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New Jersey – Dan checks in from the Garden State with some notes and nuggets from Jets camp. Don’t miss out, Sign-up now . . .
Rex Ryan read the injury report, but had no opening statement today at his press conference.
He usually does an overview of the Jets’ opponent on Wednesday in his press conference, but he didn’t do it today – he went right to questions.
“When Rex doesn’t start with an opening statement, it means he’s in a bad mood,” said one long-time Jets beat writer.
Ryan was about 20 minutes late to this press conference which generally means practice ran long.
Perhaps he was ticked about the penalties which continue to be a problem.
I saw penalty issues early in practice, and everyone was forced to do pushups, including the practice officials . . .
We found out something interesting things from David Garrard today.
*He has been jogging three miles every other day on concrete the last couple of months, and wasn’t getting any swelling in his surgical knee, so he realized the knee could handle playing again. Running on concrete creates a lot of wear-and-tear.
*When Garrard called John Idzik to talk about returning – it wasn’t just Jets or bust. He saw some really bad quarterbacking around the league, and felt he could do better, and wanted to come back. If the Jets weren’t interested, he would have wanted them to allow him to go elsewhere. But it turns out Idzik wanted him to come back to the Jets.
*In the spring, there were reports Gerrard had bone-on-bone in his bad knee, but that isn’t the case. There was an issue in the back of Garrard’s knee that was causing grinding and swelling. By late August, early September, the swelling stopped.
*Garrard opened up a couple of gyms in Jacksonville . . .
Remember after the game we saw Nick Mangold going to the X-Ray room at the stadium. It turns out he suffered a rib injury in the Patriots’ game. He will be fine to play on Sunday . . .
Why did the Jets have to rush Dee Milliner back into the starting line-up?
I don’t get it.
Is it ego? It is Revis-related?
Darrin Walls had some hiccups early in the Tennessee game, but did fine after that.
Milliner missed a month with a hamstring injury, and he was struggling a little before the injury.
So when he came back after a month on the shelf, why fast-track him right into the starting lineup?
Why not ease him back into things?
He had a rough game against New England.
On the Pats’ first possession, Tom Brady hit Aaron Dobson on an out, on the right side, for a gain of 13 on Milliner.
Early in the second quarter, Tom Brady hit Austin Collie for a gain of 11 on the right seam on Milliner. On the next play, Collie beat Milliner on 10-yard out on the right side, but had a toe on the line, so it was overruled.
Early in the fourth quarter, Milliner was beat on an out for 14 yards on the right side, displaying poor technique – Dobson made it seem like he was going deep, but cut out, and Milliner got turned around.
“That was poor fundamentals by Milliner,” said Dan Dierdorf.
Dobson had a step on Dee Milliner down the right sideline late in the fourth quarter, but Tom Brady overthrew him.
Don’t get me wrong. I think Milliner is a good prospect. I think he will be a solid player. But this machismo being displayed by the Jets’ brass, forcing him into the starting lineup, repeatedly (in training camp, early in the season, and now mid-season), doesn’t make a lot of sense.
The underrated Walls can hold-the-fort until he’s truly ready to start.
Maybe there is a PR element to all this.
And if there is, there shouldn’t be.
October 23, 2013
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