Jets' day vs. Giants: No skirmishes, and a look at blitzing 'D' 

The Jets and Giants had no skirmishes or flare-ups in what was an uneventful and quick joint practice between the two teams that call MetLife Stadium home. Robert Saleh felt it was a very productive one for the Jets’ offense in particular.

Saleh was looking forward to this practice because of all the different blitz packages Giants defensive coordinator Wink Martindale uses. Saleh spent the entire practice with the offense to see how they performed and handled all the looks they were given.

“Getting a lot of different pressures, lot of respect for Wink and all the different pressure packages he has,” Saleh said Thursday afternoon at the Giants' practice facility. “Our offense was able to see a lot of things that they don’t see from us. It was a very productive day from that standpoint.”

The Jets will face the Giants on Sunday in their preseason finale, so they’ll get another look at Martindale’s defense.

Saleh is a defensive coach, but he runs a much different system than Martindale, the former longtime Ravens’ assistant coach.

Under Saleh, the Jets utilize a four-man rush and have the linebackers in coverage. They might get a little “fancy” on third down, Saleh said. That’s what the Jets’ first-team offense has gone against for the majority of training camp.

Martindale’s defense comes at teams a number of ways and he threw some of them at the Jets, so it was a good change for them.

“We weren’t game-planning anything,” Saleh said. “It was more just run our stuff. We’re not game-planning the Giants. We’re still in camp mode. For the most part, I thought we did a good job. They’ve got an exotic pressure system. It wasn’t really much about protection as much as it was the route running, just the precision of what we were trying to get done.”

Watching from a cart Thursday was quarterback Zach Wilson, getting important mental reps.

After Wilson suffered a knee injury in the first preseason game that could sideline him into the regular season, Saleh mentioned how he was disappointed that the young quarterback would miss this practice. Saleh thought it would be a good test and learning experience for Wilson to face this defense.

Instead, Joe Flacco ran the first-team offense and it wasn’t the first time he’s played against this style of defense. The former Ravens quarterback saw some interesting blitz packages in his years in Baltimore. Rex Ryan was the defensive coordinator when Flacco was a rookie in 2008. In Flacco’s last year in Baltimore, 2018, Martindale ran the defense

Flacco thought this was a good experience for the Jets’ offense.

“I saw a lot of that for 11 years, some of that kind of stuff,” Flacco said. “It’s good because it puts you in a little bit different mindset, it teaches you to just go play football. They walk up and walk around a lot, and you have to ID everybody. If they get you to slow down a little bit and start thinking and not playing football, then they have a little victory right there.

“You learn a little bit about yourself and how to attack that kind of stuff. It’s a good reminder that we’re just playing football. We don’t have to be rocket scientists out there and try to be perfect with everything. You run your base stuff and play quick. That can sometimes negate some of those things. It’s nice to go against that.”

Flacco had a decent day. On back-to-back plays, he threw touchdown passes to Corey Davis and Garrett Wilson during red-zone drills. Flacco followed that with an interception on the very next throw.

Overall, though, the Jets should be better prepared when they face similar defenses. They have to hope Wilson got something out of it, too.

“There’s really no downside in doing some of this and getting good work out of this,” Flacco said. “It’s not like we’re game-planning for these guys. It’s a good opportunity to see where you’re at, play some football, get some confidence and just give some work to some guys that maybe haven’t seen some of this type of stuff before.”

By Al Iannazzone

al.iannazzone@newsday.comAl_Iannazzone

Al Iannazzone covers the Jets for Newsday after spending nearly two decades on the NBA beat with Knicks and Nets.