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Florham Park – Some insights from Saturday’s practice . . .
Yesterday, I mentioned the Henry Anderson was sent for X-Rays after the Jets-Redskins game, and then spent a lot of time in the trainer’s room.
But whatever it was, it clearly wasn’t serious. He was practicing today, and had a real nice run stop on a George Atkinson run off right guard.
I did notice a wrap on one of his lower legs, so perhaps he has some kind of calf issue.
Anderson, a terrific 3-4 end, is a valuable player in the Jets’ defensive line rotation . . .
Todd Bowles, tired of the sloppy play in practice on Saturday, had the Jets run gut drills at the end of practice.
It was brutally hot today in Florham Park.
After these gut drills (players run sideline to sideline several times as punishment), Jets rookie offensive offensive tackle Darius James had a medical scare.
On the sideline he sat on the ground and was attended to for a while by the Jets’ trainers and doctors. I saw his back being rubbed at one point.
And then he sat on a cart in the shade with doctors for a while before being brought into the team facility.
Nobody asked about James in Todd Bowles press conference, so I have no update for you.
I want to be real careful with what I’m about to write because I don’t want it to seem like I’m pointing fingers.
I have seen gut drills for 25 years covering football – you see them on all levels of football, and in other sports as well.
But I think football coaches need to re-evaluate having the big guys, the 300-pounders, doing these on a scorching hot day.
Along with James issue, I saw Jets’ offensive tackle Brent Qvale on one knee for a while after the gut drill. He clearly wasn’t feeling great.
We all know what happened at Maryland recently.
Once again, I don’t want to make this Jets’ specific, because this stuff goes on from coast-to-coast.
I just think it’s a bad idea, to push guys, who are carrying way more than their natural weight to play as linemen, to do sprints in the scorching heat.
And I think football coaches need to reconsider this practice . . .
We haven’t seen nose tackle Steve McLendon on the field in a couple of weeks.
The Jets haven’t been specific about what is wrong with him, but I did see him today, standing outside the complex, with a left knee wrap, so perhaps it’s a left knee issue he’s dealing with . . .
All three Jets quarterbacks looked good at today’s practice . . .
Aside from their talent and hard work, another factor helping the Jets’ quarterbacks look good in practice, is the team’s pedestrian pass rush. On many plays in practice, the Jets trio of quarterbacks have all day to throw . . .
Inside linebacker Neville Hewitt had two impressive defensed passes on deep out routes. These are not easy routes for linebackers to cover.
Hewitt has had a strong summer. Jets should put than anointing oil away and let him compete for an starting inside linebacker job. Anointing oil isn’t part of a winning formula . . .
Absence make the heart grow fonder. While Kelvin Beachum isn’t the best left tackle in football, you saw against the Redskins they really missed him. He returned to practice today from a foot injury. He’s pictured above addressing the media.
August 18, 2018
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