BP Posted August 12, 2007 Share Posted August 12, 2007 Jets' Clemens stock is rocketing Sunday, August 12th 2007, 4:00 AM * Print * Email * Suggest a Story When Kellen Clemens arrived at the postgame interview room, he walked to the podium and asked a Jets staffer, "Is this where Chad stands?" Pardon Clemens for not knowing, but it was his first time in the NFL spotlight. His three-touchdown performance in Friday night's preseason opening win, 31-16 over the Falcons, enabled him to emerge from Chad Pennington's shadow, albeit temporarily. Clemens isn't an immediate threat to Pennington's starting job, but he could be a viable option if he continues to improve. "I like the fact that he's coming up, assessing the defense, checking in and out of plays," Eric Mangini said. "I thought he had good presence. He hung in the pocket really well, maybe even a bit too long for right now. I thought you were seeing some of that growth." Clemens (16-for-22, 174 yards), who didn't take any meaningful snaps last season and attempted only one pass, led the offense to touchdowns on his first three possessions, hitting eight of 10 for 100 yards on those drives. After a shaky spring and a slow start in training camp, Clemens, out of Oregon, has locked up the No. 2 job. He attributes his improvement to increased practice time. "Kellen works extremely hard and you can tell he watches every move that I make," said Pennington, who didn't attempt any passes in his two-series outing. "He tries to take some things I do and put it into his game. But at the same time, he wants to be his own athlete, own quarterback." Clemens joined Rick Mirer (1999) and Ray Lucas (2000) as the only Jets quarterbacks since 1992 to throw three TD passes in a preseason game. HICKS MAY STICK: Former Chiefs DT Eric Hicks, making the transition to a 3-4 after playing his entire career in a 4-3, is emerging as a factor. He worked with the starters on the second series, replacing Shaun Ellis at left end. Meanwhile, Kenyon Coleman, the Jets' biggest free-agent signing, appears to have wrested the right-end job from Kimo von Oelhoffen. LIFE OF RYAN: Backup TE Sean Ryan had only nine balls thrown his way last season, for six receptions, so naturally his four-catch, two-touchdown game opened some eyes. His first touchdown (2 yards) was a brilliant, diving catch in the end zone. Ryan, known strictly as a blocker, didn't read too much into his so-called breakout game. "It's a preseason game and, obviously, it's nice to be out there, running a good amount of routes and have fun doing it, but I know what my role is here," he said. NOT 'DRE DAY: OLB Andre Wadsworth, playing his first game since 2000, was a nonfactor. He didn't get on the field until the third quarter and was credited with two tackles. Wadsworth, waging an inspirational comeback after knee injuries derailed his once-promising career, is a longshot to make the team. ... ILB Eric Barton, once thought to be a likely salary-cap casualty, was active with four tackles. Second-round pick David Harris (four tackles), trying to take Barton's job, showed good closing speed. ... There's a lot of competition for the fourth and fifth receiver jobs between seventh-round pick Chansi Stuckey, Wallace Wright and Frisman Jackson. Veteran Tim Dwight (foot) remains on the physically-unable-to-perform list. ... Camp resumes today at 2 p.m. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BP Posted August 12, 2007 Author Share Posted August 12, 2007 Kendall's still making right calls BY RICH CIMINI DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER Sunday, August 12th 2007, 4:00 AM * Print * Email * Suggest a Story Jet blues Do you think the Jets should give Pete Kendall a raise? Yes No * Read Rich Cimini's The Jets Stream This is what you saw: Kellen Clemens dropped back to pass from the Falcons' 2-yard line, looked into the back corner of the end zone and fired a bullet to tight end Sean Ryan, who made a sprawling catch. A replay review confirmed it was a touchdown for the Jets, their second score in Friday night's 31-16 win over the Falcons. This is what you didn't know about that play: It was made possible, in large part, by Pete Kendall. Yeah, that Pete Kendall, the disgruntled left guard who wants nothing to do with the Jets. Recognizing the defensive front, Kendall called a pre-snap audible for the offensive line, according to a person close to the team. The heads-up play afforded Clemens the protection he needed to complete the pass, an example of Kendall's value to the team. The Kendall soap opera, running since May, never ceases to provide new plot twist. Many thought he'd be a goner by training camp - that would've made him happy - but there he was in the preseason opener, working with the starters in the first quarter. That came as a surprise, considering he has spent nearly the entire camp with the backups. Maybe, just maybe, Kendall isn't out of the team's plans, after all. "Nothing about (this game) has changed my opinion," said Kendall, who has stated repeatedly that he expects to be released. The