Blog

Vrabel Retirement Spurs ’05 Holiday Memories

The one-line transaction this morning read:

LB Mike Vrabel announced his retirement to become linebackers coach at Ohio State.

And Jets fans might be tempted to say “good riddance.”

All in jest, of course. But green-clad fanatics were none too jovial about the present they received on the 13th day of Christmas in 2005, when Vrabel, then a versatile starting linebacker for the Patriots, turned into an offensive red zone monster against the Jets in that Dec. 26 Monday night affair.

Lining up at tight end, Vrabel caught a pair of touchdown passes from Tom Brady. His first, 9:33 into the game, put New England ahead, 7-0. His second gave the Pats a 14-7 lead they never lost in their 31-21 win over the Jets.

Not surprisingly, no other primarily defensive player has ever scored two offensive touchdowns in his entire career against the Jets. And Vrabel turned in his two in a span of 14:22 in the first half, a nice set of bookends to go with his team-high six tackles and one sack of Jets starter Brooks Bollinger that night.

The game was oddly historic in Jets and NFL history for a few other reasons. As many will remember, it was the last Monday Night Football telecast by ABC before handing that franchise over to ESPN in 2006. Talk about your bookends — ABC debuted MNF when the Jets and Joe Namath took on and lost to the Browns, also by 31-21, back on Sept. 21, 1970.

Then there was Vinny Testaverde’s contribution to the evening. Vinny famously climbed off his Long Island couch for a classic return as the Jets starter after the season-ending injuries to Chad Pennington and Jay Fiedler and provided some early highlights, but soon he was showing his age, suffered a ding or two himself, and had settled back on the depth chart as Bollinger showed a little late promise.

Which caused some eyebrows to arch when coach Herm Edwards said Testaverde would see some action in the final two games of the Jets’ 4-12 campaign. “I think it’s important,” Coach Herm said at the time, “for a lot of reasons.”

One reason was for the record books. If Testaverde, who had thrown no TDs that season, found just one receiver for a score, he’d hold the mark for the most consecutive seasons with a touchdown pass in NFL history. He was tied at the time at 18 straight seasons with Fran Tarkenton (1961-78).

“Just Herm mentioning it says a lot,” Testaverde said during the week of the PT offer. “I’d love to get in there, don’t get me wrong. But if it doesn’t happen, I’m OK with that, too.”

It did happen. No. 16 came back on the field for the Green & White’s final series, and with 2:10 left, on his final play as a Jet, Testaverde hooked up with Laveranues Coles from 27 yards to set the record at 19 straight seasons. (Which he then extended to 21 seasons with one TD pass for the Patriots in ’06 and five for the Panthers in ’07.)

Back to Vrabel, who triggered this funky trip down memory lane. He played 17 games against the Jets as a Patriot from 2001-08 (just one with the Steelers in ’00 and none with the Chiefs in ’09-10). In those games, he had 81 tackles, 7.5 sacks, one interception and two forced fumbles, and the Pats went 13-4 against the Jets. Thus we impersonate Michael Kay and say to Vrabel, “See Ya!”

But if he can coach up a ‘backer or two at The Ohio State University that can help the Jets out in the coming years, well, all will be forgiven. Good luck, Mike.

Jets Schedule: A Few More Talking Points

NFL schedule announcement week is always an interesting time. Now we all get to weigh in on why the Jets’ schedule will be or won’t be good for business in the fall.

Before getting into one area of concern, I’d like to tip my cap to the league’s schedulemakers. They do a great job of wrestling this 17-week monster to the ground every year. There are always macro, league-wide issues that need to be addressed, as well as the micro desires that each team submits for consideration each year. The scheduling team does a neat job and its handiwork is on display every April at this time.

But of course not everything is perfect.

What’s bothering me? Actually, not the Jets’ three-game road trip to Oakland, Baltimore and New England in Weeks 3-5. That’s not ideal and the NFL tries to avoid those three-weeks-of-travel stretches. Yet every season since 2000 there has been at least one team with a three-game road trip. The eight trips scheduled in ’00 are the most in that span.

As we mentioned Tuesday, the Jets haven’t had a scheduled regular-season three-game trip since the end of the 1982 season. But they’re not the only team being told to hit the road this year — six other teams also received three-game trips in the just released schedule.

No, that one I can live with. But the schedule wrinkle I’m not fond of occurs in Weeks 10 and 11 in November. That’s the Sunday night home game against the Patriots followed by the Thursday night NFL Network game at Denver.

