E-Boland & Gang Green

Any time now, Bubba.

Sometimes - actually most of the time - it's what you DON'T see at practice that's significant so maybe after we go in he catches everything. But during a receivers' drill during the 30 minutes we watched practice, Bubba Franks, on a deep out that covered just over 20 yards, dropped the ball. One play earlier, Dustin Keller made what seemed to be his 100th fluid-looking run-and-catch of the preseason. I still think Franks was a good pickup and a good player but, sheesh, he's had a lot of drops.

Here was the order of plays we saw in the red zone during one drill, one that included just the receivers and no defenders:

- Favre out left to Laveranues Coles
- Favre dump over the middle to Leon Washington
- Inside handoff to Thomas Jones
- quick slant to Chansi Stuckey
- quick out to Dustin Keller
- soft toss middle to Jerricho Cotchery
- a fade (YES, that play is still in!) to Stuckey right side.

Semi-humorous Favre comment, addressing a favorite topic of his - playbook size - from yesterday that I didn't put in here:

"Believe me, each and every playbook across the league, you can go to bat with a lot less than what they put in. don't know how many pass plays we have in, but we have a bunch. We won't run half of them. That's just the way it is. I could say that each year I've played. I feel confident with what we have in. It just comes down to execution."

* As frequent readers of this blog know, I tried to give extensive - if not long-winded - practice reports during training camp. That's impossible now, given our 30- minute allotment and not a lot of team drills done in that time. However, with special teams almost always getting worked on in that time frame, at least we get to observe Mike Westhoff, who recently rejoined the team, coaching.

"I want the fliers to give me the EXACT look Miami does!"

"There it is Leon! There it is!"

"Yes! Yes! Yes!"

The man is enjoyable to watch coach. I asked kicker Mike Nugent about Westhoff earlier today and, while he was very sincere in his praise of Kevin O'Dea, Nugent talked at length about how uber-prepared he is for, well, just about everything.

"It seems like what we use in film or our study and everything we see on paper, when it's put together on the field, it just seems like everything goes together right," Nugent said. "He just makes everyone so prepared on the field."

A couple of non-related notes: I'm off to Giants Stadium now to cover tonight's game. Well, that's not exactly accurate. I'm assisting on our coverage. Or, as Glauber would say when I'm not around, "detracting" from Newsday's coverage. I will not, however, be making a blog post on the game unless for some unfathomable reason a Jets happening, well, happens.

AND, by rule - and maybe even by law - I have to be off tomorrow so Jim Baumbach, always willing to travel anywhere [he dressed up as a NASCAR pit crew member over the summer for chassis' sakes] will be filling in. But I'm not leaving for Miami until Saturday morning so I'll be away but not so much. In fact, I will give my predicted score for the game, which I know blog commenter Scott P is waiting for.

Instead of my usual dose - which can very little, admittedly - of pre-press conference wit and charm, I arrived late this morning because I took a left instead of a right from my hotel in Parsippany and blah, blah...yeah, I got here about 40 minutes later than I wanted. But going through some of the comments from last night I saw one that was worth bringing out here (they're ALL worthy of that in some fashion, of course) in the big space.

Anyway, it was from a reader, Jeff. Here's part of what he wrote:

"i do agree this is a trap game. but it's a trap for the media, not the jets. i mean, put aside all the juicy media storylines and name one player on the dolphins who should scare the jets? this game will be a blowout. as CG noted, how is it all of a sudden the dolphins are a tough team to beat when chad is the QB. just three weeks ago he was just the weaklink on a much better team -- and the success of the team was being questioned bc of his lack of ability. it's illogical. it's as if the fins were the team in need of the missing QB piece instead of the jets. it's the world upside down. the dolphins are a borderline expansion team outside of pennington and their two RBs."

So is that the case? Are the people covering the team, including myself, making too much of the "trap" nature of Sunday? Jeff raises some good points, though I think Ricky Williams, Pennington and a more physical - at least based on the preseason - are all legitimate concerns. But I could be wrong (yes, Darrell, I know I often am) and might be overstating Miami's hand. Though, in the end, I think the Jets will escape with a win.