Jets' decision-makers will have to make a tough call. As much as they'd like to dump him for trashing the organization, they recognize he's still an asset, a cagey veteran aiding the development of left tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson and center Nick Mangold, both in their second seasons. Adrien Clarke, playing with the first team all summer, started at left guard, but he was replaced by Kendall on the second series. It appears to be Clarke's job to lose, but the Jets seem intent on retaining Kendall until they reach a verdict on Clarke, whose NFL resume consists of only four starts, all with the Eagles in 2005. On Thursday night, Kendall was informed that he'd receive some first-team work in the game. Ordinarily, that's good news for a player, but he was "less than thrilled" by the development. This is as strange as strange gets. Kendall, of course, is bitter because he believes the organization reneged on a promise to renegotiate his contract, which pays him $1.7 million this season. "It's odd ... awkward," Kendall said at his locker, so angry that he was speaking in clipped sentences. "This is a difficult situation, period." When it was suggested that he made a key block on Leon Washington's 25-yard draw in the third quarter, Kendall sniffed, "Even a blind squirrel can find an acorn." You know someone's peeved when he can't appreciate a compliment. Kendall played into the third quarter with the second-team line, which included Clarke at right guard. Kendall wasn't perfect - he missed a blitzing linebacker that resulted in a 1-yard loss for Washington - but his experience (156 career starts) is invaluable, evidenced by his audible on the Ryan touchdown. Clarke doesn't have that kind of track record, but he's big (6-5, 330) and powerful. On the Jets' first play, he pancaked Falcons' backup nose tackle Tommy Jackson. On the next play, he showed some athleticism, pulling to the right and blocking safety Lawyer Milloy. Eric Mangini said the Jets used "some new concepts" in the running game, and he seemed generally pleased with the production. The Jets ran on their first 16 plays, a test for the line and backs. Soon, they will have to make a decision on Kendall. They probably would trade him for the right offer (the Browns are hurting on the line), but it's wrong to assume they will cut him out of spite. Mangini was a Patriots assistant in 2004, when cornerback Ty Law was unhappy with his contract and ripped Bill Belichick, calling him a liar. Many figured that Belichick wouldn't take him back after a personal attack. He did. The Pats went on to win the Super Bowl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BP Posted August 12, 2007 Author Share Posted August 12, 2007 Jets backup QB Clemens has impressed BY TOM ROCK | tom.rock@newsday.com August 12, 2007 Article Tools * E-mail * Print * Single page view * Reprints * Reader feedback * text size:increase text sizedecrease text size Click here to find out more! While many of the second-year quarterbacks around the league - notably Messrs. Young, Cutler and Leinert - are preparing for a season as a starter, Kellen Clemens is getting ready for another year as a backup. But in the last two "games" he's played in, last week's Green-White scrimmage and Friday's preseason opener against the Falcons, Clemens has looked every bit as capable of taking the reins of an NFL offense as those drafted ahead of him. He's still the backup to Chad Pennington. There is no controversy here. But the Jets and their fans are growing more and more comfortable with the QB question that shakes the optimism out of nearly every team's preseason: What if? "This is the best feeling that I have had personally since I've been here," Clemens said of the afterglow following Friday's performance: 16-for-22 passing for 174 yards and three touchdowns. It is likely the best feeling the Jets have had about him as well. "I like the fact that he is coming up, assessing the defense, being able to check in and out of plays," Eric Mangini said. "I thought he had good presence. He hung in the pocket really well, maybe even a little bit too long for right now." Ryan's hope Tight end Sean Ryan caught six passes last year, but in Friday's game he had four, including two touchdowns. The first was a diving, juggling grab of a pass from Clemens and the second a wide-open catch. Could Ryan become a part of the Jets' passing attack rather than the blocking tight end he's been throughout his career? "It's a preseason game and obviously it's nice to go out there and run a good amount of routes and have fun doing it and catch the ball," Ryan said. "But I know what my role is here and I'm going to do that to the best of my ability." