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Florham Park – Jets training camp rolls on, and here is some of what we saw and heard today at One Jets Drive . . .
One real positive for the New York Jets in this camp thus far has been the pass protection from the first-team offensive line.
Geno Smith has consistently been given plenty of time to throw.
For instance early in practice, Smith hit Eric Decker on a deep out, on a play he had all day to throw.
The left side of the Jets’ line has the potential to be one of the best in football with D’Brickashaw Ferguson and James Carpenter. So this should bode well for Smith’s blindside protection.
As for the right guard spot, it’s been mostly Willie Colon the last few days. There hasn’t been as much of a platoon. I think he’s the best option (if he cuts down on penalties). He’s got the most experience, by far, of all the candidates, and right tackle Breno Giacomini is very comfortable with Colon, which does matter. They got used to each other’s nuances last year. Not that he has a vote, but I sense Breno would love it if Willie got the job from a comfort-level standpoint.
One other thing on Carpenter. He had a pancake block on Damon Harrison on a nice run by Chris Ivory up the middle.
Carpenter is a massive road-grader who plays with an attitude . . .
With Mo Wilkerson (hamstring) out, and Sheldon Richardson demoted to the second team, Ronald Talley has been getting some reps with the first team at end.
Talley played for Bowles in Arizona in 2013, so he’s comfortable with his playbook.
He’s a little undersized at 285 pounds . . .
ILB Jabari Lattimore is a very good coverage linebacker. He had another pick today. He’s had several in camp. This likely would have been a Pick Six in a game.
This Pick Six was against Ryan Fitzpatrick (pictured above), but I’m not 100 percent sure it was his fault.
He was throwing to a spot, and a young tight end probably wasn’t in the right spot, so while it looked like it was Fitzpatrick’s fault, it probably wasn’t . . .
Buster Skrine continues to make a lot of plays on the ball. He had a PD on a deep ball to Shaq Evans, that he broke up and knocked the wind out of the receiver.
Skrine’s play in camp has caught the attention of Decker.
“The guy has unbelievable recovery speed and is feisty,” Decker said . . .
Steve Maneri isn’t much of a receiving threat at tight end, but the cat can really block. During the Jets full-speed, full-pads goal-line drill today, he had a couple of really nice blocks, including one on Sheldon Richardson . . .
We have mentioned on more than one occasion the need for DeMario Davis to step up in coverage this year, especially with Jabari Lattimore and Erin Henderson, two pretty good coverage linebackers, nipping at his heels.
Today, he had one of his best coverage plays in camp, knocking away a corner route on the right side of the end zone to Jeff Cumberland. It was a good throw by Geno Smith, and Davis did a nice job of breaking on the ball.
August 5, 2015
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