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Cortland – Notes on Howard-Hunter, Cumberland, “Guge”, Pennington and so much more in today’s edition of Web Whispers . . .
At first, I thought this Austin Howard-Wayne Hunter competition was bogus.
But based on what I saw today, perhaps there is some legitimacy too it.
Both players were active for practice (Hunter was hurt last week with a back injury), and Howard got the majority of the reps . . .
Mark Sanchez had his second strong day of practice in a row.
“I think Mark is throwing the ball better than I’ve ever seen him,” said Chad Pennington, who was in attendance at practice . . .
In the past, Rex Ryan has cancelled the last day of practice (this year it’s Thursday) to throw a bone to the players.
It’s not going to happen this year for two reasons.
First of all, with no more two-a-days, they need this practice. In past years, when the last practice was cancelled, it was after tons of two-a-days.
Secondly, “The Rookie Show,” is scheduled for Thursday night in Cortland, so there are no plans for the team to leave Central New York early . . .
It was another strong practice for seventh-round receiver Jordan White (pictured above). Perhaps the nicest connection in practice was a pass from Sanchez to White down the left sideline. I’m sure you read some tweets on this play.
It was a back shoulder throw from Sanchez to White that caught Revis napping.
Revis expected the pass to go deep, but Sanchez threw it a little shorter than expected, and White caught it behind the All-World corner.
While Westhoff might not like him as a kick returner (neither do I – he’s not good at it), this kid is a polished route-runner with stick-em hands . . .
OT Stephon Heyer isn’t like to make the team with Hunter and Howard ahead of him, but I think he will play in the league this year.
There are a lot of teams (like Washington and New England) hungry for OT’s, and this guy has 35 career starts . . .
As one former coach once said, “If you blitz, one team’s band is playing after the play.” What he meant was either the defense had a big play, or it was a touchdown.
In today’s practice, the Jets sent LaRon Landry on a blitz, he didn’t get there, and Jeff Cumberland beat the secondary for a deep touchdown . . .
Yesterday Rex marveled at how long Mo Wilkerson’s arms are.
Today, we saw the advantage of that physical characteristic.
He tipped a Sanchez pass at the line . . .
Damon Harrison had a quarterback pressure on Greg McElroy.
I think Harrison is just as good as Kenrick Ellis.
Harrison is quicker . . .
While “Guge” really likes Howard, he ripped into him twice today (you know a coach DOESN’T like you, when he never yells at you).
He felt one play from Howard and Vlad Ducasse was “embarrassing.”
I haven’t seen this kind of verbosity from coaches at Jets practice in a long time.
The coaches, especially “Guge” and Tony Sparano, rip into players non-stop, and quite honestly, this offense needed this approach.
“Tony Sparano is the perfect hire for this team,” Pennington said . . .
Donnie Fletcher is just as good as D’Anton Lynn, but you get the sense he’s not going to get a fair shot in this competition (for a practice squad safety spot). I will leave it at that . . .
August 14, 2012
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