E-Boland & Gang Green

By Tom Rock

We had a little fun with such a big star in our presence today. Before Mangini came into the room for his press conference, Dave Hutchinson of the Star Ledger whipped out a pair of red bath towels he brought from home (without telling Mrs. Hutch!) and set them on the floor to resemble a red carpet. It was in reference to Mangini now being a TV star after his cameo on “The Sopranos” Sunday night. Eric took the ribbing in stride. “You guys know better than anyone why I didn’t have a speaking part,” he said to the room of reporters.

The topic came up again a little later, and Mangini said he enjoyed his time on the set of the show. “I love the show,” he said. “I’ve followed it for a long time. I think that whole creative process, the level of detail, all the things that go into making any show -- but especially a show of that level -- is amazing.”

Speaking to an insider who was on the set, HBO uses only one camera for its production so basically they do the same scene over and over a few dozen times to get it right. Hmm. Sounds a lot like training camp. Only difference is that in TV, there are stand-ins for the stars while they adjust the lights and set the scene. In football, the stars have to be out there for themselves.

Speaking of stars having to go through training camps, Laveranues Coles was asked if Mangini has mellowed in his second year. He laughed. “If anything he’s put his foot more on the gas since we’ve been back,” Coles said. “He’s not one of those guys that’s going to let up, that’s for sure. Right now he’s got us all going. He ain’t missing a beat. He’s pulling stuff out now that we didn’t pull out until camp. He’s on pace to break it from last year.”

Mangini said he was especially pleased with Monday’s practice, which took place in the driving rain. Not sure the players had the same enthusiasm.

Same “starters” as last week, with the exception of second-round pick David Harris taking the place of Jonathan Vilma on the first defense. Vilma is up in Beantown with his sister Alice, who is receiving her MBA from Harvard.

Still no Pete Kendall. Mangini said he expects everyone to be at next week’s mandatory minicamp. Not sure if that’s an ultimatum or not.

Justin McCareins continues to look really sharp in practices. He caught a couple of Chad Pennington passes for TDs today and also one from Kellen Clemens. Chansi Stuckey also made a nice TD catch and Mangini said he was impressive earlier in the week. Mangini also praised his speed, something that was a question during the pre-draft analysis. He might turn out to be a steal in the seventh round.

First-round pick Darrelle Revis continues to work in the sub defenses, mostly as a nickleback. He’s also playing opposite Justin Miller on the second team base unit. Mangini said Revis’ one early flaw is putting too many balls on the ground during punt and kickoff returns.

A few other odds and ends: DE David Bowens was working with the outside linebackers today … Nick Mangold participated in a few drills but no 11-on-11 work …Tim Dwight was limited in practice and Matt Chatham was sidelined at the stationary bike for the event … Jesse Pellot-Rosa, an undrafted free agent who was signed after a good tryout at rookie camp, showed a lot of spunk when he was able to break free twice on a punt coverage drill. Nothing wrong with a rookie drawing the coaches’ attention when he does something good.