New York Post - 13.08.2019

New York Post, Tuesday, August 13, 2019

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By BRIAN COSTELLO

New Jets running back

Le’VeonBell has been in the

NFL since 20 13, bu t he has

never seen anything quite lik e

the show that is Adam Gasevs.

GreggWilliamsev ery day in

training camp.

Th e Je ts’ new head coach

and defensivecoordinato r

have beengoingat each other

each day and the intensity in

practice has been obvious and

Bell lo ves it.

“It’ s lik e the best thing I’ve

ever beena part of literally,”

Bell said Monday. “I’ve liter-

ally never had anything like it.

CoachWilliams isa defensive

geniusversus anoffensive

genius.Both of thoseguys go

at it each andev ery day. It ’s

lik e theof fe nsewo n to day, the

defense will wintomorrow.

Gase is like, ‘OK, they want to

do this, then I’mgoingto put

this intomorrow.’ It’s the same

way with the defense.We’re

justcontinuingto get better

each andevery day. I’m excited

for thisyear.”

The co mpetition between

the two coaches has ledto spir-

ited practices with theoffense

and defensecompeting with

game-like intensity. OnMon-

day, that intensity was clear in

a practice that featureda lot of

chippy play anda fewfights.

The biggestfight came

between guard Alex Lewis,

who justgot totheJets last

week ina trade from the

Ra ve ns, and second-year

defensivelineman Nathan

Shepherd.The two traded

some haymakers before being

separated. Guard Kelechi Ose-

melewas steamed, screaming

at the defense before veteran

nosetackleSteve McLendon

calmedeveryone down.

“It’ s football, it’saviolent

sport,”Gasesaid. “That’s just

what it is.I like thefact that

they’re competing.The way

that thoseguys are goingat it

today, it iswhat it is.I meanI

don’twant anybody to get hurt.

I thinkyou wastealotof ener-

gy when you start scuffling up

andeverybody’s jawingat him.

It’s a wasteatimeto me but

sometimes that happens.”

Be ll andsa fe ty Ja malAd ams

have been trading trashtalk

every day andBell said it has

gotten everyonegoing inaddi-

tionto thega mesmanship

between Gase andWilliams.

“I love it because it’s co mpe-

tition,” Bell said. “You’ve got

guys like Jamal on the other

side.He’s literally like me but

plays defense.That’s justtwo

guys clashing.He’s going to get

the defensego ing. I’mgo ing to

get the offensegoing.Now, the

of fe nse and defense are just

clashing all practice.Th e ones,

tw os, threes,ev erybody. Th at’s

only goingto make ourteam

better.”

Gase, Williams’ Gang showing some fight

I

T WASaviolentplay tha t

took place about midway

through practice Monday

and,fo ramoment,yo u didn’t

really know what to thinkof it.

Le’VeonBe ll, theJe ts prized

offseason acquisition and quite

possibly the linchpinto their

offensive success, was run-

ning theball up the middle in

a team drill andwas metby a

ferocious hit from linebacker

BrandonCopeland that was so

impactful it sentBell airborne

and onto his back.

It wasahold-your-breath

moment. Good defensive pl ay

by Copeland? Or anoverzeal-

ous hitby a defender on one

of theteam’s indispensable

offensive stars duringa train-

ing camp practice?

This, remember, is a run-

ningback who hasn’tplayed in

a game since the 2017 season

andwh om theJe ts are pa ying

$14 million peryear.

Bell bounced right upto his

feet andwent onto the next

play without so much asjawing

at Copeland.

About an hour late r, Be ll

told reporters exactly what he

thought about that hit.

“I loved it,’’ hesaid. “A nice

pop.Ihave n’t re ally felt it in15 ,

16, 17 months.It gets you back

rightalittle bit.It felt good.

I feel like when I’mgetting

hit in practice and hitting

theground, that’s game-

like. It helps prepare for

the game.’’

Be ll did notpl ay in the

preseasonopenerThurs-

day. There are indications

tha t he wo n’ t pl ay thisTh ur s-

day night inAtlanta and it’s

possible he might notplay a

single down in preseason.

He is not hurt.He ’s merely

being protectedby head coach

Adam Gase, whosefirst prior-

ity is for Bell to be ready for

Sept. 8,for theregular-season

opener against the Bills.

Protecting him istotally

understandable.Waitingfor

the season openerto be Bell’s

first game

action, how-

ever, is not.

Bell can

be hit as

many times

as hewants

in training

campby his

own team-

mates, but nothing he does in

those sessions is proper simu-

lationfor an actualgame.Par-

ticularly forarunningback

who hasn’ttakenahandoff and

been hit in angerby an oppos-

ing defense since Jan. 14, 2018.

Make no mistake:Be ll burns

to play in a ga me.He wa nted

induring lastweek’s opener

against the Giantswhen the

starters played for one series

and quar-

terbackSam

Darnold

teased him

on the side-

line when

he said, “Oh,

you want to

play, don’t

you?’’

“You knowIwant to play so

bad,’’ Bell told Darnold.

“I can’twait,’’ Bell said Mon-

day. “I understand they’re going

to protect me frommyself.’’

To Bell’s credit, he’s been all

about whatever Gase and the

co aching staff wa nt and hasn’t

uttereda wordof complaint

about not playing.

“I want to dowhatever

Coach Gasewants meto do,’’

Bell said. “We justtake it day-

to-day, week-to-week. Each day

in practice they’ve been upping

myreps.I do a lot of co ndi-

tioning and running.They’re

getting me preparedfor game

settings.’’

The bestway for Bell to pre-

pare for game settings is to play

in a game — even iffor only an

offensive possession ortwo. It

doesn’t have to be Thursday

night inAtlanta. But if not then,

it’s imperat ive for himto play a

series ortwo in the third pre-

seasongame— home against

the Saints.

Gase, who said Monday he

hasn’t discussedwho will and

won’t play Thursday with his

coaches andplayers, didn’t rule

that out. But he didn’t rule it in,

either.

“I don’t know if it’s neces-

sary,’’ Gasesaid. “A fter watch-

ing him practice, he’s the one

delivering more hits than any-

body. I feel like he’s re ad y to

go. But if we have a discussion

andwe feel at some point that

he shouldget somegame time,

we will.

“He’s beengreat with the,

‘Whatever you think is best.’

ButIdo ask his opinionof what

he thinks is bestfor him. Ifwe

ha ve a co nver sa tion and he’s

good where he’s at [just prepar-

ing in practice,] then maybe he

doesn’tplay this preseason.’’

DoesBell believe he needsa

fewcarries in preseason?

“If I get them, they’ll help,’’

he said. “ButIdon’t think I’ll

need them. I’ve beenplaying

for so long it’s goingto natu-

ra ll y comeba ck to me and I’ll

adjustto thegame.A couple

plays and I’mready to go.’’

He shouldget those“couple

of plays’’ out of the way in pre-

season so he’s truly “ready to

go’’ for the beginningof the real

season.

[email protected]

Mark CannizzaroMarkCannizzaro

Got to let him

Lev his engine

Bill Kostroun (2); AP

RING MY BELL:Le’Veon Bell holds his daughter, Melodie,

as he answers questions Monday. She seemsa bit more

interested in his phone than the media. BillKostroun

Jets notes/ Page 33