Transactions and injury news roundup: 7/19 edition

Photo: Marianne O'Leary, Flickr

BY NICK ST. DENIS

Quick notes and links regarding AFC East teams' recent transactions activity and injury news:

Jets

Safety Jim Leonhard says the recovery of his knee has been successful, but the Jets reportedly don't plan on bringing him back.

Safety LaRon Landry is expected to be limited in training camp while he nurses an injury he's been trying to shake the past two years.

Free agent receiver Plaxico Burress said Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez was "battling with some injuries last year, shoulder-wise that a lot of people didn't know about."

Gang Green signed undrafted free agent tackle Paul Cornick, who participated as a tryout player in rookie camp.

Patriots

Tight end Daniel Fells missed all of New England's offseason program, and that's because he reportedly is nursing a leg injury.

New England inked first-round linebacker Dont'a Hightower to a four-year contract.

Projected starting cornerback Ras-I Dowling, coming off hip surgery, was full-go in OTAs.

Bills

Buffalo signed third-round receiver T.J. Graham to a four-year deal.

Burress wants to fly like an Eagle, not a Jet, in 2012

BY NICK ST. DENIS

Plaxico Burress won't be a Jet in 2012, but there's a good chance he'll still be wearing green.

Speaking on 97.5 The Fanatic Tuesday, Burress said "nothing else would make me happier" than signing with the Eagles this season.

Multiple media outlets have reported that Burress will not return to the Jets in 2012, and Adam Caplan of TheSidelineView.com reported earlier in February that the Eagles would pursue Burress this offseason.

It's just as well for New York, which needs to get younger at the receiver position. I've said since last offseason that the Jets need to surround quarterback Mark Sanchez with young talent he can grow with rather than a bunch of veteran wideouts who are past their prime.

Johnson can fake shots, can't fake catches

Posted by Nick St. Denis

Buffalo Bills wide receiver Stevie Johnson is good at pretending to shoot himself in the leg.

He's also good at dropping passes.

During a touchdown celebration in the Bills' 28-24 loss to the New York Jets Sunday, Johnson mocked Jets wide receiver Plaxico Burress, who spent two years in prison after accidentally shooting himself in the leg in a club in 2008. Burress played for the New York Giants at the time.

Jets WR Burress grabs 3 TDs vs. Chargers

We were all wondering where Plaxico Burress was this year, but New York Jets coach Rex Ryan and quarterback Mark Sanchez had been insisting that Burress and Sanchez were just a little off and assured that he was due for a big day.

That big day came.

Burress made four catches Sunday against the San Diego Chargers – three for touchdowns. He was the ultimate red zone threat, as all three scores came when the Jets were inside the 5-yard line. The Jets scored 17 unanswered points in the second half and went on to win, 27-21.

Burress’ first touchdown score was a critical one. The Jets were third-and-goal from the 3-yard line and down, 14-3, midway through the first quarter. Burress got a nice release of a little slant route working from the right and cleanly caught a Sanchez pass in the middle of the end zone.

Sanchez found Burress again late in the third quarter, this time on a second-and-goal from the 4-yard line. The third-year quarterback hit his veteran receiver on a quick back-shoulder throw to the left side of the end zone to bring the Jets within four.

Burress’ last grab was on third-and-goal from the 3-yard line midway through the fourth quarter. The Jets went with a spread formation, and Sanchez made a quick strike to Burress, who was lined up in the slot, right off the line of scrimmage. That was the game-winner, as San Diego didn't score again.

The 10th-year wideout hadn’t caught a touchdown since Week 3 and had just two on the year prior to Sunday.

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Sanchez talks adapting to Plax, new wideouts

New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez has had to deal with wide receiver changes multiple times a year since his rookie season in 2009.

So when asked why he and first-year Jet Plaxico Burress have had a hard time building chemistry through six weeks, he explained that it’s just a matter of time before the two hit it off on the stat sheet.

“It’s like a different car,” Sanchez told reporters Wednesday when discussing the difficulty of a quarterback's adapting to an unfamiliar receiver. “Same driver, just different car. They have a different feel. They like certain tracks better, they handle a little different. It’s just kind of the way they are.

"Plax is a big dude, big rangy guy. Is he as fast as Tone [Santonio Holmes]? No, but Tone’s the speedster, J.K. [Jeremy Kerley]'s the speedster. Those guys can really blow the top off the defense and take off, where Plax has a different game. They can’t go up and jump with a Sean Smith like Plax can."

Sanchez is confident he’ll get rolling consistently with Burress, and coach Rex Ryan has already said Burress is capable of having a 10-catch game this year.

For the third-year signal-caller, it’s all about getting comfortable.

“You’ve just got to know your target, understand who you’re throwing to and give those guys a chance,” Sanchez said. “It’s something that we’re still working towards. That’s good. It’s not easy. I’m just glad he’s been so open about it and been so positive.”

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3 things we learned about the Jets Sunday

The New York Jets scored 17 points in the fourth quarter in a dramatic comback victory over the Dallas Cowboys Sunday night. Here's what we learned about the Jets in their season-opening 27-24 win.

Plaxico Burress is not Mark Sanchez’s new Braylon Edwards.

This isn’t a bad thing. Burress has a lanky frame and long arms that allow him to make catches over cornerbacks, but he’s not the speedy deep threat Edwards was. That difference is something Sanchez is getting used to. When throwing the long sideline ball, Sanchez usually led Edwards and watched him chase it down. With Burress, Sanchez is learning that he needs to position the ball back-shoulder so Burress can use his long reach to snatch the ball around the defender.

If it’s a bomb toss-up, Burress isn’t going to be able to chase it down most of the time, but throwing to Burress gives Sanchez a little more margin for error. While Edwards could get 50-50 tosses by grit and effort, Burress can get them by physical attributes alone. Sanchez started to get comfortable with throwing to Burress in the second half, and they connected on a big fourth quarter touchdown.

The offensive line has some work to do.

Sanchez was hit six times and sacked four – not good numbers for a unit that was arguably the best of its kind over the last two years. Right tackle Wayne Hunter, though he improved in the second half, got manhandled by DeMarcus Ware. Sure, Ware is a beast and even cleanly beat left tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson once, but the Jets should have taken that matchup into account and not waited so long to give Hunter tight end help.

Also, the Jets got virtually no push up front, blocking for a lowly 2.8 yards a carry. Again, this is a group that prides itself on run blocking.

They are who we thought they were.

With 10 of 11 starters back on defense and more experience on the offensive side of the ball from last year, this is still a team that likes to make it interesting. It’s at the point where no lead or amount of momentum is safe against these guys (OK, maybe the Patriots’40-plus lead last December was good enough).

The comeback has become a big part of the Jets’ identity, as five of New York’s last 10 wins came via rallies in the final quarter. Whether it’s offense, special teams or defense rising to the occassion, they get it done in the end more often than not.

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