JET NOTES
TOKYO – Keyshawn Johnson has taken Buccaneers’ backup quarterback Chris Simms under his wing on this trip. The two planned to roam Tokyo yesterday and shop for electronics.
“I get to hang with the blond bombshell,” Johnson joked of Simms, the son of Phil Simms. “I think he’s going to be like [soccer star David] Beckham in a couple of minutes when we get outside.”
Johnson, the former Jet, was talking up Simms, saying, “If he learns the offense and can handle the pressure [Bucs’ head coach Jon] Gruden is going to put on him, he’s going to be good. I don’t see any difference between him and [No. 1 overall draft pick] Carson Palmer. Both played at a high level and won big games. Who’s to say that Cincinnati got the better quarterback of the two [in Palmer]?”
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Gruden joked that Shinzo Yamada, Tampa Bay’s designated Japanese player, “saved the day” upon the team’s arrival on Wednesday.
“We had a near tragedy,” Gruden quipped. “One of our players, [kicker] Martin Gramatica, had to go the bathroom at the airport and had it not been for Shinzo there’s no telling what might have happened.”
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Jets’ No. 1 draft pick, defensive tackle Dewayne Robertson sounded blown away when talking about Tokyo.
“When I got to Manhattan I never thought I’d see anything bigger than that,” Robertson, a Memphis native, said after practice. “This place [Tokyo] is even bigger. It’s wild.”
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Bucs’ DT Warren Sapp declared yesterday that “the sushi is a lot better here than in the U.S.” adding, “We as players want to know where the speed train is and where is Mt. Fuji?”
Edwards praised the way Santana Moss was moving around yesterday. Part of what might makes Moss a player to watch tomorrow is the fast-track artificial turf on which Moss caught a nifty 50-yard TD pass from Chad Pennington in yesterday’s practice.


