense moving at 75%. If yesterday was any indication, running to the outside will be much easier against our defense than inside (duh).

Stupid People of Cortland: I got stuck next to a “lifelong fan” who wasn’t sure the name of our QB prior to Smith, it was “Tebow and that other dude, his name escapes me at the moment, but I’m glad he’s gone." She also read an article that said “the sack group was the best defense ever, with Klecko and Gastineau" before you ask, she was probably in her late 40’s and pretty sure she was a lesbian given how she had her hands wrapped around the hips of the woman next to her. There was also a drunken dude who would step right in front of me every time I sat down (back was bothering me) to try and take pictures. Despite standing on my feet a few times (I was right along the fence) he felt it unnecessary to apologize or even realize he was being rude.

I was set up near the generation Jets kidzone and the TE’s came over to sign autographs (the OL was coming over, but we left at that point) Oday Aboushi was the first over. That drunken fucker had asked the kid manning the zone who was signing autographs today, the kid said OL and TEs, so he asks, are the OL the WR’s? the kid says no, they are the big guys, the offensive line. This dipshit asks four times more and one of the kids (maybe 5) tells him “shut the hell up you moron, the WR’s are not coming over here” I fell in love with the kid and wanted to adopt him on the spot. So when Aboushi gets over to sign auto’s, the guy goes “Are you a WR?” Aboushi says “No, I’m an offensive lineman” dipshit says “what position?” “O-L” says Aboushi, he goes to the far side of the kid zone shaking his head, I can’t even imagine what he was thinking.

Guys I didn’t see on the field at all: Mangold, Jeremy Reeves, Dimitri Patterson, Chad Young, Steele Devito, Ik Enemkpali, Kerry Hyder, Tevita Finau. I did see Ivory wandering around in his jersey but no gear.               

Overall, camp is always an interesting experience, and I wish I could go every day, it would be an absolute blast. There are morons wherever you go, but I have yet to have a conversation with a knowledgeable person at camp that truly understands football and specifically the Jets like I do, one day my friends, one day.   

[Libero_2]

TL;DR Version

Geno had a good day, he looked light-years ahead of when I saw him in TC a year ago. Geno throws a pretty deep ball, but struggles in the shorter routes.

Vick had a tough day, but when he could clearly be a starting QB in this league still.

the rookie WR's had good days, Enunwa showing off some physical skills, while Saunders broke some ankles will great route running.

The D struggled at times (the 2nd and 3rd units need some serious work against the run) but overall still dominated our offense in team drills. The NT destroyed the guys playing C in Mangold's absence.

Cortland people are still just as clueless about the team as the day we first showed up there.

Also the Jets Shop is really plugging the Customize stuff Tent. I bought a Shirt, because I always do, and they wanted to put my name on the back with a number (on a freaking dri-fit t-shirt where it makes no sense) and I was rocking a Jets hat, they wanted me to purchase (and have stitched on my hat) a Training Camp patch, which would have ruined my hat for $10, the patch wasn't even the size of my thumb.

Weather was awesome, but the direct sun made it extremely hot for practice.

[Heismanberg]

Really appreciate this write-up, dude.  Good stuff. 

[dcm1602]

Know it's hard to answer this from a single practice.

But what depth or no name player were you most impressed with?

[Libero_2]

Know it's hard to answer this from a single practice.

But what depth or no name player were you most impressed with?

Based on what I saw, Rontez Miles stood out today. He got run with the 2s at safety in teams, and he had solid coverage against some guys in the QB-WR/DB drill. It wasn't a day for full contact, but there is something about the way he moves out there, that you just get the feeling he will take your head off if given the chance.

I also liked what I saw from Enunwa, a guy almost everyone expects to go the PS. I know it won't happen, but we could be looking at a PS made almost entirely of our late round draft picks. A.J. Edds appears ahead of Jeremiah George, Enunwa is going to have a real hard time making the roster without any ST value, Dixon just didn't look ready to me today, I didn't see IK at all today (but that strip sack might well get him a shot similar to William Campbell last year as a straight redshirt guy) and Trevor Reilly was a 7th rounder.

[Miamipuck]

Great writeup thank you Libero!

[Tommy]

Awesome writeup. I just read the whole thing on the toilet.

[ScotlandJet]

Libero- outstanding write up, great insight to how our preparations for the new season are going. Many thanks.

[Libero_2]

I made a mistake last night forgetting to talk RBs, so I added a new section into the second post for those who care

[Tommy]

If YDKF still existed I would've pimped that excrement out on Facebook.

[Badger]

8/10/14

Pictures:
http://imgur.com/a/BvpbC#0

Highlights:
-offense vs. defense in a dizzy bat relay race
-Amaro looked fine, not like someone who is struggling
-only one douchebag in a Tebow shirt

Lowlights:
-Dexter McDougle and Dee Milliner both getting injured right in front of me, minutes apart
-the idiot standing next to me who thought Matt Simms deserves a shot at the starting job because "he's stuck around for four years"

[Miamipuck]

8/10/14

Pictures:
http://imgur.com/a/BvpbC#0

Highlights:
-offense vs. defense in a dizzy bat relay race
-Amaro looked fine, not like someone who is struggling
-only one douchebag in a Tebow shirt

Lowlights:
-Dexter McDougle and Dee Milliner both getting injured right in front of me, minutes apart
-the idiot standing next to me who thought Matt Simms deserves a shot at the starting job because "he's stuck around for four years"

freak you Badger

[Libero_2]

8/10/14

Pictures:
http://imgur.com/a/BvpbC#0

Highlights:
-offense vs. defense in a dizzy bat relay race
-Amaro looked fine, not like someone who is struggling
-only one douchebag in a Tebow shirt

Lowlights:
-Dexter McDougle and Dee Milliner both getting injured right in front of me, minutes apart
-the idiot standing next to me who thought Matt Simms deserves a shot at the starting job because "he's stuck around for four years"

They are everywhere in Cortland dude, dipshits who know nothing. Yesterday somebody was saying how Simms is amazing and the Jets just refuse to give him a chance. If Phill Simms could do it for the Giants, why not Matt Simms for the Jets? It's all in his blood man, it's in his blood!

[Libero_2]

Badge those are some awesome pictures. You must have a stellar zoom.

Also glad to see I wasn't insane, and Shaq Evans was out on the field yesterday in full gear, you even got him in a picture and his jersey clearly says Evans on the back.