The constant pressure brought by the Jets defense was perhaps the deciding factor in Sunday’s victory over the Patriots. The Jets blitzed mercilessly and used an abundance of defensive schemes and disguises that clearly threw-off the usual collected Tom Brady. These formats have been used throughout the season, but at Gillette Stadium, everything seemed to come together.
“A lot of the things that you saw yesterday were things that we've been running throughout the year, and the key thing with any type of pressure is if you're going to take the chance, then you need to be sound so that you don't get beat,” Mangini said Monday. “The saying is ‘somebody's band is going to play’ like in college if they score a touchdown or you get a sack. So we just want to make sure that our band plays more than their band.”
Read below for Mangini’s complete press conference transcript
Opening Statement…
I'd like to start with the “Players of the Week.” This week it was Jerricho Cotchery on offense, Shaun Ellis on defense, Matt Chatham on special teams. Of course the most important award is the practice player of the week, and that was Stacy Tutt. All four of those guys did an outstanding job for us, either in the game or preparing us for the game.
As I said yesterday, I thought collectively this was a really solid effort, there were some really good plays in all three phases. I thought the coaches did a good job preparing the players for the game, and to me, it was the last phase of the game where they scored quickly, kicked the ball off, we ended up coming out to the 26, and offensively going into a four‑minute mode or kill‑the‑clock‑type mode, getting three 1st downs, eating up the timeouts, eating up the two‑minute warning, getting it down to 1:08, but before we could get it down there we had to execute the punt under pressure. They get the ball on the 11 and then the defense comes out and does a nice job because there was an issue of not just yards but time. They kept it in bounds, and on the last play, that was another defense that we had specifically for that situation where we had to get the ball down the field. There is not really enough time to get the ball down the field, so you've got to keep it from getting out of bounds, something we've practiced for a long time.
I didn't know whether we'd actually get it worked out or called, and it came up, and similar with the quarterback punt, it’s another play that we work on quite a bit. You just never know when it's going to happen.
I was really pleased with that, and I thought that series summarized the game for us. As always, it's time to move on. We'll move on to Chicago here, and the players are in watching tape, getting the corrections we've made as a staff, and we'll move forward and try to learn from the mistakes we made throughout the game and get ready for another really tough challenge here this week.
On the Chicago Bears…
I think that Chicago is extremely tough. They do a lot of good things, and I think they've done an outstanding job over the last couple years. They challenge you in every phase of the game, so it's going to be difficult. It's got to be like coming home two weeks in a row at the Meadowlands. It'll be difficult.
On the Bears having an advantage playing in the same stadium on the road two weeks in a row…
I don't really know. I couldn't remember a situation like that coming up before. I don't know if this is a first or not, so I'm not sure how that will work out. But I know they'll be ready to play.
On yesterday’s win meaning more…
I was most satisfied yesterday because of the way that we've been working, and I've talked to you guys about that a lot. Since I got here, these guys have been working hard and have been preparing. We missed a couple things there, whether it was the Colts game or the Cleveland game, but this was a big game, tough team to play, division opponent, and we hadn't been that successful in the recent past against them. So I was just really happy for the players and coaches and the organization because I think we made some progress.
On players saying they won the game for him…
It's always nice that they would say that. If it helps us win, I hope they say it every week. It's really about them and what they did. They worked hard and they played hard and they competed. That's what I'm really proud of.
On the win vs. New England being important to the team’s growth…
It's important because it was against an opponent that had a winning record and it had been challenging for us in the past to beat them, so that's good. That is positive. But what's going to be more important is how we come back, and coming into the opponent that we're facing, how that consistency develops, and the key thing consistency. This is 1/16 of the season, and it's a continual fight against human nature of not getting too high or too low.
On the players taking to his message…
It's been an ongoing message and it's the approach that we're going to take every single week, so they've heard it from me quite a few times. I think that we all understand that the key thing is a consistent, determined approach week-in and week-out.
On the Patriots’ players saying they were out-played and out-coached…
I know all those coaches and they have an outstanding staff. The things that they did were very good. I think that they're an incredible coaching staff. I know they had them prepared and watching the tape you can see that.
