Plaxico Burress didn't take long during his first full practice to show why everyone is so intrigued by his addition to the Jets offense.
During a one-on-one drill, Burress used his big body to shield the cornerback while going up high with one hand to snatch a pass from Mark Sanchez out of the air for a long completion.
Just like that, Burress showed the team what he can bring to the table if he's healthy and up to speed come the regular season.
One practice, even one that ended with Burress feeling no pain in his sprained ankle, doesn't prove that he is either of those things. It's a big step forward, but it is just the first step of many toward a destination that remains unknown at this point in time.
We'll know a little bit more after Sunday's game with the Bengals, the first time Burress will face a team bent on stopping him since Nov. 23, 2008. Brett Favre was the Jets' quarterback back then, throwing passes for a team coached by Eric Mangini in a country that had just elected Barack Obama to be its president.
And Mark Sanchez was fending off Pac-10 defenders and USC co-eds instead of doubts about his ability to rise to the next level as a professional.
In other words, it was a really long time ago. That makes it impossible to get too far ahead of yourself and predict huge things for the Jets offense during the 2011 season.
Unless you're Rex Ryan, that is. Ryan is the type of guy who sees future parades up Broadway when he looks in the mirror while shaving so it isn't much of a surprise that a handful of plays with Burress had him dancing on the ceiling about seeing his offense at full strength.
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"It looks scary. You have that group out there and then you have Dustin [Keller] at your tight end and either Shonn Greene or (LaDainian Tomlinson) in the backfield. That’s what we’ve been waiting for."
He's right about that last part, although everyone who isn't the coach of the Jets should probably steer clear of defining the offense as scary until Burress does more than beat a reserve corner on a jump ball.
If he can't do that, you can rest assured that there will plenty of nightmare fuel coming from the Jets offense.
Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City. You can follow him on Twitter and he is also a contributor to Pro Football Talk.