My complaint is not with second-half-of-the-season Thursday night games in general. They are what they are, as Laveranues Coles might say. They’ve been part of the NFL’s primetime landscape since 2006 and they appear to be here to stay.

It’s just that reducing a team’s prep time from the usual six days down to three days is tough enough on the mind and the body. And now the league has told the Jets, “You’re not even going to get Sunday night off before this year’s Thursday game. You’re going to play your archrivals the Patriots on Sunday night, then you’re going to get Monday and Tuesday to heal and prepare for the Broncos, then you’re going to get on a five-hour plane ride to Denver on Wednesday.”

This is not something that I recall ever being done to an NFL team since before the league did away with four-game road trips in the mid-Seventies. Since 2006, only one team has been scheduled at home on Sunday night and then on the road on Thursday night. That was Denver in 2006, which lost to San Diego, then lost at Kansas City. And only one team has been scheduled to fly west two time zones for a second-half Thursday night game. That was Chicago in 2009, which lost to Arizona, then lost at San Francisco.

Never before has a team been scheduled to play on Sunday night, then fly west two time zones to play on Thursday night.

The thing the Jets have going in this history-making stretch is Rex Ryan. The head coach and his staff of coaches, trainers and doctors have devised a detailed approach to faraway games. And when the Rex Jets have played a game six days or fewer after another game, they are 6-2 (including 2-0 on Thursday nights, in Toronto vs. the Bills in ’09 and home vs. the Bengals last Thanksgiving night).

Plus Ryan has the quintessential positive coach’s spin about these short weeks. As he told reporters yesterday: “Like I always say about those Thursday games, they’re great as long as you win, because you can almost treat it like a little mini-bye after that.”

View the 2011 Season Schedule

View the 2011 Interactive Schedule

Rex Ryan on 2011 Schedule

More Schedule Trivial Pursuit

The Jets open with a home game (vs. Dallas on Sept. 11) for the second consecutive season, the first time that’s happened since 1979-80. … With their three Sunday night games, that means the Jets will be shown on NBC three times. That’s the most times they’ve appeared on the Peacock Network in one season since it declined to renew its rights for the AFC games following the 1997 season. … The Jets are scheduled to play 10 primetime games in 2010 and ’11. That’s as many as in their previous six seasons combined. … The bunching of three of their four NFC East foes in December reminds us that this is the year the Jets must do something about their record against that division. Since the realignment in 2002, the Jets have gone 0-8 against the NFC East.

Pereira’s Winning Image

Here’s a big, exploding fist bump to New York Jets team photographer Al Pereira, who received honorable mention for one of his photos in the prestigious annual Pro Football Hall of Fame Photo Contest.

The contest winners were announced today and the only Jets photo of the 16 combined that were singled out in the “action” and “feature” categories was the shot snapped by Al P in the visitors’ locker room at Invesco Field at Mile High. The shot, titled “Pregame Prep,” shows James Ihedigbo alone in front of a bathroom mirror, wearing uniform, headphones and game face, and applying eyeblack.

The honored image will be a part of our Al-Cove photo slideshow that we’ll post on newyorkjets.com later this week.

Ihedigbo (Knee, Ankle) Uncertain; Coles to Depart

Laveranues Coles’ return to the Jets was short, James Ihedigbo might be out for a while and Nick Folk isn’t going anywhere. That was the news Rex Ryan delivered today to the media as the Jets began to move forward following their 45-3 loss to the Patriots Monday night in Foxboro, Mass.

Coles, who was released this summer after attempting a Green & White comeback, officially signed a contract on Saturday and traveled with the team to New England. He was inactive for the Jets’ divisional clash and Ihedigbo’s health status means it’s only a matter of time before he’ll be released.

“We lost a Jet [S Jim Leonhard] and I wanted to bring a Jet in at that time,” said Ryan of the weekend addition of the 32-year-old Coles. “I would have liked to have had LC here. But now we’re going to have to let him go because of the fact our safety situation is the way it is. The uncertainty of Dig being out, we’ll probably have to bring a safety in.”

After losing Leonhard in Friday’s practice to a season-ending fractured tibia, the Jets’ safety numbers continued to diminish in Week 13 because the hard-hitting Ihedigbo injured both his MCL and ankle on a long Patriots pass play midway through the third quarter.

”Obviously you don’t feel real good about it, but I don’t know the extent [of the injury] right now,” said Ryan as Ihedigbo was to get an MRI to determine his condition.

The 6’1”, 214-pound Ihedigbo has racked up three sacks this season and he is one of Mike Westhoff’s most valuable performers. His 22 special-teams stops rank second on the club and he paced the Jets with 26 ST tackles in 2009.

