06/01 — The two-minute portion of practice kicked in after noon, and the defense got back at the offense after the O did some earlier damage in the passing game.

At the beginning of the two-minute period, my newyorkjets.com compadre, Eric Allen, observed Chad Pennington delivering a perfect 12-yard timing pass to TE Chris Baker, the kind of ball that gets completed against even perfect coverage, and was completed this time as well.

But the next play Pennington tried to lead Baker on an in-cut. The pass was too far in front of C-Bake's outstretched right hand — but not too far for safety Kerry Rhodes, lying in wait to snap up the interception.

The second-team defense also enjoyed two-minute success vs. the second offense and QB Kellen Clemens. Receivers were being blanketed, leading Clemens to look for his second and third WRs and ultimately throwing several balls away.

Top draft pick Darrelle Revis is spending time in the slot in the nickel and dime packages, with Andre Dyson and David Barrett working the corners.

After practice, reporters were less focused on the big names and broke into smaller groups to chat up the likes of DE Andre Wadsworth, FB Darian Barnes and WR Justin McCareins.

McCareins has been having a strong OTA stretch, both on the field during the last two days of media availability and in the media room when head coach Eric Mangini has been talking him up.

Whatever fans may have thought of Justin, from the start of last summer's training camp through an up-and-down season as a third WR, I've always known him to be earnest and conscientious. And he still possesses a big-play dimension that could be tapped this season, since the trade rumors have died away (although the Tennessean newspaper repeated today that the Titans would have interest in McCareins).

"I'm preparing like I'm going to be on the team," he said after practice. "And I'm practicing like nothing's guaranteed."

A note on Barnes. He's not only starting at FB but soon will become a comic-book mogul. We told the story of his "National Triumph League" concept on May 3. Today Barnes said he's got a publisher in Big City Comics and he expects the comic book to launch in September.