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BP Posted August 12, 2007 Author Share Posted August 12, 2007 Changing positions a boon for Jets' Thomas BY TOM ROCK | tom.rock@newsday.com August 12, 2007 Article Tools * E-mail * Print * Single page view * Reprints * Reader feedback * text size:increase text sizedecrease text size Click here to find out more! Bryan Thomas refers to "The Road Not Taken," the famous Robert Frost poem, when he talks about last year's move from defensive end to outside linebacker. It was a verse that made an impact on him in his school days, but in his mind, it later applied to the course of his career as well. He found himself at a turning point, four lackluster seasons behind him, when he was faced with the position switch. That's a lyrical and elegant way to look at it. Jets coach Eric Mangini has a different take. For him, it wasn't so much a fork in the path for Thomas but a one-way street. "I wasn't really asking," Mangini said, laying down the law with more frost than Frost about approaching Thomas to make the move. "I mean, that's what was going to happen. That's really what it was." Forget the road not taken. This was "my way or the highway." However the subject was broached, there's no denying that becoming an outside linebacker changed the course of Thomas' career and his life. Due to become a free agent at the end of the 2006 season, Thomas adapted so well to the 3-4 defensive scheme of the Jets that they locked him up with a five-year midseason extension worth up to $25 million with $9 million in guaranteed money. The former first-round pick never found his feet as a defensive end. In those first four seasons he had a total of 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BP Posted August 12, 2007 Author Share Posted August 12, 2007 PAT PREPARATION MANGINI HAS STRATEGY FOR SLAYING DRAGON BODY BLOW: Eric Mangini is depending on the addition of Thomas Jones to take a boxer's strategy in knocking off the Patriots as AFC East king - kill the body and the head dies. BODY BLOW: Eric Mangini is depending on the addition of Thomas Jones to take a boxer's strategy in knocking off the Patriots as AFC East king - kill the body and the head dies. PrintEmailDigg ItRedditPermalinkStory Bottom By STEVE SERBY August 12, 2007 -- IN the ever-evolving, high-stakes chess game between the Jets and Patriots, Eric Mangini never stops plotting moves to capture the king of the AFC East. Bill Belichick bestowed upon Tom Brady offseason gifts of Randy Moss, Dante Stallworth and Wes Welker. It underscored Belichick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BP Posted August 12, 2007 Author Share Posted August 12, 2007 Rookie Stuckey sticks out Sunday, August 12, 2007 BY DAVE HUTCHINSON Star-Ledger Staff The weapons, it seems, just keep coming for the Jets' offense, which is shaping up as the most explosive collection of talent quarterback Chad Pennington has had to work with in his eight seasons with the club. The latest name added to the list is rookie wide receiver Chansi Stuckey, a seventh-round pick out of Clemson who has been turning heads every since rookie minicamp. He has had an outstanding training camp and made yet another statement with three catches for 20 yards, including a 13-yard touchdown, in the Jets' 31-16 victory over the Falcons on Friday night at Giants Stadium. Advertisement Stuckey joins wide receivers Laveranues Coles, Jerricho Cotchery and Justin McCareins, running backs Thomas Jones and Leon Washington, tight end Chris Baker and all-purpose player Brad Smith as potential playmakers in the offense. Jets offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer has a knack for finding ways to get everyone involved in the offense with a dizzying array of shifts, motions and personnel packages. Last season, Stuckey, a speedy 6-foot, 185-pounder, was slowed by a broken bone in his right foot that sidelined him for three games. Even so, he led the Tigers with a team-high 50 catches for 700 yards and three TDs. He got off on the wrong foot when he was with cornerback Justin Miller the night he was arrested for allegedly assaulting a women in Manhattan and the team reduced his signing bonus by $10,000. That episode, however, appears to be behind him. "It's going out there every day and trying to show up," said Stuckey, explaining his strong training camp. "Being a rookie, you know you have got to do extra stuff to got the extra mile to get noticed. You have to study and when you get your opportunity, you try to make things happen. I just got some opportunities and tried to make the best of it." Early in the third quarter, on a third-and-five from the Falcons' 13-yard line, Stuckey ran a fade route to the corner of the end zone and leaped over the defender to make an exceptional catch on a throw from Kellen Clemens. "(Clemens) made a great throw and gave me an opportunity to make a play on the ball," Stuckey said. GM Mike Tannenbaum is trying to come up with a "creative way" to give rookie hold out Darrelle Revis an opportunity to earn fair-market value in a sixth year of a deal the club is steadfast in getting him to sign, according to someone who has spoken to Tannenbaum. That person, who requested anonymity because a deal hasn't been reached, said that creativity would include incentives, roster bonuses, etc. The Revis camp, however, wants a five-year deal, similar to the ones