Folk, who badly mis-hit a 53-yard field goal in the opening quarter against the Pats, will remain the Jets’ kicker heading into Week 14. Folk has now converted on 72 percent of his field goal attempts (23 of 32) this season but has hit on just seven of his past 13 overall.

“You always get the spot where you feel comfortable that he can make the kick. He never missed a kick in warmups,” said Ryan, who also called Folk “our guy.” Folk actually nailed a 58-yarder into that same end in pregame.

“Was that a long field goal? Absolutely. We did think we had the wind at our back. You know, he just mis-hit it. We’re obviously not going to attempt a kick we don’t think we’re going a make.”

The 9-3 Jets have a short week to get the Patriots loss behind them as they’re still very much in the race for a division title and they’re also on the inside track for a playoff berth.

“Everything we talked about is still attainable. We have a quarter of our season left. So we’re far from pressing the panic button,” said Ryan. “Did we play terrible? Absolutely. Was it the worst performance I’ve ever been around? Yup, sure was. You have to give the opponents credit. They went out and earned it. They did everything right — everything.”

The 6-6 Dolphins will be in town Sunday as the Jets look to sweep their division rivals and move to 4-1 in the AFCE.

“They’re coming in here with slim playoff chances. They’ve got to beat us,” Ryan said. “It’s as simple as that. Right now we’re three games up on them with a win over them. You guys know better than I do — I’m not good in playoff scenarios. But I know one thing: We’re going to get their best shot.”

The Jets are now 1-3 against teams with over-.500 records and they’re 8-0 against clubs either at .500, such as Miami, or below.

“As long as I’ve been in the league, they always say you win the games you’re supposed to win and you split with the really good teams. That generally will get you — it’s a formula  — to win 12 games. That’s always been a formula,” said Ryan.

The Jets still have a shot at 12 or even 13 wins, but they have to get to No. 10 first against the Dolphins.

Gusting Winds Could Impact Jets-Patriots

The hype is almost over. In a little less than an hour it’ll be time for the Jets and Patriots to play.

Gillette Stadium is starting to fill up. Plenty of ESPN people, beat reporters and columnists for the two teams and a number of national media got here early after traversing the traffic-choked Route 1 more slowly than usual. And now the gates have opened and the 68,756 fans (at least that’s been the announced number of tickets sold for each of the last seven Jets-Pats games up here) have begun arriving and preparing to give the Jets an earful.

That’s the kind of frenzy a pair of 9-2 teams in the same division can whip up around the NFL.

There could be a meteorological frenzy at Gillette tonight as well. The weather forecast from the kickoff of around 8:38 p.m. EST on could play havoc with quarterbacks, receivers, kickers and returners. Temps will be heading toward the mid-20s and the winds will rise to around 18 mph with gusts of 34 mph, according to Accuweather. The winds are already rippling the orange wind strips and shaking the yellow uprights on the goalposts at both end zones.

Who will that hurt more? The Jets’ connections of Mark Sanchez to Santonio Holmes and Braylon Edwards? Or accurate, pass-heavy Tom Brady throwing to Wes Welker, Danny Woodhead and rookie tight ends Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski. Will it do in Jets kickers Steve Weatherford and Nick Folk more, or Patriots footmen Zoltan Mesko and Shayne Graham?

It could be a night for some kick-blocking, especially when it comes to the Jets rushing Mesko, the Pats’ rookie punter. The Green & White almost rejected a Mesko kick in Game 2 at New Meadowlands Stadium, and their last two blocked-punt-return TDs have both come up here at Gillette: Brad Smith off of Eric Smith’s block of Chris Hanson last year, and David Bowens’ return of his own block, also of Hanson, in the sleet of ’07.

One Jets receiver who won’t be affected by the conditions is Laveranues Coles. Just signed Sunday to take the roster spot vacated with S Jim Leonhard’s move to IR, Coles will not start his third (or is it his fourth?) stint as a Jet. He has been deactivated for the game.

(Update, 8 p.m.: But Coles did make a contribution. Right before the Jets broke up into ranks and files for their pregame stretching, they gathered as a team as always in the end zone. And who should give them a pregame message but L.C. )

The rest of the Jets inactives: LB Jamaal Westerman, OL Vlad Ducasse, TEs Matt Mulligan and Jeff Cumberland, and D-linemen Marcus Dixon and Matt Kroul. Third QB again is Kellen Clemens.

