Big Day for Sanchez-to-Wright Connection

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Big Day for Sanchez-to-Wright Connection

Published: Tue, August 4, 2009 - 7:47pm ET
Randy Lange

By Randy Lange

Lange is editor-in-chief of newyorkjets.com. He covered the Jets for 13 years for The Record of Hackensack, N.J.


File Under: Chansi Stuckey, Kellen Clemens, Eric Smith, Wallace Wright, Calvin Pace, Marquice Cole, Mark Sanchez

08/04 — Today’s afternoon practice, as in the morning, was full-squad and it was on the SUNY Cortland grass field. It was a shortie — about an hour and 15 minutes — and it again featured the quarterbacks. Kellen Clemens looked sharp early. Mark Sanchez (with a little help from his friend, Wallace Wright) made some nice throws late.

Clemens had two long balls in particular to note in 11-on-11 drills. His first one was to Chansi Stuckey, a perfect strike down the middle past CB Donald Strickland for a 35-yard gainer.

“The fans and the writers keep talking about the Jets finding a No. 2 receiver and they don’t even know what they have here,” said a knowledgeable observer about Stuckey. “He never drops anything.”

Then Clemens found Brad Smith a few times. The first pass went for 25 yards, the second was a shorter completion in front of CB Darrelle Revis.

Then came Sanchez. The rookie signalcaller, who declared after the morning session, “Wallace Wright — still my guy,” could have said it again after this practice.

The first strike came on a quick throw over the middle that Wright, the third-year man from North Carolina, snatched and then headed north for the end zone.

To end the practice, No. 6 hit No. 15 twice on out-routes. The second one was particularly pretty. Sanchez took off on a rollout right out of the USC playbook, waited for Wright to clear, and rifled the ball to him just past the outstretched hands of S Eric Smith. Wright caught it and got his feet in for the “first down.”

A few defensive plays of note: OLB Calvin Pace, on the inside rush, batted down a Clemens throw in team drills. And CB Marquice Cole was all over a 7-on-7 pass that Erik Ainge was trying to get to Marcus Henry, snatching the ball away from the first-year wideout from Kansas.

The afternoon attendance was 1,194, giving the Jets a Cortland-best one-day total of 2,256.

Wednesday’s schedule calls for an 8:20 a.m. start in the morning and a 4:15 p.m. special-teams-only practice in the afternoon.

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taylor corn Said:

Thu, August 6, 2009 - 1:00pm ET

"mark sanchez should be the starter with out a doubt because over the past years every time our starting qb got injured kellen clemons came in and messed the whole game up. i will be very upset if clemons starts this season"

Offensive Comment?

Jets Fan Since '64 Tom Said:

Thu, August 6, 2009 - 11:10pm ET

"I can't speak for Russ, Ray, but I meant there's often no real #1 and #2 in terms of overall impact on the game, at least on a team with more than one good WR. Sure, somebody's gotta cover somebody else but I think it's a bit of a stretch, for example, to say that Coles was the #1 and Cotchery the #2 last year. Heck, on some plays Stuckey and Keller looked as good or better as either of them!"

Offensive Comment?

Ray Said:

Sat, August 8, 2009 - 2:25am ET

"'64 Tom, understood. But still much of the time, the #2 receiver has great numbers because the #1 is getting the #1 DB and is many times getting double covered. We're going to find out this year if Cotchery is #1."

Offensive Comment?