10/22 — What was the good word today? "Energy." It returned to the Jets' equation at today's midday practice, and one day after head coach Rex Ryan said something was missing at Wednesday's workout, he proclaimed today's session "excellent."

"The communication was much better than yesterday. We were flying around," Ryan said. "We had our two-minute today and it was a great competition. We made it an end-of-the-game two-minute and Wallace Wright caught a pass from Mark Sanchez on fourth-and-10 to win the game for the offense.

"Mark looked really good today, so we'll see how that goes. The whole energy of the practice I thought was really good."

Rex also remained optimistic that his wideouts will show up in force at Oakland Stadium on Sunday. Jerricho Cotchery (hamstring) and Brad Smith (quadriceps) still didn't participate in team drills but both continue to do individual drills.

"I think Jerricho's got a real shot to play," the coach said. "I don't feel quite as good about Brad."

As for Braylon Edwards, listed as limited also with a quad, Rex said, "Braylon was great out there today. He's going to go."

Flagging the Flags

What also has to go — out of the Jets game plan — are penalties. Against Buffalo, the Jets had 14 penalties accepted against them for 96 yards, both totals the most in a game since 1996. Ryan and his coaches have been addressing the yellow flag issue this week.

"We're taking them all out of practice, anybody who had a penalty," Ryan said. "We have a crew that does a great job, they officiate every single practice. We try to simulate game conditions as best we can with the noise and all that stuff. Then we take 'em out. The first day we had to take two players out in a row for jumping off the ball."

By "taking out," Rex doesn't mean assassination. Offensive players leave practice to do what he calls "half-gassers." Defensive players do some up-downs.

"Those are things we feel strongly about," he said. "Nobody wants to make a penalty, but you've got to focus. The thing that kills me is we had six penalties in the overtime period. It's tough enough to beat an opponent. You don't have to provide them any ammunition."

Also for the first time, Ryan was asked about his decision to keep James Ihedigbo and Marques Murrell home for the Raiders game due to their involvement in the punch-swinging incident with Buffalo's Derek Fine on the OT kickoff.

"We want to be the most physical team in the National Football League — within the confinements of the rules," he said. "They kind of got carried away. There's no excuse to throw a punch at somebody, and I'm just not going to have that on our team."

Rex said he spent some time deciding what penalty would be appropriate in this matter.

"I wanted to do what I thought was fair," he said. "It's a punishment, not going to a game. It also hurts our team. But sometimes you've got to weigh what's best for the team. These two understand we're not going to tolerate that, and our football team understands that's not how we play football. That's not being tough, that's not being physical, the kind of physical play that I want. I just think there's no excuse for that and the two young men know that."

Rex Cetera

Ryan said of CB Lito Sheppard (quad), "I think he's out" for the Raiders. But the coach still believes in Lito: "He tries everything he can above and beyond the normal things trying to get back. He works his tail off trying to get back. If somebody had a home remedy, he'd try it, I think. He wants to play. He feels he's letting his team down. But hey, if you're not healthy, you can't play. ... I think a lot of Lito. So far it's unfortunate because he hasn't been healthy that much this year. Once he gets back and he's healthy, I think this young man can play."

And Ryan on his D-line sans the big guy in the middle: "I feel confident with this group, I really do. I think we can still have an outstanding group. Obviously you don't have the huge bellcow in Kris Jenkins, but we're certainly going to be good enough with this group of guys."

Here's an interesting stat on the Jets' offensive presnap penalties. Normally you should have more false starts, delays, etc., at hostile road environments. But in three road games the Jets have seven presnap penalties and in three home games they have ... seven presnap penalties. Throw in the defense and it's nine presnaps on the road, 10 at home.