The Jets also announced two starting lineup changes. One as expected is Eric Smith for Leonhard. The other is Holmes for Jerricho Cotchery, who’s active after sitting out two-plus games with the groin tear he suffered on that magnificent catch over the middle at Cleveland.

Also active for the first time in a few weeks are CB Dwight Lowery and CB-ST Marquice Cole.

Also at stake are a pair of streaks that both can’t coexist after tonight. The Jets have won their last eight regular-season road games – a franchise record – while the Patriots have won their last 25 RS home games with Tom Brady as their QB. The Pats’ last home loss with Brady at the controls came in that 17-14 verdict in Game 10 in 2006. That was played in the old muddy grass of Gillette. The next game the Patriots began their artificial-surface era at their home in the Massachusetts countryside.

Update, 7:46 p.m.: Here are the New England inactives: WR Taylor Price, RB Thomas Clayton, CB Jonathan Wilhite, OL Rich Ohrnberger, T Mark LeVoir, and D-linemen Myron Pryor, Eric Moore and Mike Wright. Clayton and Moore were just signed this week. The Pats have designated no third QB.

Uniformity

The Jets are wearing their white jerseys and white pants for tonight’s steel-cage match. They are 6-1 in double whites this year (only loss was the season opener to Baltimore) and, 12-3 in w/w under head coach Rex Ryan. But they’re 0-3 in their last three games here in white/white, losing last year, in ’07 and in ’03. Their last win here, in ’08, not only came against Matt Cassel at QB but also in white jerseys and green pants.

Referee

This will be Scott Green’s ninth Jets game as referee in the past eight years. The previous four years Green has had: the Jets’ 2006 home-opening loss to the Patriots; their biggest win of 2007, the 19-16 home victory over Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers; the Meadowlands rout of the Cardinals in ’08, and the Oh, Canada! verdict over the Bills in Toronto last year.

Wides Out: Coles, Henry, Allison Released

When the Jets signed Laveranues Coles, there were no guarantees. And on Sunday, just two days after their third preseason game, the Green & White released Coles and waived three others players: WRs Marcus Henry and Aundrae Allison and DE Rodrique Wright.

The 5’11”, 200-pound Coles caught four balls for 19 yards in summer action. Last week he told reporters he was hopeful of playing a lot in the preseason finale at Philadelphia on Thursday, but he said “the clock is ticking” on his playing career.

“It’s pretty much here. Unless somebody makes me an offer I can’t refuse, which I doubt will happen, this is it,” Coles said. “Once the buck stops here, I’m done. I started here and that’s what I’m thankful for. I’ll be here in some capacity in the future. It might not be playing ball here, but I will be around the building so that’s one of the positive things about it.”

Head coach Rex Ryan, on a conference call with reporters this afternoon, wasn’t ruling out a return by Coles in the weeks ahead once the season starts.

“That’s definitely a possibility,” Ryan said. “Laveranues did an outstanding job for us. He’s a leader. I know he knows the system, he’s tougher than nails, a great teammate. I think that’s a real possibility.”

A third-round pick of the Jets back in 2000, he ranks fourth in franchise annals in receptions (459), fifth in receiving yards (5,941) and tied for fifth in touchdown catches (37). Last season, LC played with the Cincinnati Bengals and finished with 43 receptions for 514 yards and five TDs.

Henry, a sixth-round pick of the Jets out of Kansas in 2008, didn’t catch a ball this preseason after spending time on the practice squad in ’09. Allison, who possesses very good speed, had three receptions vs. the Giants to open the preseason but didn’t post any stats the past two games. He played 26 games and had 18 receptions for the Vikings in 2007-08, and his 104-yard kickoff return vs. Detroit on Dec. 2, 2007, established the mark for longest play in team history.

After DE Ropati Pitoitua went down with an Achilles’ injury against Carolina, “Hard Knocks” cameras got footage of Ryan asking Wright if he wanted to make the team. Wright may not now have that chance. He signed with New York’s AFC representative in March after starting nine games for the Dolphins in 2007, recording 37 tackles, 1.5 sacks and one fumble recovery.

The Jets roster now stands at 75 players, complying with the NFL’s Tuesday roster deadline. In the two o’clock hour, Coach Ryan will address the media on a conference call. We’ll have more details on that call later this afternoon.

Victory Tour Bus Hasn’t Stopped Yet for Coles

It’s been a this-is-your-life week in a victory-lap season for Laveranues Coles.

On Wednesday night there was the Jets’ practice return to Hofstra, a place that Coles called his professional home from 2000-02 and again from ’05 until the Jets moved to the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center on Sept. 1, 2008.

