05/22 — Today's Jets OTA (Organized Team Activity) was impacted by a little EWA (Extreme Weather Activity). Midway through the session, a foreboding patch of dark gray clouds opened up over the Jets' upper grass practice field. For 10 minutes, it poured cold rain and even hail.

Reporters and even some team personnel headed for cover. I tried to tough it out but, wearing the same clothes that I expected to wear to tonight's Taste of the NFL event in Manhattan, I was fearful of showing up in a wetsuit. I can report this afternoon that my socks are still clammy but the backs of my pants legs and my raincoat have dried nicely.

Needless to say, the Jets practiced on under the watchful eye of head coach Eric Mangini, who barely flinched despite wearing short sleeves and short pants.

And rookie free agent Danny Woodhead got a taste of what the Mangini Jets are about. Woodhead, the nifty, shifty one from Division II Chadron State, muffed a couple of punts in the rain. No excuses: two penalty laps for the NCAA's all-time leading rusher.

Before this outburst, it hadn't been raining, but perhaps Kellen Clemens induced the precip with a skyscraping pinpoint pass to Laveranues Coles. Clemens let fly for Coles, streaking down the sideline with Darrelle Revis in coverage and Kerry Rhodes ranging over to help. No matter — the ball hit Coles perfectly over Revis and he got both feet down before tumbling out of bounds for what would've been a 35-yard completion.

Chad Pennington, working with the second team for this session, had his prettiest pass of the day in 7-on-7s with a zippy throw over the middle to WR David Clowney, who grabbed the on-the-money ball in traffic and maneuvered away for some YAC.

After the rain stopped and partly cloudy bright blue skies moved in, both QBs were put under pressure in 11-on-11 work by a strong outside rush. Clemens tucked the ball and was forced to take off up the middle on one play while Pennington was harried into an incompletion.

Tight end Bubba Franks stepped up again, not as often as he did a week ago with his multiple TD catches, but with one excellent drop-and-scoop for a low Clemens ball. A few plays later, Clemens tried to find Franks again but this time LB Eric Barton was there to break up the pass.

WR David Ball had one nice trademark leaping snatch on one pass from QB Brett Ratliff, but on a second, he couldn't hold on as rookie CB Dwight Lowery provided the distracting coverage.

Jesse Chatman was looking for running room off guard but it looked as if NT Kris Jenkins was clogging the middle — "You just see a massive wall in front of you. There's not a lot of wiggle room at all," Pennington said of Jenkins' 360-pound presence. So Chatman tried to bump the run outside, but LB David Bowens was there to grab Chatman (but there's no tackling in these sessions).

The practice ended as usual with Mike Nugent and rookie FA Mark Myers kicking field goals. Nugent drove two 48-yarders into the wind and through the uprights. But then Mangini brought the team in and made one of his proposals. To win the secret prize, the players needed Nugent to hit from 58 yards. But the wind proved too strong, the ball didn't make it over the crossbar, and this time at least the players didn't get a bonus from their coach.

Postpractice vignettes included the new offensive line — holdovers D'Brickashaw Ferguson, Nick Mangold and Brandon Moore and new guys Alan Faneca and Damien Woody — doing a Sporting News photo shoot at one end of the field, while Clemens and Pennington threw 30-yard passes back and forth to each other on the other end.