There were dozens of reporters to document a shirtless Tim Tebow running in the rain.
But now that he’s doing the running around the Jets envisioned for him, no one’s talking.
The Jets worked on their Wildcat package — which has become the catch-all, if not always accurate name for non-traditional QB play — in front of the media Monday, but with restrictions. Since the practice was closed to the public, the Jets put restrictions on what could be reported. (For the record, that’s a fairly standard stipulation when teams move out of training camp mode. When reporters are allowed in at all, formation and strategic issues are off-limits because coaches as a lot are a paranoid bunch.)
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” running back Joe McKnight said, via Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News. “Wildcat? I don’t know nothing about the Wildcat.”
Keeping private the particulars of the packages they want to use in the regular season is a big deal to new offensive coordinator Tony Sparano, and his players were quick to adopt the omerta.
“You have to talk to Coach Sparano. There’s a lot going on,” quarterback Mark Sanchez replied when asked if the packages were similar to what the Jets did in the past with Brad Smith. “It’s some pretty intense stuff.”
Asked if he had ever been a part of a secret practice, Tebow joked: “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen as much interest
“I don’t know if it’s secrecy,” he said. “We’re going out there, running our offense and our plays. It’s just part of the offense to us. Like we wouldn’t talk about play action plays. It’s just nothing something we [need] to talk about how much we do it.”
To be honest, keeping opponents talking about the Wildcat is a good thing for the Jets, since it forces them to plan for something that might only happen a few snaps a game. We’ll see this fall, however, if it’s worth the time they spend practicing it themselves.