7 observations from Day 6 of Jets camp, as some actual tackling occurs – NJ.com

FLORHAM PARK — The Jets are now officially one week into training camp. Last Wednesday, they reported to camp. This Wednesday, they held their sixth practice, and fourth in full pads. 

There’s a long way to go before the Jets’ determine their final 53-man roster — here’s our first, best guess at it anyway — so as we’ve said all along, be careful about drawing sweeping conclusions from our observations of practice. 

PLUS: Darrelle Revis says he’ll display his Super Bowl ring when he wins one with Jets

Wednesday was summer camp day at Jets training camp (insert your favorite “Wet Hot American Summer” quote here), so there were a lot of kids yelling for Jets stars Brandon Marshall, Darrelle Revis, and Eric Decker. 

Kudos, by the way, to the young man who correctly identified reserve safety Rontez Miles, despite no name on the back of his jersey, and then shouted Miles’ full name. 

Here are seven other things we noticed Wednesday: 

1. Revis the teacher. During a special teams period at the beginning of practice, Revis took a few minutes to show weak-side linebacker Demario Davis a coverage technique on the sideline. Revis appeared to be demonstrating proper footwork and hand placement. Davis watched intently. Davis mentioned the other day that he wants to get some coverage tips from Revis. Coverage is one area of Davis’ game he needs to improve, as he enters a contract year. Later in practice, during a red-zone team period, Davis stuck with Jeff Cumberland in coverage, on a throw to the end zone, though it was unclear if Davis was playing the same technique Revis showed him. 

2. Finally a pick. Geno Smith committed his first turnover of camp Tuesday — a fumble. Ryan Fitzpatrick had his first Wednesday — an interception by linebacker Jamari Lattimore. Fitzpatrick and Smith have both come close to throwing a couple more picks each. Smith has looked mostly fine in camp, and all signs still point to him starting in Week 1. By the way, when we refer to these interceptions, we only count them if they happen in 11-on-11 or 7-on-7 periods — not 1-on-1 drills for which the quarterback has to throw the ball, regardless of how tight coverage is. 

3. Tackling. It happened Wednesday for the first time in training camp, as coach Todd Bowles decided to go with a couple live-action team periods. He even pitted the starting offense against the starting defense in a goal-line period. Real football, at long last. Smith led the offense for the first three goal-line plays. The offense scored on all three — a Chris Ivory run up the middle, an Ivory run to the right and around the edge, and a Bilal Powell scamper to the left edge. The offense scored again on the next play, with Fitzpatrick in, on a Powell run up the middle. Then Fitzpatrick couldn’t hit Tommy Bohanon on a pass, with Erin Henderson covering. It was nice to see some full-speed football action again, even for a bit. 

4. Bryce Petty. Some of you have asked how the Jets’ fourth-round pick is playing. He had a bad Tuesday, when he threw two interceptions, but he looked better Wednesday. Remember, folks, he is a quarterback project and the Jets have no intentions of playing him this season. He has looked very much like a project in camp. Petty played in a simplified, up-tempo spread system at Baylor. On Tuesday, Bowles had this to say about Petty’s challenges as an NFL rookie: “It’s a different system, different reads. You don’t see the coverages and those type of things that you do in college. He just has to get comfortable with the system and understand the way things work.”

5. The drops. Cumberland had one in a quarterback-tight end drill against no defense. Saalim Hakim and Walter Powell each had one in a quarterback-receiver drill, also against air. Cumberland is going to make the roster, but Hakim and Powell might not if they keep playing like this. Cumberland later bobbled a pass in 7-on-7 action, but was able to secure the ball. 

6. The defensive pressure. During a team period, rookie outside linebacker Lorenzo Mauldin got into the backfield and found himself face-to-face with Smith. In a live tackling period, Leonard Williams got into the backfield, to help bring down Bilal Powell. Sheldon Richardson, during this period, also found his way into the backfield on consecutive running plays. Good penetration by Richardson. 

7. Right guard. Nothing new here. Bowles said the competition is “all even” in terms of how he views the guys (Willie Colon, Brian Winters, Brent Qvale, and Oday Aboushi) at this point. Here’s what else Bowles had to say about the right guard competition: “They all know their assignments. That’s for sure. Going forward, we’ve had a few problems here and there with blitz pick-up with every one of them, but all of them are doing a good job right now. It’s going to be a tough spot to decide.” 

Darryl Slater may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @DarrylSlater. Find NJ.com Jets on Facebook.

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