“I may shed a tear, hug a few people I haven’t seen in a while,” Coles said before the trip to Long Island. “I definitely don’t miss the locker room but it is what it is.”

Another touchstone for the now 11th-year wideout has been “Hard Knocks.” He’s the only Jet who’s been involved in the last two NFL Films/HBO summer series.

“Those cameras have been around for a while so you kind of forget they’re there,” LC said. “And being in New York, there’s cameras everywhere anyway. It’s different in Cincinnati, where the only camera you might find is one of your teammates’ camera phones.”

And capping off this short week is Friday night’s third preseason game and second Jets game ever at New Meadowlands Stadium against Coles’ team in 2003-04, the Washington Redskins.

“I’m very thankful to Daniel Snyder for building my home down in Jacksonville for me,” Coles said with easy laugh. The Redskins owner, he said, “gave me an opportunity when other people wouldn’t. I went in and gave him 110 percent of everything I had. I’ve always been that way everywhere I went. But that’s where it stops. It’s one of those things where I appreciate the opportunity. But that’s not home. This is where it all started for me. I’m back here. These are the people that gave me a chance again. I’m thankful for that.”

Who would’ve thought, having seen the young, brooding Laveranues Coles in that cramped Weeb Ewbank Hall locker room as the team’s third-round draft pick in 2000, that he’d turn into a nostalgic old pro a decade later? Even he makes fun of his stern visage back in the day: “That’s another Laveranues. Who would do such a thing? I don’t even like people like that.”

He’s evolved personally even as he’s evolved professionally. The young LC would have been upset with what he describes today as his potential “break glass in case of emergency” role. He’s worked with the second and third offenses, so much so that he says of Mark Sanchez, “I don’t even get a chance to get in the huddle with the guy. I couldn’t even tell you if he smelled like Ben-Gay.” He knows he may not get much visibility against the Redskins as the starters work on into the third quarter. He knows not what the future may hold on final-cut day or after Game 4, when Santonio Holmes returns.

And he’s OK with that.

“I feel good about what I’m doing. I’m in an offense that I’ve known. Now it’s just about me getting an opportunity to go out and play and show what I can do,” Coles said. “Whether it happens or not, I don’t know, but just the fact that they gave me a chance to come in and be a part of this team is something I’m thankful for. So I’m not complaining, I’m not upset, I’m not any of those things. If the opportunity arises, I’ll grab it and take off with it. But if it doesn’t, I know the circumstances I came in here under and I’ll deal with it.”

Coles — who admitted that before returning to the Jets in May he “clicked on Randy’s Radar whenever I got a chance” — has a few under-the-radar things he can pass on to Sanchez no matter how much he gets to play with the starting QB this season, one of them being pointers on dealing with the increasing talent at wideout.

“A little bit of advice on how to approach us without ruffling feathers, just going to the guys and letting us know what you want, ways of doing it without feeling like you’re badgering the guys,” he said. “Just giving him a little bit of knowledge before they usher me to the door on how to deal with the guys, take care of the guys.”

Coles says he feels great, both physically and mentally, especially after a few of his Jets teammates told him “You look like you’ve still got it.” He says there’s still “gas in the tank,” which he hints could become apparent in the preseason finale a week from tonight at Philadelphia, when the ones will rest most if not all of the game.

But then when the needle’s on E, “Whenever this bus stops, I’m excited because I got to be a part of this,” he said of the Jets’ promising prospects for the coming season. “That’s what’s great about it. They’ve got a great head coach, a great personality, front office and management, people who helped me out, molded me into the personality I am today. And that’s what I’m thankful for.”

Rex Ryan and his coaching staff will decide if, when and for how long the Laveranues Victory Tour Bus runs this season. But remembering the receiver and blocker, playmaker and warrior LC’s been over the years, it’s hard not to wish this homebody a fantastic finish to his playing career.

Jets Seek Reversal of Carolina Fortunes Tonight

The Jets are warming up at Bank of America Stadium about an hour before the start of tonight’s preseason game against the Panthers. And it would be a welcome turn in franchise history if the Green & White starters (about one quarter) and the twos and threes (about the last three quarters) can put together a complete game in Charlotte, N.C.

They’ve been hard to come by the few times the Jets visited here previously.

Remember the 2005 regular-season game at this stadium? Brooks Bollinger, pressed into duty due to multiple starting QB injuries, threw four second-half interceptions as the Panthers pulled away for a 30-3 victory.

