Practice notes
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- May
- 28
“Welcome back Eddie George!”
That’s how Damien Woody greeted running back Thomas Jones when he returned to the team on Wednesday, for his first OTA of the year. Jones might have been missing because he was unhappy with his contract, but it will be another week before we can ask him.
Jones did not come into the locker room after practice to face questions on his absence, or his return. Mark Sanchez said it was nice to finally be on the field with Jones, who he described as “all rocked up,” which is why Woody compared him to George.
Jets coach Rex Ryan joked that Jones, “reminds me of myself, the way that he’s built.”
“Thomas told me he’s happy to be here, and I’m certainly happy he’s here,” Ryan said.
Kerry Rhodes, however did talk in the locker room. Over the weekend a woman alleged she was raped at Rhodes’ home in New Jersey, although the prosecutor in the case came out and emphatically said Rhodes is not a suspect in the investigation.
Rhodes answered most questions by saying that it was a legal matter and he couldn’t comment. He used the phrase, “It’s pending legal matter, and I can’t talk about it,” over and over, but toward the end said a little more. Dan Leberfeld, Mark Cannizzaro and I are the interrogators here.
0528kerryrhodes
David Harris was on the sidelines when Jim Leonhard came running over in search of a punt. Leonhard’s helmet impacted Harris’ mouth, although Ryan said they were able to save Harris’ teeth.
Kellen Clemens looked good early but had several interceptions later in practice before leaving early after hearing his wife went in to labor. He missed Sanchez’ red zone touchdown pass to Jack Simmons, easily the highlight of the day for the rookie QB.
“It was important,” Sanchez said. “During the first special categories period, I missed Dustin (Keller) wide open. He ran a great route, I made the right read, but my footwork was off. It’s important as a rookie to keep all of those things on the same page, get it all right, and then make it happen. That one miscue on the footwork really threw off our timing, it was totally my fault, he ran a good route. To finish the way we did (throwing a touchdown at the end of practice) makes up for a lot and it helps. It’s a good way to end the week, but there’s a lot to learn from today so I will study that.”
Jay Feely, who had his son with him today, called this OTA for the defense as well, which seems to be a theme.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, May 28th, 2009 at 2:45 pm by Jane McManus.
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Jane McManus 
I’m certainly not a Journalism professor, but I listened to the three interrogators of Kerry Rhodes, and I felt you guys stepped over the line.Who let the dogs out ?
Interesting. The lead up is about 2 minutes of no comments, and we were simply trying to get something more genuine. But I will say, if you are a public figure and something like this allegedly happens at your house, you should expect a few tough questions.
Thank you for your response, I realize that this is not Green Bay, but what you see as 2 minutes of no comments, I see as harassment, and we wonder why players get attitudes.
Let me apologize, for nitpicking a minor point, when your overall report was informative, fun and generally outstanding.
No sweat. Reasonable people can have differences of opinion.
I will add that Kerry has a terrific relationship with the press. I can’t see him getting an attitude because he really understands the way things work.
Is it just me, or are there a lot of practice field collisions this offseason?
[...] jots down her practice notes, Rod writes his as does [...]
We certainly can agree to disagree. But that Audio clip had an impact on me. I begin to understand the Parcells, Mangini, Belicheck media policy, this “harassment” by reporters spawns the old bunker mentality. No means no in any relationship, and no comment means no comment.In the Audio clip, what makes me crazy is your colleague with a long winded narrative of a question, that is pretentious and condesending in nature, It makes the assumption that Kerry’s an idiot. The man is looking for a serious beat down. Jane, you know I worship the ground that you walk on , and I will say that your question was direct, relevant and in your words genuine. But the delivery is a little sharp, you come on like a pit bull.
This is the same person who wrote a very intelligent, human article on Matt Slauson which I thought was outstanding. Question, do you think if Matt Slauson”s locker was next to Rhodes and he heard this episode, that he would as cooperative and forthcoming with your goodself ? Obviously you have earned the trust of several players, but in very humble opinion, that trust could be lost very easily. I am the big loser in this deal, because you will not be able to
write on guys like Matt Slauson.
You should just give me your # so we can hash this out over the phone!
I think there’s a huge difference between on the field and against the law. Mangini’s policy didn’t keep Sean Ellis from having to answer questions about his arrest for possession, but it did keep Ben Kotwika’s story from being told until this year. The Journal News and other outlets had been requesting interviews with the war hero (and RB coach Jimmy Raye, too) for years.
Players know there’s a difference. I was talking to another player waiting for Rhodes to come in and we were joking that I never wanted to have to come up to him and ask him the questions I was going to have to ask Kerry.
Maybe I should work on my delivery, I can take constructive critique, but of the few quotes other than the no comments, two were to my questions. The first one I asked was how gratified was he when the prosecutor released the special statement saying he wasn’t a suspect.
But you hit on a great point, JetOrange. Beat reporters walk a fine line between reporting the news and cultivating sources. We are not fans, but I think that players realize when you are fair with them. What they hate, I think, are rumors and cheap shots, when you avoid that as a reporter, I think players respect it. Hopefully if Matt Slauson overheard it, he’d think he needed to avoid any similar situation.
Reasonable people can have a differance of opinion. Thanks