No fisticuffs at this afternoon's special teams practice, just a lot of focus on special situations that could arise during the season.
But first, two transactions.
The Jets announced they have acquired tight end Kevin Brock on waivers from Carolina, and consequently the team has released TE Richard Owens.
Brock, another Rutgers and New Jersey product — he played with LBs Jamaal Westerman and Brandon Renkart at RU and his hometown is Hackensack-ack-ack-ack-ack — was signed by the Panthers after the 2009 draft. They waived him Sunday and he was awarded to the Jets today.
Brock was listed in predraft reports as 6'5" and 250 and with a 40 time of 4.80. In his junior and senior seasons for the Scarlet Knights, he had 49 receptions for 541 yards (11.0 average) and four TDs.
Owens was signed as a free agent July 14. He had NFL game experience with Minnesota and St. Louis, but his time with the Jets ended with an unspecified injury that had him riding the stationary bike today.
Jets head coach Rex Ryan was asked about Owens at the end of today's news conference. He replied:
"You know, we'll see. I don't know what to tell you. It's unfortunate. You want to see the guy out there a little bit, so we'll see how he progresses."
Tonight he's progressing away from Cortland.
Afternoon Practice Notes
Coaches Mike Westhoff, Kevin O'Dea and Ben Kotwica had their half-squad of teamers working on such things as onside kicks, out-of-bounds kickoffs and free kicks after safeties.
Leon Washington was, of course, a central part of this practice. Early on, the coaches reviewed for the group Leon's brilliant foot-out-of-bounds kickoff maneuver from last season.
For those who want a blast from the past, it was the third quarter of the Jets' Week 9 battle at Buffalo. The Bills' Rian Lindell had just trimmed the Jets' lead to 16-10 with a field goal, then kicked off away from Washington. The ball bounced along the Jets' right sideline but wasn't going out of bounds.
However, Washington planted his right foot out of bounds and grabbed the ball. By rule, that's an OOB kick. Instead of the Jets getting the ball inside their 20, they started at their 40 and moved to a 23-10 lead on Thomas Jones' 7-yard TD run.
A big little play, indeed, in the Green & White's 26-17 road triumph.
The punters continued their duel, with T.J. Conley launching a 60-yarder and Reggie Hodges continuing to look good with a rescue of a high snap followed by a nice punt. Both had some short safety free kicks, but it's possible these were Westhoff "teachable moments" for the returners rather than bad kicks.
The attendance for the morning practice came in at 1,100 and for the afternoon it was 738. Tuesday's practice starts are set for 8:20 a.m. and 3:55 p.m., and Ryan called for fans to check out the early session, which is expected to be conducted on Cortland's newly sodded grass field and to feature full-pads, live-contact goal-line/short-yardage drills.