Four years earlier, these teams played a game that so ugly that it got a nickname: “The Shrek Game.” The reason it wasn’t as ugly for the Jets as for the Panthers is that the Jets won it, 13-12, on John Hall’s field goal with 4:53 to play (at the same venue as tonight, although the name then was Ericsson Stadium).

Reporters sniffed about how ugly the victory was, but then-coach Herm Edwards, not one to pass up a great cultural tie-in, employed Shrek, the green, animated ogre who made his movie debut a short while before, to let his players and fans know that every win is beautiful.

We won’t even venture too far back to 1995, when the teams met for the first time (at Clemson Memorial Stadium, just over the NC/SC border) and Bubby Brister committed “the Shovel Pass” that Sam Mills took 36 yards for the INT-return TD that helped the Panthers to the first win in franchise history, 26-15.

And since the teams have never played a preseason game at Carolina, this is certainly a chance for the Green & White to make a small break with the past and send out the message, to their fans and their “Hard Knocks” audience among many, that the entire team is settling into “Play Like a Jet” mode.

As mentioned, the starters, after playing the first half vs. the Giants, have been ticketed for roughly one quarter of work tonight.

“Yes, I think that’s it, no more,” said head coach Rex Ryan on Thursday, his last news conference at training camp on the SUNY Cortland campus. ‘That’s the deal, that’s how we’re going into this game, so it’s really flipped, how you would play the game.”

So Mark Sanchez may get to work on some of the checkdown passes that were the talk of the past week or so, and Matt Slauson and Vlad Ducasse will continue their LG battle. On defense, NT Kris Jenkins, back in the town he called home for his first seven NFL seasons, will take the next step on his road back from his season-ending knee injury of a year ago, and first-rounder Kyle Wilson is expected to get the CB start as Darrelle Revis’ holdout continues.

But the starters will leave early on and Rex and the Jets will then take a look at their backups, such as QB Mark Brunell perhaps throwing to old/new Jets WR Laveranues Coles, a large cast of ILBs (Kenwin Cummings, Lance Laury and newcomer Boris Lee should play, but no word yet on the health status of Josh Mauga and Brashton Satele), and a secondary that could be tested by the Panthers WR corps, which should include some routes being run by former Jet Wallace Wright.

The weather in Charlotte is expected to be in the low 80s under mostly cloudy skies for this game. Because the Panthers are in their white uniforms with blue trim, the Jets will be wearing their green jerseys and white pants.

Tonight’s referee is Clete Blakeman. If you’re not familiar with that name, that’s because Clete is a new referee this season and thus is working his first Jets game.

Kickoff is about an hour away now. Eric Allen and Nick Gallo will be manning the CoveritLive chat on newyorkjets.com for all who want to check it out, while I will be doing my ingame tweeting, along with Jets radio voice Bob Wischusen, with our tweets appearing on both twitter.com/nyjets and the live chat. I’ll have a game story available on our site as soon as possible after the end of the game.

Then EA, Nick and I will do followups through Sunday leading into next week’s final training camp practices — open sessions Monday and Tuesday at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center in Florham Park, N.J., and Wednesday evening at Hofstra Stadium in Hempstead, N.Y. The busy preseason continues.

Cole Makes Plays Big and Small This Morning

It was a big training camp morning for Marquice Cole. The second-year corner turned in his crowd-pleaser on the last play of the practice, a leaping interception of Mark Brunell, trying to get the ball deep to Laveranues Coles.

“It was fourth-and-forever, fourth-and-30 or something,” Cole said of the two-minute drill. “I just got deep because I knew they had to get a big chunk of yards on one play. So I sunk all the way back at the snap. The quarterback didn’t want to throw it too short so he just threw it up. LC got up on me kind of fast, so instead of trying to knock it down and maybe something happens, I fall, he tries to catch it, I just tried to make a play.”

Just as Cole was wrapping up the description of his first pick of camp, Mark Sanchez came by with a question for the man they call “Queese.”

“Did you get a hand on that throw to Braylon?” Sanchez asked.

“Yeah.”

“You did?”

“Yeah,” Cole insisted and showed the QB his bent-back thumbnail, blood already starting to accumulate below the surface.

That was Cole’s player-pleaser for the day.

“That happened on the pass Mark threw to Braylon, the one that Jim [Leonhard] picked off in the two-minute,” he said. “I got my hand on it, I just popped it up and Jim picked it up.”

Much pain with the thumbnail?

“That’s cool. I’m just going to cut the nail straight off.”

And keep making plays as Cole fights to hold onto his defensive and special teams roles on the 2010 Jets.

