Quick Notes from Tuesday August 31.
Some quick notes from Rex’s presser this afternoon.
Jets have released QB Kevin O’Connell before today’s practice, insuring Kellen Clemens a roster spot, Rex said its mainly in part to the fact that the game plan for Baltimore will starting being instituted, and didn’t want O’Connell jumping ship to Baltimore to have them pick his brain. Also giving Kevin time to catch on elsewhere.
Kellen Clemens has taken a pay cut in order to remain a Jet, Rex said he would have traded Kellen to a team that offered him a starting gig, that opportunity didn’t come around, so he chose to stick around and compete for the backup job here, other then elsewhere.
As writen previously by Jon, Mark Sanchez will take the reigns as Offensive Cordinator for Thursday Nights game, Rex said hes done this in the past with players such as Ed Reed and Ray Lewis, gives them an idea on how tough it really is for the coaches, while being able to take part mentally in the last preseason game.
The Jets have signed former CFL Star LB Rickey Foley, Foley was with the Seahawks this summer and was waived this past Friday, as you may or may not know, Foley was with Rex Ryan and the Ravens in 2006, but only stuck around on the practice squad, chalk this up to seeing if anything works, prior to the addition of Adalius Thomas.
Some good news, Rex said Calvin Pace will DEFINITELY not need to be placed on the PUP list, and will not rule him out for the week 2 match up with the Patriots, Rex said the surgery was a major success and Pace is feeling good about his chances for week 2.
OF COURSE, in a bit of DARRELLE REVIS news, Dan Graziano of AOL Fanhouse wrote up a brief article in which he says through his source, that the Jets and Revis camp continue to talk. Take it for what its worth.
FINALLY, Rex went into GREAT detail on RB/WR/ST Danny Woodhead, Woodhead is a favorite of Rex and says the guy gives 150% every time he steps on the field, even went into saying they put him at WR and he ripped apart the defense, says there’s a few spots on the roster left for “Good Football Players” again all but assuring Danny Woodhead a roster spot.
That’s it for news around Jet Land today, August 31′st, there will be plenty more, i can assure you!
Mark Sanchez to Call Plays for Jets Offense in Preseason Finale
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Looks like Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez won’t exactly be completely getting the day off with the rest of the starters come Thursday night in the preseason finale versus the Eagles.
Although Rex Ryan already announced that none of the starters will even suit up in the final preseason game aside from left guard Matt Slauson, that doesn’t mean that Sanchez won’t have an important role.
Ryan announced today that Sanchez, who will be wearing a headset along with offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer and Ryan himself, will get the opportunity to call offensive plays during the game.
The game will be nothing more than a mental tune-up for Sanchez, who will have Ryan and Schottenheimer in his ear all night, making sure he’s paying attention to what the defense is doing so he’ll be sharp for the season opener.
Honestly, I think this is a fantastic idea, not only to have Sanchez wearing a headset but for him to actually run the offense as an offensive coordinator. What better way to keep his head in the game without risk of injury in a meaningless game?
Ryan says he’s done something similar when he was in Baltimore, letting Ray Lewis and Ed Reed call the defense. As for what he hopes to see from Sanchez on Thursday night?
Ryan said, “I’m hoping that he sees the big picture and let him have at it.”
53 man roster predictions.
Today was a quiet day around Jet land, as Rex took to the podium for this daily press conference, he kept it sane, and didnt really cause much of a stir, mentioned the starters wouldn’t play on Thursday, the Jets final exhibition game in Philadelphia, besides for LG Matt Slauson.
Rex went on to mention a few injuries such as Kenwin Cummings who has a shoulder injury, Calvin Pace, who had surgery on his broken foot tonight, that will keep him sidelined up to as much as 6 weeks, and Brodney Pool, who banged up his knee in Friday’s game, and Damien Woody with a lower back injury, all but Pace are expected back two weeks from tonight, as the Jets open the regular season at the new Meadowlands stadium.