On speaking with any of his former players…
Not too much. I said hello to a few guys prior to the game, but really didn't spend too much time reminiscing.
On where the team is in his estimation…
This being my first time, I didn't go in with a set of expectations, but what I was looking for is progress. It's come in a lot of different shapes, and we need to make a lot more progress to continue to be successful week-in and week-out, and the key thing is just understanding how important consistency is, how important work is, how important studying is and all those core elements that are going to help us.
On the different relationship a player has with his head coach as opposed to his position coach…
As a position coach you spend the most time with the player. As the coordinator you touch all the different players. You spend time with all the different players, but you don't have that concentrated time. And as a head coach, you're spread even wider. Probably as a position coach you have the most contact and strongest relationship.
On letting the Patriots score so quickly after going up 17-6…
There was a combination of things there. I thought we had a nice opportunity on Kerry's (Rhodes) batted ball to do something, and it ended up they made the catch and we missed tackles; two guys had a shot at him. But I thought that was a good opportunity. We had done some really good things, like the third-down against that personnel group that we didn't want to move away from too quickly because they had been successful. There might be a couple different things, that as we talk, we would mix in.
On the Victor Hobson penalty…
I can promise you we're trying as hard as we can to coach that correctly. This is the third time where we've been hit with that situation. I think one was third and forever, and one was backed up on the one-yard line, and now we have an interception. We want to get to the quarterback, we want to hit the quarterback, and we’re not trying to teach or coach anything that is illegal. We spend a lot of time on the rules. Mike Westhoff does a great job with that, and we have officials at practice every single day. We're working at it. I'll definitely continue to work at it to make sure that we can take advantage of those opportunities instead of being penalized for them.
On if Hobson did something wrong on that play…
Victor did a nice job of getting to the quarterback, and I'll definitely work on it to try to clear it up for him.
On if something needed to be cleared up…
Well, they called it, so we're going to have to clear it up somehow.
On if he saw what the officials saw when he looked at the film…
You know, momentum, he had a lot of momentum going, and I think that there may have been an element of physics in there where it's hard to stop when you're going at that pace, but obviously there is something that we can do better and we'll try to.
On also sending the play where Chad Pennington was hit while scrambling for review…
We'll send that one in. It'll be a decent list.
On those types of calls being frustrating…
It's difficult because we do spend a lot of time on it, and we do spend a lot of effort and resources on being conscious of the rules and making sure that we're trying to do it the right way, and there's no effort to get past the rules. We want to play cleanly and fairly, and we're going to continue to do that.
On Phil Simms suggesting a change to the rules…
I didn't hear (CBS announcer) Phil's (Simms) comments, so I don't know what exactly he was suggesting, but we’ll definitely look at it organizationally. We do have the opportunity to submit suggestions, and we have in the past. That is something that I'll definitely do and try to get as much clarity as we can.
On the win not meaning as much without continued success…
I think that is true. Every week has to be viewed as its own entity because it's going to be so different the following week. As soon as you start getting too caught up in the meaning of this, then sometimes you lose what is most important, which is the present and getting ready for Chicago. But it was important in the sense that, to play at such a difficult place, to play such a difficult opponent, and the way that they prepared throughout the week, to be rewarded for that with a victory and good execution. That is the real important thing.
On players being leaders…
Everyone can be a leader in their own way, and the veterans can obviously have even more of an impact, but everybody has the potential of leading their own way. It doesn't have to be through speeches or anything like that, it could be the way that you practice, or the way that you approach meetings or the way that you do any element connected to the team. We're looking for leadership, not just from the veterans, but from the rookies and the guys that are second-year players, everybody taking the accountability of trying to move things forward and make progress.
On players setting positive examples for their teammates…
Examples are great, but everybody could be an example. You get examples from guys like Curtis Martin who aren't even on the field, but his leadership, his presence and the conversations he has with players are positive examples. Then you couple that with the veteran leadership, it could be Pete Kendall helping with Nick (Mangold) and D'Brickashaw (Ferguson) or Anthony Clement or Brandon Moore or Shaun Ellis, right on down the line. Everybody can play a part in that.