signed by all but one of the first-rounders selected from six to 16. That player, the Texans' Amobi Okoye, signed a six-year deal with a voidable clause that is easily triggered, meaning he essentially signed a five-year deal. Though the Revis camp hasn't spoken publicly, it is believed that the outrage they feel over being forced into signing a six-year deal is the same the Jets would feel if Revis demanded a four-year deal while everyone taken around him signed a five-year contract. QB Kellen Clemens has impressed Chad Pennington with his work ethic. Pennington, of course, sat behind Vinny Testaverde for two seasons. "I've seen his confidence grow since he's been here," Pennington said. "He's like a sponge, he soaks up as much as he can. He does a great job taking notes. He's really trying to learn the ins and outs ... trying to take it all in and make sure he doesn't miss anything, even with his mental reps." Multi-purpose performer Brad Smith had one series at quarterback and will almost certainly be given a package each week this season. He didn't attempt a pass from scrimmage (scrambling twice for 17 yards) and threw an incompletion on a desperation pass on a fake punt. He also ran a reverse, made a tackle on punt coverage and returned a kickoff 46 yards. ... WR Frisman Jackson, a former Cleveland Brown, made a one-handed circus catch for a 20-yard gain. Dave Hutchinson may be reached at dhutchinson@starledger.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BP Posted August 12, 2007 Author Share Posted August 12, 2007 Five questions facing the Jets Sunday, August 12, 2007 BY DAVE HUTCHINSON Star-Ledger Staff Will the Jets miss holdout CB Darrelle Revis? They didn't against the Falcons but we're talking Joey Harrington, not Peyton Manning. Starters Andre Dyson and David Barrett played well. Second-year man Drew Coleman, who is battling veteran Hank Poteat for a roster spot, had an INT. Advertisement Who will emerge as the backup quarterback? Game, set, match. Kellen Clemens all but locked up the job with a brilliant performance, hitting 16 of 22 passes for 174 yards, three TDs and no INTs vs. the Falcons' backups. Veteran Marques Tuiasosopo didn't get in until garbage time and his days as a Jet appear numbered. How will the situation at left guard play out? Unhappy veteran Pete Kendall didn't start and seemed ready to explode following the game. He alternated with starter Adrien Clarke and played into the third quarter, working with the second team. Is Sione Pouha the perfect complement at nose tackle? Pouha and the Jets' first-team run defense turned in a rather ho-hum performance. The unit yielded an 82-yard, first-quarter drive that was capped off with a 10-yard burst off right guard by RB Jerious Norwood for a TD. Were the Jets glad to see John Abraham? The former Jet was excited to see his ex-teammates and said he wouldn't have taken a shot at QB Chad Pennington even if he had the chance. He praised LT D'Brickashaw Ferguson's aggressiveness but couldn't get a read on his pass blocking because Pennington didn't throw a pass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BP Posted August 12, 2007 Author Share Posted August 12, 2007 This needed to be separated GM Mike Tannenbaum is trying to come up with a "creative way" to give rookie hold out Darrelle Revis an opportunity to earn fair-market value in a sixth year of a deal the club is steadfast in getting him to sign, according to someone who has spoken to Tannenbaum. That person, who requested anonymity because a deal hasn't been reached, said that creativity would include incentives, roster bonuses, etc. The Revis camp, however, wants a five-year deal, similar to the ones signed by all but one of the first-rounders selected from six to 16. That player, the Texans' Amobi Okoye, signed a six-year deal with a voidable clause that is easily triggered, meaning he essentially signed a five-year deal. Though the Revis camp hasn't spoken publicly, it is believed that the outrage they feel over being forced into signing a six-year deal is the same the Jets would feel if Revis demanded a four-year deal while everyone taken around him signed a five-year contract. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TaborJet Posted August 12, 2007 Share Posted August 12, 2007 Thanks, BP! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bitonti Posted August 12, 2007 Share Posted August 12, 2007 Jets' Clemens stock is rocketing Clemens joined Rick Mirer (1999) and Ray Lucas (2000) as the only Jets quarterbacks since 1992 to throw three TD passes in a preseason game. great company for Clemens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BP Posted August 12, 2007 Author Share Posted August 12, 2007 great company for Clemens I didn't think he looked all that great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irish Jet Posted August 12, 2007 Share Posted August 12, 2007 I didn't think he looked all that great. agreed, he didnt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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