08/02 — FIRST QUARTER

The rain started falling on cue, with the first snap of the Green & White Practice. There are no kickoffs and KO returns in this practice, so Kellen Clemens and the White offense got the ball first.

Clemens hit Leon Washington with a couple of passes, the first going for 27 yards as Leon motored through the secondary. But Clemens was sacked on a fourth-and-1.

The Greens' first series was even less productive as Chad Pennington was sacked once, by Bryan Thomas, and threw two incompletions, the last a nearly great grab by TE Bubba Franks down the seam.

But Pennington struck first on the Green team's next drive. Several plays after Chansi Stuckey reeled off an excellent return, Chad dropped back from the White 27 and let it fly for Jerricho Cotchery, single-covered by CB Justin Miller. Cotchery caught the ball in the end zone for the TD and Mike Nugent added the PAT.

Greeen 7, White 0

Right before that TD connection, the fans were advised to leave the bleachers and seek shelter under the stands due to severe weather approaching the area. But the Jets played on in the still light rain.

The first play by the Whites was a bit of trickery as Clemens lined up split wide and Leon Washington was behind center. But Leon's run went nowhere.

But White HC Bob Sutton went back to the gimmick well for a first down. Clemens tossed to Washington, who rolled right, then tossed back left to rookie TE Dustin Keller. Fellow first-rounder Vernon Gholston was in on the "tackle," but Keller got enough for the first down.

Two plays later, Gholston got perhaps his first "sack" as a pro, getting credit as he beat LT Jacob Bender and ran by the red-shirted No. 11. Then Clemens beat a blitz from the secondary for a completion to David Clowney to set up fourth-and-2, and tried to find rookie WR Marcus Henry for the long pickup, only to have CB Ahmad Carroll break up the deep ball.

Brett Ratliff came on for Pennington for one play before the 10-minute quarter ended.

SECOND QUARTER

Ratliff continued at QB but was sacked by Shaun Ellis and could not move the Green offense, so Ben Graham again punted, now using his end-over-end drop punts even when the field position isn't in plus-territory.

That brought on rookie QB Erik Ainge, who, in front of the empty Hofstra staidum stands, was sacked twice, once by Kenwin Cummings and once by Brandon Renkart.

Then Graham put his full foot into his next punt from the north end zone, and what a punt it was, reminiscent of his legendary kick of Melbourne's Yarra River. True, he was aided by a nice wind at his back, but the ball sailed from the White's 7-yard line over Stuckey's head and bouncing twice before Stuckey corraled it at the Green 7.

That's an 86-yard punt, folks. As Dan Leberfeld said in the Hofstra pressbox, "For a second there, Steve O'Neal's NFL record was in jeopardy."

The Green offense ran a few more plays but with 5:24 left in the second period, "NFL commissioner" Eric Mangini pulled his teams off the field due to lightning strikes that were visible nearer the stadium.

We're not sure how soon the teams will return to the field, although weather.com is showing only rain behind this particular severe weather cell.