Brad, Nooge Are Early Evening Stars

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Brad, Nooge Are Early Evening Stars

Published: Mon, August 13, 2007 - 8:46pm EDT
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: Chad Pennington, Brad Smith, Marques Tuiasosopo, Mike Nugent, Kellen Clemens

08/13 — The night belonged to Brad Smith and Mike Nugent.

Smith was catching everything in sight during Monday's late afternoon/early evening training camp practice, no more so than during red zone drills with three different quarterbacks.

On first-and-goal situations, first Smith gathered in a Chad Pennington pass over S Kerry Rhodes. Then he scored on a throw from Kellen Clemens over CB Rayshaun Kizer. Finally, No. 16 grabbed Marques Tuiasosopo's pass over the middle, shrugged off pass interference by CB Manny Collins, and got across the goal line.

It was Chad-to-Brad earlier in the practice as well as Smith sneaked inside the pylon for the TD in 7-on-7 work.

Here's how Nugent kicked his way into the highlight video. The end of practice was devoted to more than just two-minute drills. The offense had the ball at its 40 with no timeouts, 35 seconds on the clock and a 28-27 deficit. Kellen Clemens, who had been finding Wallace Wright on several big plays in this practice, hit him among three defenders with 18 seconds to go at the defense's 37.

But the offense was called for delay of game, and with no TOs left, there was a 5-yard penalty and a 10-second runoff to 8 seconds. Then Clemens threw an incompletion, leaving Nugent facing a 60-yard field goal try for the "win" — toward those infernal Arena League posts.

But Nooge thumped the ball good out of Ben Graham's hold, and as the clock hit 0:00, the kick climbed over the crossbar. Game Over! The White Team Wins! Theeee White! Team! Wins!

Sorry, I just channeled John Sterling there.

Other highlights included Pennington's beautiful play action to Jerricho Cotchery, David Barrett's end zone interception of Pennington, and Jonathan Vilma's end zone PD of a ball intended for TE Chris Baker.

Also, during team drills, when guard Brandon Moore false-started, he started to run his lap. And DE Shaun Ellis waved bye-bye to him. And newly signed OL Stanley Daniels got into a brief scuffle with DT Zarnell Fitch.

Among the celebrities on the far sideline: Jets owner Woody Johnson, Super Bowl III guard Dave Herman and R.C. Buford, the senior vice president and GM of the NBA-champion San Antonio Spurs.

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troy Said:

Tue, August 14, 2007 - 3:35pm EDT

"agree with Ira, Washington has proven his worth no need to risk injury to him with a bulk of the preseason carries and sp teams work. Let those other 3 banks,ware,hollings earn thier spot on this roster. Ive been saying all year that they need to keep Kendall he knows the O,and can play multi postions"

Offensive Comment?

Tgunn Said:

Wed, August 15, 2007 - 10:01am EDT

"Chad's has to throw the ball next preseason game & at least 1 Qtr played. We really don't need him out there for the third game against the Giants . We all know what happened when we had a team this good going into the season! "

Offensive Comment?

Kit Said:

Thu, August 16, 2007 - 2:12pm EDT

"After watching Brad play all through college, I am so excited to watch him develop and use his talents well. I hope he does great things for the Jets."

Offensive Comment?