Friday, April 17, 2009

Scary Collision at Morning Practice

Jets mini-camp continued today and amid all the fun was, unfortunately, a terrifying collision that was made even scarier for me because I was less than 10 feet from where it happened. In the middle of this morning's practice, the field was divided in half, with Brett Ratliff working out of one end zone and Kellen Clemens coming out of the other one.

Through some strange twist of fate, both quarterbacks got the ball off at the exact same time - Clemens throwing an out route down his left sideline to wide receiver Wallace Wright and Ratliff throwing one to running back Jehuu Caulcrick down the same sideline. The balls sailed to almost the identical spot and Wright and Kenwin Cummings (who was covering Caulcrick) crashed into each other at full speed. The players weren't even in pads and I still can't accurately convey how loud the sound was as their helmets collided.

Both players lay on the ground for a few minutes, with Cummings looking dazed and Wright clutching at his left knee in obvious pain. Within seconds the training staff was there, along with both quarterbacks and Rex Ryan.

After a couple of minutes they were helped up and taken to the locker room. Wright returned toward the end of practice with a notable limp, but he was putting weight on the leg.

I was able to talk to Wright in the locker room immediately after practice and he told me that in addition to hitting helmets the two players banged knees with Wright getting the worst of it.

Ryan confirmed in his press conference a short time ago that Cummings has what appears to be a concussion, but that they expect both players to be OK.

I'll let you know when I hear an update on Wright. He has become a standout on special teams and is fighting to move up in the receiving corps.

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