By Tom Rock
Chad Pennington is with the team and will practice today. Kevan Barlow is with the team, but his status for today’s practice is less certain.
Barlow, the 49ers RB traded to the Jets, was at Hofstra this morning and undergoing his team physical while coach Eric Mangini administered his late-morning press conference. That the media briefing was not pushed back to 12:30 – as it was when Lee Suggs flunked his physical – may be the best sign of progress. Mangini said depending on the results, Barlow could be on the field for today’s 2 p.m. practice. I’ll update that later.
The Jets also made some other roster moves, releasing DE Val Barnaby and WR Curtis Williams while signing veteran TE Walter Rasby. Rasby is undergoing his team physical today as well.
Mangini said the best play of the game was the Brad Smith reverse touchdown run. No kidding. He said it best exemplified the things the coaching staff had been stressing during the week, blocking downfield and not giving up on plays. He said he enjoyed the 23-play drive that ate up most of the third quarter, but was still disappointed that it resulted in a field goal and not a TD. Red-zone mistakes.
Today’s practice will focus more on the Jets and less on Friday’s game against the Giants. The team will work on the mistakes it found in the Washington tape – a few fumbles and 11 penalties being the most glaring – and continue the installation of the systems.
One correction on my part. I did post that there have been no turnovers by the Jets and of course Chad Pennington had that fumble in the first game. I meant to say there have been no interceptions. I’ll be like A-Rod and say I’m not going to give excuses then follow it up with excuses: It was late, I was tired, and there are no copy editors to form a human safety net below me when I post these blogs. But like I said, no excuses!