NIGHT STALKER Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 By Ken Berger I can't emphasize this enough: The timing of Eric Mangini's announcement that Chad Pennington is the starting quarterback appears largely immaterial. If he continues doing what he's done for five or six practices now, if he continues doing what he just got finished doing tonight in the 2-minute drill, there is no other starting quarterback in this camp but him. Pennington is not only performing well in practice, his confidence is beginning to swell. Whereas on the first day I detected something missing in his demeanor, he is acting like a starting quarterback again. With music blaring for the second straight night, Pennington directed a touchdown drive with a 2-point conversion in the game-simulation period -- no-huddle, trailing 22-14. Receiver Reggie Newhouse, who keeps showing up, caught Pennington's pass in the end zone off a deflection by safety Eric Smith. Pennington then hit Justin McCareins for the 2-point conversion. After battling it out with the starting offense against the starting defense, Pennington and Jonathan Vilma, the undisputed offensive and defensive leaders of this team, slapped hands. At one point earlier in the practice, Pennington came over to offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer and put his arm around him while discussing a just-completed series. Pennington's teammates are now looking to him again for leadership, and with the results he's having on the field, it appears to be flowing naturally again. Patrick Ramsey struggled in the same drill under the same circumstances, although granted he was working with the backups. Mangini extended the drill to give Ramsey a chance to produce a touchdown, but he never did. Well, he almost did when rookie Wallace Wright laid out in the back of the end zone for a nice catch, but he came down out of bounds. This morning's practice will be a telling for Ramsey, who gets his turn with the starters. Some housekeeping matters, as the new coach likes to say: * Left guard Pete Kendall missed practice for undisclosed reasons. Norm Katnik replaced him with the starting offense. * Sixth-round pick Drew Coleman got a lot of action with the starting defense, at nickel and corner, and continued to shine. Ramsey's version of the 2-minute drill ended with a pass breakup by Coleman in the end zone. * Rashad Washington leveled Terry Butler on a blitz pickup, but Butler stood in there and took it like a man -- delaying Washington's path to the quarterback long enough for the play to get off. I have to say this at the risk of getting your hopes up prematurely: I like everything about how Mangini is running this team so far. I like the practice tempo, the physical nature of it, the game-simulation segments, the music. All of it. I think this guy is going to be worth your while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sperm Edwards Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 Awesome. No reason (particularly this early) for rookies to NOT get reps with the first team off/def. What good is distinguishing oneself against the 2nd/3rd team, when your HC just surmises "yeah, well that was against the scrubs" & never really gives them a chance. There are what - 7-8 veteran DB's on the roster right now? And without any type of consensus "they're all sucking" so far, a 6th-round rookie is still given "a lot of action" with the first team at two different positions. Man, I hope this guy's a good gameday HC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glenn212 Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 Awesome. No reason (particularly this early) for rookies to NOT get reps with the first team off/def. What good is distinguishing oneself against the 2nd/3rd team, when your HC just surmises "yeah, well that was against the scrubs" & never really gives them a chance. There are what - 7-8 veteran DB's on the roster right now? And without any type of consensus "they're all sucking" so far, a 6th-round rookie is still given "a lot of action" with the first team at two different positions. Man, I hope this guy's a good gameday HC. BANK ON IT SE!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sperm Edwards Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 We'll see. I'm VERY optimistic, but there were plenty of encouraging articles written in Herm's first training camp than for Mangini. Then I saw that first game against the Colts where we ate up 9 minutes of clock on a single drive into the 4th quarter when we were down like 38-17. I am encouraged by most things Mangini so far (save some draft-day reaches after round 2), but we'll see when there's a real game on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raffyD Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 We'll see. I'm VERY optimistic, but there were plenty of encouraging articles written in Herm's first training camp than for Mangini. Then I saw that first game against the Colts where we ate up 9 minutes of clock on a single drive into the 4th quarter when we were down like 38-17. I am encouraged by most things Mangini so far (save some draft-day reaches after round 2), but we'll see when there's a real game on. Yeah, but maybe those reaches won't turn out to be reaches in the end but just sleepers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSage Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 Awesome. No reason (particularly this early) for rookies to NOT get reps with the first team off/def. What good is distinguishing oneself against the 2nd/3rd team, when your HC just surmises "yeah, well that was against the scrubs" & never really gives them a chance. There are what - 7-8 veteran DB's on the roster right now? And without any type of consensus "they're all sucking" so far, a 6th-round rookie is still given "a lot of action" with the first team at two different positions. Man, I hope this guy's a good gameday HC. Can he be a worse gameday HC than Edwards??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raffyD Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 Can he be a worse gameday HC than Edwards??? I don't think I could be a worse gameday coach than Herm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sperm Edwards Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 Simply being better than Edwards does not necessarily make someone good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raffyD Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 Simply being better than Edwards does not necessarily make someone good. Thanks for making me feel like crap SE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sperm Edwards Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 Thanks for making me feel like crap SE. you posted while I was already composing mine. Wasn't a reflection on you. ...but I suppose my point still stands Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raffyD Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 you posted while I was already composing mine. Wasn't a reflection on you. ...but I suppose my point still stands lol, very funny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rajensen088 Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 Can he be a worse gameday HC than Edwards??? How about Mangini taking a top ten defense under Romeo Crennel and turning it into a worse ranked defense than the Kansas City Chiefs. The 26th ranked defense in the NFL.. Great gameday coaching by the 'genius'. Not that he was able to install any discipline to the Pats defense. Under the Eric (fatter than Francesca) Mangini the Patriots were the 5th most penalized defensive unit in the NFL....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raffyD Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 How about Mangini taking a top ten defense under Romeo Crennel and turning it into a worse ranked defense than the Kansas City Chiefs. The 26th ranked defense in the NFL.. Great gameday coaching by the 'genius'. Not that he was able to install any discipline to the Pats defense. Under the Eric (fatter than Francesca) Mangini the Patriots were the 5th most penalized defensive unit in the NFL....... You are amazingly persistent with this issue, do you really believe that these rankings are a tell tale sign of things to come? If so, please elaborate and explain, to me at least, how you think such rankings for that Pats D last year will forecast Mangini's HC'ing gig with the Jets. Serious question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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