A.M. Practice Highlights

Besides Cole, reporter Nick Gallo has these highlights from the morning session:

■ The Jets were hitting hard, starting in a kickoff coverage drill right off the bat. As Brad Smith returned a kickoff, James Ihedigbo slammed into linebacker Kenwin Cummings, who absorbed the contact and then drove Ihedigbo all the way out of bounds. It was a massive collision that jumpstarted the day. Later on, Jim Leonhard forced John Conner to fumble and then Danny Woodhead put the ball on the grass after Eric Smith crashed into a big pileup at the line of scrimmage.

■ Dwight Lowery didn’t have a great morning, which Rex Ryan said was an anomaly, but he also talked about his headlines of the day before, when Ryan revealed he had suggested to DBs coach Dennis Thurman that rookie Kyle Wilson should be the starting cornerback right now.

Lowery feels more comfortable playing one of the inside positions and added, “I think the more he can get out there and be exposed, the better his progression is going to be. I did this as a rookie, too. I started as a rookie and I think it had a big impact on the things that I can do now, understanding defenses and understanding what the offense is trying to do.”

■ Vernon Gholston continued his impressive play. On one snap he teamed up with LB Joshua Mauga to stuff a running play in the backfield. Also, as Ryan noted in his news conference, Gholston beat D’Brickashaw Ferguson twice. Ryan said no other defender, not even 11-year veteran Jason Taylor has been able to beat Ferguson once this camp.

■ Immediately before Cole’s fourth-down interception of Mark Brunell, the second-team defense showed their strength by “sacking” Brunell on three straight plays to start the second offense’s two-minute drill. On consecutive plays, Ropati Pitoitua, Ihedigbo and Jamaal Westerman each got loose in the backfield to make the play.

P.M. Practice Notes

S Eric Smith had an interception against Mark Sanchez in 7-on-7 work. … DE Vernon Gholston picked up his third sack of the day, this one against the second O-line. … Injuries: LB Jason Taylor (groin) and FB Tony Richardson (unspecified) weren’t participating fully in team drills. Jeff Cumberland (head) to practice but was wearing the hands-off red vest. Brashton Satele (ankle) was working on the sideline. Marlon Davis (knee) is still out.

Ring of Honor Lineup

In recognition of the six players being inducted into the Jets’ new Ring of Honor on Monday night at New Meadowlands Stadium, we’ll be presenting features on each player this week from this afternoon through Sunday. Here’s the scheduled lineup:

Today — Don Maynard

Wednesday — Weeb Ewbank

Thursday — Winston Hill

Friday — Joe Klecko

Saturday — Curtis Martiin

Sunday — Joe Namath

Jets Take Madden 11 Out for a Test Drive

Hours before Santonio Holmes made his practice debut at the Jets’ 2010 training camp, No. 10 scored his first touchdown in green and white.

Sandy Sandoval, who serves as EA Sports’ director of athlete relations, brought Madden 11 to Cortland, N.Y., today and a game of Jets vs. Jets ensued. LaDainian Tomlinson first popped into the players’ lounge, dropped comfortably into a recliner, and soon was followed into the lounge by Laveranues Coles. The fourth all-time reception leader in Jets history, Coles told Tomlinson he had never played the game before.

Despite that inexperience, it appeared Coles’ Jets “D” was going to stop Tomlinson’s Jets “O.” But Tomlinson opted not to attempt a long field goal, converted a fourth-and-10 play and eventually cashed in.

Moments later, another money player — Holmes — walked in and directed Coles’ offense. Holmes, the Super Bowl XLIII MVP who is coming off career highs of 79 receptions and 1,248 yards, went to a guy he could trust to get an equalizer. So before you know it, QB Mark Sanchez (the video version) was throwing to Santonio Holmes for a nice gain. Impressed with that first catch, the real life Santonio displayed different versions of the replay for Coles, Tomlinson, FB Tony Richardson and even OLB Jason Taylor.

The 5’11”, 192-pound Holmes jumped out of his seat when he scored afer a Sanchez pass.

“Let’s go Holmes, let’s go Holmes,” he said while pointing to his back where the letters would be if he was wearing a jersey.

Not happy with his over-the-top help on the play, Tomlinson wondered what happened to the video version of the Jets’ defensive quarterback.

“Come on, Jim Leonhard,” he said.

It was a fun lunch hour for a few of the Jets and EA Sports looks like it has another winner on its hands. After Holmes’ TD, he said something that should excite Jets Nation:

“I’m going to make it look that easy this year when I get to the season.”

