Fans weren’t at practice on Monday but there was a loud roar of excitement during the first team period at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center. After QB Geno Smith pitched a perfect effort Saturday, S Minkah Fitzpatrick set the tone for the defensive unit with an interception. Fitzpatrick might not be the most “boisterous guy, but the rest of the unit celebrated.
“He’s a pro’s pro, first and foremost,” head coach Aaron Glenn said of Fitzpatrick. “He understands how to lead and he understands how to pull a guy to the side and talk with him. He’s extremely smart, he loves football, and as a safety that’s what you’re looking for.
“Listen, I’ve had some good safeties in my career, and early on I like exactly where he’s at.”
Fitzpatrick’s interception was just the start of the defense’s strong performance. With the pads on for the first time this training camp, the intensity picked up with battles in the secondary and physical play in the trenches.
“I thought our competitive nature was right where we wanted it to be,” Glenn said after practice. “We have three tempos when we practice, we have a jog tempo, which is really a walk-through, we have a clean-competitive tempo, we’re in jerseys and just shells where I don’t want anybody on the ground and today was the competitive tempo and I thought our guys did a really good job with that.”
The Jets secondary had several pass breakups under gray skies as the offense battled to get an edge.
“Today was a little more slippery, so there was less room for error,” CB Brandon Stephens said. “We’ve been competing at a high level, just going against AD [Adonai Mitchell] and Garrett [Wilson] every day. Iron sharpens iron. I’m enjoying those matchups.”
Smith looked to Wilson up the middle and he initially made the catch, but Stephens broke up the pass as they fell to the ground. Later, against Mitchell, he prevented a large gain when Smith targeted him down the sideline.
“He made a couple plays today,” Glenn said, referring to Stephens. “The thing is we want that to be consistent, and he knows that. Every day, if he can just continue to have that focus, I think he’ll continue to improve in that aspect.”