Anyway, I know cutting and pasting a reader's comment is a cop-out blog post of sorts but, alas, no GPS system in the Solara is your loss. Or gain depending on perspective.

Okay, same schedule as yesterday: Eric Mangini at 10:15 followed by locker room access and then 30 minutes of practice viewing. I'll have more.

P.S. A thank you to the readers of this blog familiar with the Florham Park area who have posted various suggestions or simply a "welcome." While I'm not moving from Long Island, I'll be spending a lot of time here so your comments specific to that were/are appreciated.

Well, I was wrong. Indeed, for Chad Pennington, Sunday's game is like any other.

"I’m excited because I have a chance to start and play this game," Pennington just said on a conference call. "And there’s nothing like opening day in the NFL. I think it’s an exciting time for all NFL players and when you get a chance to help lead a team it’s exciting. So on the outside, with the hype around the game and with all the transactions that have happened between the two teams, one would think it’s a revenge game or a statement game or anything like that, but I don’t approach it that way. I approach it as our opening day game, which is exciting for all of us."

Jets coach Eric Mangini and Dolphins coach Tony Sparano gave similar "one of 16" answers.

Brett Favre, as always, gave the most honest response of the day regarding this topic.

"You know, if I was playing against the Packers this week, it would feel a little bit different obviously."

Oh, to talk about this or anything else NFL related, our NFL columnist Bob Glauber will be doing a live chat at 3 p.m. Today. Meaning just about now.

A few things from the 30 minutes or so we were able to watch practice.

About half the time was spent stretching (the players, not the media) and we didn’t see any 7-on-7’s or 11-on-11’s. Welcome to the regular season.

Still, there’s always something.

* To answer Ira’s question, lest there be any doubt about it: Mike Westhoff has resumed lead command of the special teams. While players stretched, the veteran coach could be seen going player to player. Of course, that could be explained by this being his first day back on the practice field, but when drills began, it was Westhoff’s voice – not Kevin O’Dea’s – piercing the air, shouting out instructions. That didn’t take long. O’Dea is still there and it’s not as if he’s muzzled, but this is Westhoff’s show. Again.

* During the first drill we saw with the running backs, there was a mix up with the exchange between Brett Favre and Leon Washington, resulting in a fumble. Thomas Jones and Washington shared the carries, with Tony Richardson in as the lead blocker for both of them.

* Over with the defensive backs, Dwight Lowery, as expected started opposite Darrelle Revis. From what I saw, which in full disclosure was about 100 yards away, David Barrett was working exclusively at safety (no, not a starting one).

* After Favre was done working with the running backs, Kellen Clemens stepped in next. Mangini said it over the weekend and it appears to be true: Clemens is the No. 2 going into the season.

* Lots of questions recently about Laveranues Coles and, as was the case when we saw him for 45 minutes at a time last week in practice, he looks about full-go. We’ll find out later this afternoon – at 4 p.m. – when the injury report gets released to see if he was limited, but he didn’t look to be while running some routes earlier. Last week Mangini said much of Coles’ limited action during the preseason was “precautionary” more than anything else.

* The amount of designated practice space here is remarkable. Five full-length practice fields, four of them outside. I'm looking forward to a full tour of this place. Or at least the kitchen which, tantalizingly, is just around the corner from the media room. Pretty nice place overall I have to say.

Chad Pennington’s conference call is coming up shortly. The bet here is while he tries to downplay Sunday, he’ll at least somewhat admit the game has a little more meaning to him. The man isn't without common sense.

We're headed out to practice in a few minutes and I'll have something from that, but real quick:

* Eric Mangini revealed how the team vote went down for the 2008 captains. No surprises until you get to the offensive captains. The defenses captains were Shaun Ellis and Kerry Rhodes; special teams were David Bowens and Leon Washington.

And on offense...

Two newbies: Alan Faneca and Brett Favre.

