Wednesday was the Jets' last practice before their focus will fully shift toward the regular season and their Week 1 opponent, the Tennessee Titans.
With the noise of the ongoing construction to the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center echoing in the background, the Green & White practiced in the afternoon working through different down and distance situations, a 7-on-7 period and finished with a 2-minute situation.
"I'm looking forward to getting this last one out of the way to make sure that we're dialed in our concepts," head coach Aaron Glenn said, detailing his plan prior to the start of practice. "I think the players and coaches, we all know we don't want any gray when it comes to that."
Each practice has a script that designates either the drill or situational work, how long that period of practice lasts and the length of the entire session. One practice might have red zone work, while others might focus on third-and-long work --- it's all decided by Glenn.
"I think the coaches laugh, because they really had all of that before we left on break after OTA's," Glenn said about how he had all of training camp mapped out far in advance.
It's a strategy Glenn learned from HC Sean Payton when he worked under him in New Orleans as the Saints' defensive backs coach from 2016-20.
See the Jets players take the field for their last practice before game week.
"There's going to be times when you want to make a change, and since you're ahead, you can easily make that change as far as scripts are concerned," Glenn said. "It allows coaches to get a chance to plan and then see exactly where my head's at."
Each 2-minute situation Glenn scripts is specific to the time left on the clock, the score, the starting yardage of the drive and how many timeouts the offense and defense each have.
"A lot of that is 2-minute situations that I've been a part of, that I want to get a second shot at," Glenn said. He also watched tape from previous situations QB Geno Smith and LB Demario Davis have faced throughout their careers when designing these practice periods.
"Before [practice], I want to teach those guys how we're supposed to operate and then see if they can spit it back to me," Glenn said. "Not that same day, but let's say a week after, to see if they've learned and then we'll go back and watch it and make sure we're on the same page."
Wednesday's 2-minute situation had 2:58 left with three timeouts and the offense down by 9 points.
"That's going to test me. It's going to test the quarterbacks, it's going to test the defense on how we have to operate," Glenn said. "That'll be a good one to go through."
Jetcetera
Now that training camp is over, media availabilities are much shorter so here's a brief set of observations. ... TE Kenyon Sadiq worked through position drills for the second consecutive practice while Jeremy Ruckert and Jelani Woods did not practice Wednesday. ... New kicker Blake Grupe is wearing No. 11, so QB Bailey Zappe, who was added to the practice squad on Tuesday, is now wearing No. 4. ... Just how DT T'Vondre Sweat stands out because of his massive, 6-7, 366-pound frame, Grupe stands out for his smaller 5-7,156-pound build, which HC Aaron Glenn laughed about during his Monday press conference. ... Glenn is excited about TE Mason Taylor's progress in gaining yards after the catch: "He made some unbelievable catches in camp," Glenn said. ... Glenn was surprised LB Trevin Wallace, who the Jets claimed off waivers, was even available and said he's "violent when he tackles." ... Glenn has started looking into the Titans "quite a bit" already as Week 1 quickly approaches.
