After seven training camp practices, the Jets are ready for something different and they'll get it Saturday night at SUNY Cortland. A large crowd is expected here in Central New York as the annual Green & White Scrimmage will kickoff at 6:00 p.m.
"It's kind of like the Training Camp Super Bowl I want to call it," said NT Damon "Snacks" Harrison after Friday's practice. "Just get a chance to get out there and hit somebody. I'm all for hitting people."
During Friday's practice, the Jets worked on goal line drills for the first time in camp. But there is expected to be long stretches of live action in the scrimmage.
"We actually get to take guys to the ground — we were able to do that today," said S Dawan Landry. "But tomorrow it will be all live bullets just to see where we're at. As a defense, just go out there and try to inflict our will on those guys. I know those guys are ready too. It's going to be fun."
While there are position battles at many spots, veteran Mark Sanchez and rookie Geno Smith will step into the evening spotlight. The Jets won't open preseason play until next Friday night in Detroit against the Lions and the QB race is a tight one after a week of camp.
"Each camp is its own entity really, and I think this year we are on pace for something special — hopefully as a group," Sanchez told reporters. "This next measuring stick really is the scrimmage. So the Green & White game is always fun, it's always competitive and we'll get ramped up here."
Smith, who will appear in his first scrimmage with the club, said the level of competition will be raised.
"Every single guy wants to go out there and perform well in the scrimmage," he told members of the media this afternoon. "You want to be that guy when you go back and watch tape and the coaches are praising you and saying, 'Hey, this is the type of guy we need here and this is the type of guy who has given a maximum amount of effort, always doing the right things.' And every single guy's going to have that in the back of their minds."
Landry has assumed the quarterback role in the defensive backfield. New to the Jets, the 6'1", 212-pound Landry started his career with Rex Ryan and Dennis Thurman in Baltimore. He is familiar with the system and is helping mentor a trio of young safeties in Josh Bush, Antonio Allen and Jaiquawn Jarrett.
"It's been coming together real well," Landry said. "A lot of guys in the back end, the safeties we have to make a lot of calls. Just communicating to make sure everybody is on the same page and is just going out there and playing. Anticipating about tomorrow, just seeing where we're at, making sure we can make all the calls and just go out there read and react and play fast."
