You knew it had to come, and so at this afternoon's second practice of the Jets' rookie minicamp, it did.
Mark Sanchez threw his first pro interception.
It still took a pretty play by first-year CB Marquice Cole to put this INT against the first-round rookie in the books. After a giveaway-less morning practice, Sanchez dropped back in 7-on-7 drills and tried to connect with WR Paul Raymond down the deep middle.
Cole, who spent time with Oakland, Tennessee and New Orleans before signing with the Jets in February, batted the home run ball into the air while he battled with the speedy Raymond for the handle. Then he peeled off and grabbed the ball in stride inside the 10-yard line to complete the nice play.
This made up for a pretty completion from Sanchez to WR Marcus Henry on the skinny post over Cole earlier in 7-on-7s. That was probably the prettiest of the afternoon completions for both Sanchez and for Henry, last year's sixth-round pick out of Kansas who had a very nice p.m. practice.
Henry said with a smile that he's gotten "a little bit" tired hearing that the Green & White desperately need a wideout.
"I know I'm going out there and getting better, and so are our other receivers," said the 6'4" Henry. "I'm just out there showing the coaches tat when I'm out there on the field I can make plays, I can be a presence."
As for the Sanchez arm strength, Henry said it's "not quite at that level" where Brett Favre's arm resided when Henry worked with him last summer but that it's "up there" with Kellen Clemens' ball.
"Mark's passes are very catchable," Henry said. "They're where I expect when I come out of my break."
Practice Notes
Tryout Allen Patrick looks on the thin side at 6'1", 200, but the Oklahoma RB put on the speed on a few runs as the ground game got some emphasis in the last period of the afternoon session. ... LB Kenwin Cummings, one of those dozen first-year players at this minicamp, continued to move well two weeks after his head-on collision with WR Wallace Wright during the voluntary veteran camp. "Everything's good, everything's fine," said Cummings. "By far that's the worst collision I've had. It's one of those things you don't expect."
