Jets Relaxing Under Rex Ryan

FLORHAM PARK, N.J -- The big guy in the black sweatshirt didn't get down the field quite as quickly as all of the other guys in the orange skullcaps. But the fact that he had the cap on at all and was running down the field with the scout team on kickoff coverage drills was one of the highlights of the Jets' Friday morning practice.

"Yeah, you notice when the head coach is running kick coverage," guard Damien Woody said. "That's not something you see all the time."

You only get to have one of these early minicamps if you have a new head coach, and for the Jets the past couple of days have been about getting to know Rex Ryan, who has impressed everyone from the kick coverage team to the media with the differences between himself and his predecessor, the buttoned-up Eric Mangini.

"The first day, he gathers us around and tell us he wants us to have more fun," Woody said. "That's not something I've ever heard from a head coach before."

There were plenty of serious, football-related topics addressed Friday. Ryan said Kellen Clemens looked "oustanding" in the first couple of days of competition with Brett Ratliff for the starting quarterback job. There was draft talk, with repeated references to the idea that offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer hopes the team addresses offense since all of the offseason moves so far have been on defense. And there was an ugly full-speed collision between receiver Wallace Wright and linebacker Kenwin Cummings that left the former limping and the latter woozy. It happened when each quarterback threw a deep pass to the same sidelines in drills that were being run from opposite ends of the field, toward each other.

"I've been coaching 22 years," Ryan said. "And I've never seen anything like that before. Thankfully, both guys are doing all right."

But for the most part, it's loosey-goosey here at the Jets' gleaming, $75 million training facility, with constant chatter and trash talk peppering the drills and Ryan sensibly trying to make sure nobody gets too wound up in April. That's the reason he had that orange skullcap on for the kickoff drills.

"The change of direction, the suddenness is not quite there," he joked, evaluating his own moves. "John Harbaugh is where we learned that. We used to do it last year in Baltimore. We would put our ball-boys out there, coaches and things like that, because you need those guys to run down there. But it is fun. Have some fun. Don't take yourself too seriously, but have a good time out there."

That's a big change around these parts, where Mangini used to blast loud music throughout his spring practices to get his guys used to taking snap counts in a loud environment and make anybody who got whistled for a false start in practice run a lap.

Part of what's helped Ryan shake things up is that three players who know him from Baltimore came with him. Linebacker Bart Scott, defensive end Marques Douglas and safety Jim Leonhard all are familiar with Ryan, his system and his quirky ways. And Ryan thinks that's helping him.

"I mean, besides the fact that they're all pretty good football players, it's great," Ryan said. "It's not only that they know the system, but they know how things are done, what the expectations are and understanding that we don't accept anything but that. There's certain rules that we have to be a defensive player, to wear that decal that says 'New York Jets' on it. You've got to play to a certain standard. Certainly, these players play to that, and the guys are noticing it."

In other words, things can be as loose as you want them to be when you have smart, professional veterans setting the example where it counts. The players that came from Baltimore, who played in last year's AFC Championship Game, have helped the coach bring a swagger and a new attitude, but it's all rooted in the fact that nobody has to doubt whether they're working hard.

"You can come in and be loud and be boisterous and whatever, and believe me, that's what we're going to do," Scott said. "But when you do that, people can tell whether it's just talk or whether you can back it up. People can see which kind of guy you are. And if you can't back it up, you're not going to last long."

It's April. It hardly gets any earlier. But things are off to a good start at Jets camp. A fun start. What a concept.