Camp Cortland: Day 8

There wasn't anything lethargic about this morning's session, the Jets' first since Saturday night's annual Green & White Scrimmage. 

"That was our best practice since we've been here this year," Rex Ryan said. "I thought the tempo was good. It was lively, guys were banging into each other. We probably had a few too many dropped balls. But other than that it was a tremendous practice and that's really what you want to see. Guys were eager to get back out there.

"Sometimes, you give them a day off, a lot of times they'll come back and, 'Ahhh.' But this team responded. It was excellent to see."

No one responded as well as DE Vernon Gholston if you ask Ryan.

"I thought Vernon Gholston, that's the best day he's had since I've been here," Ryan said. "We'll see. I want to see him string some together. It was almost like, 'Hey, I can do this.'"

Ryan said he saw that gleam in Gholston's eye during the 5-on-4 drills, where the offensive lineman go up against defensive linemen. He made mention of a play where Gholston came off the ball and stood up big, 6-5, 318-pound reserve lineman Wayne Hunter.

"I was like, 'Vern, if you can do that on Wayne Hunter, I mean, you ought to be able to do it all the time,'" Ryan said. "Because Wayne is about as good as it gets. He jacked him up and I said, 'Now, you just have to get off the block. You've got to shed them, get off the block and use that speed. And man he started doing it. I was like, 'Unbelievable.' "

Gholston showed a little more fire when he got involved in a scrum that involved reserve offensive lineman Rob Turner (big shock there, huh?) Defensive lineman Matt Kroul and fellow D-Lineman Ty Steinkuhler also shouted a few choice words at Turner, which for Steinkuhler, marked the second time that's happened within the last three days.

Steinkhuler and Turner nearly got into it during Saturday's scrimmage, but that didn't nearly get a rise out of Rex the way Gholston's two-step with Turner today did.

"After that fight, I saw him throw Rob Turner on the ground and I'm like, 'All right. My man's here,'" Ryan said. "So we'll see. But again, I'm excited about him. This is the most excited I've ever been about Vernon Gholston. He was challenged by [Mike] Westhoff in the special teams meetings.

"I don't know what it is, but somebody needs to ask him. Whatever he had for breakfast, he needs to eat. That was big time. We'll make sure we find out what it is."

Still, Ryan knows he can't really continue to sell people on Gholston until they see production with their very own eyes. He did, though, admit they should've had Gholston make the switch to defensive end a year earlier.

"It was a coaching mistake," Ryan said. "We've put him now in a role to where he can be more successful quicker. He felt comfortable as the year went on, but I still think this is more of natural role for him."

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OLB/DE Jason Taylor had a slight groin pull and was held out of a few drills.

WR Braylon Edwards is nursing a sore knee.

Joe McKnight needed to get some more fluids in him and sat out for a few plays.

TE Jeff Cumberland (head), G Marlon Davis (knee) and Brashton Satele (ankle) also sat out. Satele could be a participant in this afternoon's special teams practice, which begins at 4:15 p.m.

Backup QB Mark Brunell was given the day off throwing-wise, pushing Kellen Clemens into second-string action today. Brunell did serve as the holder on kicks for Nick Folk, who nailed attempts from 34, 36, 37 and 41 yards out.

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Rex had some high praise for his offense. The prideful coach said the offense took it to his defense Saturday in a way that's never transpired during his two-plus decades coaching.

"I've been coaching for 25 years and when I'm in charge of defense or whatever, I can honestly said I've never been in a scrimmage where the offense whipped the defense," Ryan said. "My defense always whipped the offense, guaranteed, 100 percent of the time. Go back to last year and it was the same thing. Just whipped out our offense."

Ryan said he looked at film from the scrimmage to see what exactly the defense did wrong. After exhaustive research, it finally hit him.

"You know what it is?" he said. "It's the offense."

Yup. They're just that good and it's scary how much talent the Jets have on that side of the ball.

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Asked Kris Jenkins if the plan is for him to get any snaps in preseason games, which kick off in a week for the Jets.

"I think I’ll be out in the first game," he said. "I thought I would be in the first practice of training camp too, but that didn’t happen. I wasn’t too far off of it. It’s something I’ve been communicating with Mark Carrier and Rex. We are going to make sure that it’s in the best interest of getting me out there again.

"I know that I still got it. I don’t think that’s something you all haven’t seen. I can still go out there move it around and mix it up. It’s just a matter of making sure I can still do that for 16 games."

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Mike Westhoff didn't want to go anywhere else and that's why he signed an extension to remain on the staff next season, which will be his final one in the NFL.

"You’re like a jackass standing in knee-high clover leaning over the fence and eating a weed because he thinks it looks better," the special teams coordinator said. "People do that all the time and I’m not like that. I’m very appreciative of what I have."