"I'm honored," Favre said during his press conference with reporters that wrapped up a short while ago.

Favre, as the quote in the header demonstrates and I've mentioned this before, is incapable of speaking cliches. More on that after practice - and other things - but what strikes me about him is his seeming need to prove himself.

"Eric [Mangini] and I had this conversation yesterday," Favre said. "What drives me is the fear of failure. There's always this fear of not being at the top of your game week in and week out."

Our NFL columnist Bob Glauber will be writing more about that tomorrow. I'll be doing a main story on what comes out of Chad Pennington's conference call, which is coming up shortly after 2. Okay, out to practice. Ira, I will check on your question and a few others.

What I learned this morning was that, at 6:30 a.m., the Cross Bronx Expressway is tolerable. As an aside, Keith Olbermann, during coverage of either convention, is not.

Anyway, I was out the door of my Long Island apartment at 5:59 a.m. and arrived at the facility in Florham Park, N.J, a crisp 1 hour, 27 minutes later. All in all, not bad, but I am looking forward to my stay in one of the area’s fine hotel establishments tonight. I’m also looking forward to getting to know the area, which includes Fairleigh Dickinson University across the street, and the area is looking forward to doing the same with me, I’m sure.

This is my first time here so I don’t have a report on the amenities but I wrote a story in today’s paper about the players’ thoughts on the new digs. They’re all positive. From what I've seen, everything looks pretty impressive.

One thought toward the end of the drive was, you’re not in New York anymore – not even close. I had flashbacks as I neared the place of driving lonely I-80 across Pennsylvania. Ladies and gentleman, out the window to your right is…nothing, and to your left, more of the same. That’s not a criticism, but I began to see how Woody Johnson and Mike Tannenbaum sold Brett Favre on the country setting.

“You can hunt around the facility,” Favre told us Tannenbaum told him.

And indeed, just before the Florham Park exit on Rt. 24 West, was one of those yellow and black deer crossing signs appeared as if on cue.

So we’re into the groove for Week 1. The Jets had meetings and walk-through Monday so it’s not like they were off from Friday until today, keeping in mind Tuesdays is a league off day. But still, today - Wednesday - is the first full day of preparation, which is pretty much the way it is week-to-week during the season.

Here’s what’s coming up today for us media people: Eric Mangini will talk at 10:15 followed by locker room access. We’ll watch 35 minutes of practice – we won’t see much but I’ll tell you what we do see – and then, later this afternoon we’ll have conference calls with Dolphins coach Tony Saparano and, obviously, quarterback Chad Pennington. He should be interesting to say the least.

I don’t think this game can be hyped up enough and CBS agrees, sending it’s No. 1 announcing team of Jim Nantz and Phil Simms to call it. The weekend would have been circus-esque WITHOUT Chad Pennington down there because of Favre’s first start. But the attention is off the charts with Pennington facing his replacement. In Game 1. That’s a pretty good script. We’ll get into this at some point later but the importance of this first game for the Jets can’t be overstated. Not with New England and San Diego to follow. No first game in an NFL season is must-win, but I really think this is the closest thing to it.

We’ll get into more specific aspects of Sunday as the week goes along. Back later with what came out of the Mangin’s presser and the locker room and practice.

King Randomness I: On the highway to get here, before the sign saying “Entering the Boro of Florham Park” is one that says, “Entering the Boro of Chatham.” Matt is gone but not forgotten.

Randomness II: I wish one of the supposedly objective pundits/journalists covering this election would answer this: how does McCain’s pick of Sarah Palin undermine his experience argument, yet Obama picking a Senate warhorse like Biden doesn’t undermine his “change” mantra? As a proudly registered Indy – with an actual voting record to prove it – I wonder about these things.

Randomness III: Hopefully seeing his team drop two straight in the midst of a division-title run has finally gotten Brewers manager Ned Yost to concentrate on something other C.C. Sabathia’s one-hitter.

Erik Boland answers your Jets questions today in a live chat at 11 a.m.