08/13 — Two weeks ago Rashad Washington told me special teams is nice but "I kind of want to get the shadow off from over my head, to show people I'm able to play safety, too."

Washington continued to do that in Monday's morning training camp practice with several standout plays. He started off by lying in wait in the hole for RB Tony Hollings to shut down a run.

Then No. 42 laid out on a medium range route and came up with an interception of Chad Pennington, who was trying to snake the ball through to Justin McCareins.

Another safety vying for playing time had one of the prettiest plays of practice. WR Frisman Jackson seemed to get a step on free agent James Ihedigbo deep down the middle, but Kellen Clemens pumped once before letting go. That gave Ihedigbo the time to close the separation and come down on his back with a juggling pick — somewhat similar to the catch Frisman made of a Clemens throw late vs. Atlanta.

Staying with the defensive theme, DE Bobby Hamilton met Danny Ware solidly at the line for no gain. On another run, DT Dewayne Robertson and S Kerry Rhodes were lying in wait to stop Leon Washington's inside run.

LB Victor Hobson, working on OT D'Brickashaw Ferguson, worked his way back for a "sack" of Chad Pennington, who couldn't find an open receiver. And Andre Wadsworth showed nice power vs. a double-team block late in practice to pressure Marques Tuiasosopo.

The offense had its plays as well in a workout that frequently featured the tight ends. Chris Baker made a tumbling catch from Clemens, for which Clemens gave C-Bake a low-five after their unit was finished.

Baker then victimized some LBs, catching one ball in front of rookie David Harris, then snagging another past Eric Barton, who grabbed for No. 86 but came up with only his towel, which Barton flipped into the air in frustration.

Clemens rescued an errant shotgun snap by Wade Smith and turned it upfield nicely. Then No. 11 ended practice by rolling to his right and, just before getting to the sideline, threading the two-minute pass through bodies to TE Sean Ryan for the score.

It was a big media day as my good friend Peter King from Sports Illustrated was on hand for lucky stop No. 13 on his summer training camp tour. And Eric Mangini was miked for the practice by NFL Films, which had a crew on the sidelines, including the man with the hardest job of the morning, sitting under a black sheet as the morning sun beat down and listening to the sound coming in from the Jets head coach.

RB Thomas Jones sat out his first full practice after suffering an injury during Sunday's single session. I expect Coach Mangini to address Jones' situation and a lot of others during his midday news conference, which is now under way.