Cotchery’s Takes on LT, LC, March Madness

A well-liked figure in San Diego, LaDainian Tomlinson has already found a locker room ally in veteran Jets WR Jerricho Cotchery.

“I think he’s going to be a great addition to the team,” J-Co told newyorkjets.com in a recent on-camera interview that will be featured this week. “Obviously he’s done well for a long period of time and the experience he has as far as making it to the playoffs — he’s been to an AFC Championship Game as well as us. We’re just trying to take that next step and I think we’re doing a very good job of being proactive in taking that next step.”

Cotchery thinks the Jets scored with the addition of Tomlinson, a future Hall of Famer who is the only player in NFL history to rush for 10 or more touchdowns in each of his first nine NFL season.

“I was very happy about it. He’s done well for a long time,” said Cotchery. “We were able to get him and to get him working with our offensive line. I think he’ll be able to do a great job.”

Even though they never lined up together, both Cotchery and Tomlinson played on teams led by QB Philip Rivers. Cotchery and Rivers were a prolific pair at N.C. State and Tomlinson took plenty of handoffs and caught hundreds of balls from P. Rivers in San Diego.

“As soon as I met LT, the first thing he said was, ‘I feel like I already know you because Phil has talked about you so much,’ " said Cotchery. "And I felt the same way about him because Phil talks a lot about him as well. We kind of know each other."

Before the NFL’s eighth all-time leading rusher chose the Jets, Tomlinson spoke to Cotchery about the environment fostered by head coach Rex Ryan.

“He just had a few questions about the entire atmosphere and things of that nature. I just wanted to be up front with him and honest that we have a great atmosphere around here and he will enjoy being in the locker room with these guys,” Cotchery said. “I think he felt comfortable with that at the end of the day and made his decision.”

Tomlinson’s familiarity with the Jets’ offense surely played a role in his decision. Green & White offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer was the Bolts’ QB coach from 2002-05 and he knows what LT is capable of doing not only as a runner but as a receiver.

“I don’t think that gets mentioned enough. He’s had a lot of receptions and a lot of yards as a receiver out of the backfield throughout his career,” said Cotchery of the Jets’ new back who has 530 career receptions and 3,955 yards receiving. “He’s done it very well, so I think he’s excited about that part of it, being able to showcase that and bringing that to a lot of people’s attention. No one’s really been talking about it.”

Despite being a “Final Four” club, the Jets have stayed in the news this offseason with a number of moves. General manager Mike Tannenbaum continues to look under ever rock and recently indicated he had exchanged texts with Laveranues Coles.

“He’s going to lay it out there on the line every Sunday, he’s going to work hard every day and he’s going to battle for his teammates,” Cotchery said of LC. “You know that you’re going to get that from him and he’s going to make plays as well, so he’s a great player and I learned a lot from him throughout the course of my career.”

It certainly would be interesting if the Jets brought Coles back for a third term and he was reunited with some of his former teammates.

“It wouldn’t surprise me at all,” Cotchery said. “I think he’s a Jet for life. When his career ends, you’ll always remember him as a Jet.”

The Cotchery Foundation has kept J-Co busy as he’s heading up a mentoring program for seventh- and eighth-graders at the Pride Academy Charter School in East Orange, N.J.

“They’re listening and that’s a great thing. I’m just trying to relay the message I need to help them out, to let them know that every step of the way there’s going to be a challenge in life and you have to persevere and work through those things,” said Jerricho, who runs the Cotchery Foundation with his wife, Mercedes. “Don’t let it get you off your goal — just stay focused the entire way and you’ll be able to reach them.”

An avid college hoops fan, J-Co has also completed his NCAA bracket and is challenging fans to compete against him in a contest on the Jets’ Facebook page.

“I think [John] Calipari’s going to get his first championship and that will be good for him, but one of my surprise teams I have going into the Final Four is Baylor,” he said. “I think they are a very talented team and I think they’ll be able to get the job done. They’ll end up meeting Kentucky and that’s the team that’s going to stop them along the way.”

Just like Calipari, Cotchery and Tomlinson are searching for their first title. The Jets got awfully close to a championship game appearance last year and LT might help them take that next step.

“This is another step in the process and this was a big step for us. Obviously you have to have a lot of guys on the team with that mindset of wanting to win the Super Bowl and he’s one of those guys and he’s dead-set on that and we have a lot of guys in the locker room dead-set on that,” Cotchery said. “We’re going to take that approach in the offseason and make sure every day is focused on making it to that goal.”