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Calvin Pace Out Four to Six Weeks with Broken Foot, Could Adalius Thomas Be on the Horizon?
[picappgallerysingle id="1185906"]The Jets suffered a bad break, literally, against the Redskins Friday night when a freak play left their top pass rusher with a broken foot that will require surgery.
Calvin Pace will have surgery on Monday to repair a broken right foot that he suffered when Washington Redskins tackle Stephon Heyer banged his helmet into the linebacker’s foot on an attempted cut block.
“It was supposed to be our last series. The tackle tried to cut-block me.” Pace said following the 16-11 loss, “His helmet hit the side of my foot. It hurt a little bit so they took me back to the X-ray room and it showed it was broken.”
“I guess I should have gotten my foot out of the way a little quicker,” he quipped.
Although it’s certain that he will miss the season opener against the Ravens, the Jets have not given an official timetable for when they expect the big linebacker to return.
“Hopefully, it will be somewhat of a speedy recovery,” said Pace, “I’ll probably definitely miss the first game. I think that’s safe to say. Beyond that, I don’t have any idea.”
League sources reportedly estimate the recovery to be a four-to-six week process, although the Jets say they’ll have a more accurate assessment of the situation following tomorrow’s surgery.
In the meantime, the Jets have reached out to free agent linebacker Adalius Thomas, a former Raven and Patriot who played seven seasons under Rex Ryan in Baltimore.
The 33-year-old Thomas has not garnered any significant interest since being released by the Patriots in April, and will likely be ticketed for a back-up role behind newly appointed starter Jason Taylor and Bryan Thomas.
In the meantime, Ryan has also hinted that Vernon Gholston will take snaps at outside linebacker as well as defensive end, and he’ll likely be another option at rush linebacker behind Thomas, Taylor and Jamaal Westerman.
Last year, Pace missed the first four games serving a suspension for a tainted supplement, yet he still let the Jets with eight sacks.
“I’m still upbeat, I really am,” Pace said. “Stuff happens in football. I’ll say this: It’s better to get injured playing rather than having to sit out four games because of a silly mistake as far as supplements.”
The Jets went 3-1 in those four games in 2009, albeit with Darrelle Revis on the field. Not having Revis along with the injury to Pace could cause the stout Jets defense to sputter a bit in the opening month.
The schedule won’t do them any favors either, as they host Baltimore and New England to start the season before heading to Miami in week three. They get a break in heading to Buffalo in week four before hosting Brett Favre and the Vikings in week five.
Like last year, the Jets will need Pace to be a big addition midway through the season if they have any shot at returning to the playoffs and making some noise in January.
Mark Brunell, our backup or just here for #6?
When the Jets signed Mark Brunell on July 28th, many thought it was a solid move, he’d come in and help Mark Sanchez adjust, as camp went on Rex and Co. had all but named Brunell the number 2 QB, and now 3 weeks into the preseason he continues to get reps with the second team.
Brunell has been terrible thus far in the preseason going a dreadful 5/13 for 23 yrds, many could say it was due to a makeshift offensive line, but you cant be happy with what you see from our backup.
That leads me to ask you, who would you rather see god forbid ANYTHING were to happen to Sanchez, Mark Brunell or Kellen Clemens? To me, its a NO BRAINER, it HAS to be Kellen Clemens, sure he doesn’t light up the scoreboards, and hes not going to put up 30+ points on his own, but he will move the chains, and not turn the ball over, Clemens as you know started a week 14 in Tampa Bay, with the Jets playoff hopes hanging by a thread, he didn’t do anything special, actually, you could probably say he didn’t play well at all, but when you look back on the game, you look at one category, TURNOVER’s, and you see exactly what you want to see from a backup QB, “0″ , and with the Jets strong rushing attack, they won the game 26-3, with Clemens going 12/23 111yrds.
I do not feel comfortable going into the 2010 season, with Mark Brunell as our backup to Mark Sanchez, I get the feeling amongst other Jets fans, that they agree with me.
