09/25 — A question about Leon Washington at today's news conference brought some new anecdotes and observations about No. 29 from head coach Eric Mangini at his morning news conference today.

"I could talk all day about Leon," Mangini said, reflecting again on how far Washington has come from his first days as a fourth-round rookie out of the 2006 draft to now.

"The fact that he was voted special teams captain says a lot — he's the youngest guy to be voted captain this year. On kickoff returns yesterday, every single return he runs back 95 yards, 80 yards, from wherever he caught the kick. And I'm not talking about a slight job at the end — he's haulin'. That's what you want. He runs every return in practice like he runs it in a game.

"He's presented information to the team before," the coach said, referring to the process where a player in a position meeting will be asked to report on a phase of the upcoming opponents' attack. "Mike [Westhoff] will say to a player, 'Present their punt team.' When Leon does it, it's not only the things related to him. He can talk about the flyers, protection, all the blocks.

"You know when he's going home, he's not watching 'American Idol.' He's studying the tape, and that shows up every single day."

Significantly, after Washington was able to cut loose for the first time this season at San Diego, he has moved up the charts to third in the NFL among qualifying kickoff returners with a 33.1-yard average, behind only New England's Ellis Hobbs (36.0) and Dallas rookie Felix Jones (35.1).

Before he got into his Leon riff, Mangini opened his presser by mentioning that he liked the effort and communication during the course of Wednesday's practice and stressed the need to have consistent days and weeks of practice. Which prompted the first question about how the consistency had been the past few weeks.

"There've been some really outstanding days and there've been some days that could've been better," he said. "What my message always is to the team is to have the same level every single day. How you practice, how you prepare — that's what translates into performance on Sunday."

There wasn't much change for QB Brett Favre (ankle) and DT Kris Jenkins (back) from Wednesday to today. The coach said for both, their practice reps (Favre was listed as limited, Jenkins as not participating in some of Wednesday's team drills) and progress should increase through today's and Friday's workouts ahead of Sunday's return to the Meadowlands to tackle the Cardinals.

Regarding the Cards, the Jets will be wearing their Titans navy and gold throwback jerseys for this game. And in keeping with the theme, the players also changed up practice today, shelving their green and white helmets for their navy Titans helmets for the first time this season.

One housekeeping note, which Mangini forgot to mention at the top of his news conference, is that Hank Poteat is back. The much-traveled corner returns to the active roster and is at practice now. To make room, OL Will Montgomery was waived.

It's developed into a busy homestretch toward Arizona. We're planning later this afternoon to post Eric Allen's story on the Jets defense vs. the Cards' dynamic duo of WRs Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald, Tim Carlson's piece on Calvin Pace's long-awaited matchup with the team that took him in the first round of the 2002 draft, and my visit with Poteat.

Injury Update

Here is a report on how Favre looked today, according to Associated Press beat writter Dennis Waszak:

Brett Favre walked with only a slight limp Thursday.

The 38-year-old Jets quarterback twisted his left ankle Monday night in New York's loss at San Diego. Though the ankle was tightly wrapped, Favre appeared to walk comfortably through the locker room before practice.

He took part in warmup jogs and threw with no noticeable discomfort in the half-hour of practice the media are allowed to watch. Favre took one awkward step on a handoff and appeared to grimace, but seemed fine afterward

On today's Jets injury report, Favre remains listed as limited in some portions of 11-on-11 team work. The only change: Jenkins went from not practicing Wednesday to being limited today.

On the Cardinals' I-report, DE Bertrand Berry, their leading pass rusher with three sacks, was moved to out for the Jets game with a groin tear. But DT Darnell Dockett, who also didn't practice Wednesday, was limited at today's practice.

You can check here for today's complete injury reports.