On Chicago’s FG return being an alert to the special teams…
You always want to cover that. I was actually here, when Aaron Glenn (did it), in 1998. I've seen that before, thankfully on the plus side of that, and that is just the risk/reward where you want to take that shot. You've got the field position issue if it's missed, you've got the return issue if they have somebody back. That is just the cost of doing business, and you'd better get down and cover it.
On Shaun Ellis’ play at the end of the game…
I thought that was a tremendous effort play, and throughout that whole series, the last two‑minute series was primarily a three‑man rush so it makes it difficult when they're keeping in six against three. They were still able to apply an element of pressure there to Dewayne (Robertson) and Bryan (Thomas) and Shaun (Ellis), and Shaun took control of that situation on the last play, and he effectively ended it.
On the performance by the offensive line…
The more those guys have had the opportunity to play together and they've been playing together now for quite some time, the more familiarity they're getting, not just with each other but with the protections. Again, the backs and the tight ends helping out, and Chad with his cadence, that is a big factor. That slows things down when you're able to hard count, quick count, change it up, they can't get a beat on it. But I think that as a group they've made progress, and they did do a nice job yesterday. Not just in the passing game, but in the running game, there were some nice blocks there to open up some holes against a really solid front seven.
On anyone on the offensive line standing out…
Nick Mangold stood out. We always talk about the characteristics of the players and we talk about toughness. He got poked pretty well there and missed two plays and really would have liked to have just missed one play, but he did a nice job. Vince (Wilfork) is a really good nose tackle, and to have him over you the whole day and to meet that challenge, that is a solid effort.
On the bye week helping to improve the rush defense…
We made some real improvement with the front group in terms of leverage and gap responsibility. I thought that we've made some progress each week, and the secondary run support, which is so important in the overall numbers, did a nice job. Kerry (Rhodes) had nine tackles and Erik (Coleman) chipped in with eight. So the fits there in the secondary was also improved. That long run, they made a nice play, and there was a nice run, but overall I thought it was a pretty good day.
On what led to the improved defense…
A lot of the things that you saw yesterday were things that we've been running throughout the year, and the key thing with any type of pressure is if you're going to take the chance, then you need to be sound so that you don't get beat. The saying is, “somebody's band is going to play” like in college if they score a touchdown or you get a sack. So we just want to make sure that our band plays more than their band, and part of that comes with hitting the right gaps, having the proper coverage, and as that gets better, you can mix more things in.
On the defense being happy playing the style of defense they played yesterday…
Everybody was pretty happy yesterday. As we get better at running the different things, it's still all going to be game plan‑based, and sometimes you bring a bunch of blitzes, sometimes you've got to cover more. It will vary.
On still being aggressive after Corey Dillon’s long run…
That was one of those plays, like Brad Smith's 70‑yard reverse in the preseason, which takes everybody. I don't think that the pressure wasn't sound at that point. It was just one of those things where a slight technique error really ended up getting two guys in the hole and it created a seam. That is part of the cost of doing business with blitzes; when you lose those two guys there is just a lot of green after that.
On Jets’ owner Woody Johnson being happy after the win…
He was pretty happy. When I saw him he was smiling quite a bit. Yeah, I'd say he was happy.
On Mr. Johnson’s involvement with the team…
He's been great. You know, we sat in the rain on Wednesday and watched practiced, and he was there pretty much throughout the whole practice; broke out his rain gear. He has come to meetings. Even after draft time, we'd have eight and nine‑hour meetings.
On it being important to him to beat New England…
It was the same sort of approach that we all had. It was getting an opponent as good as New England is, and has been, and being able to win at a very difficult place. They hadn't lost two games in quite some time. So that added element, and all that played into the victory.
On playing too soft on the Patriots’ touchdown…
No, we pretty much pressured every single play on that.
On Wade Smith…
His finger got a little bit banged up and we had to make a quick adjustment. That is the nice thing about position flexibility. He could pop over, throw his glove off and we could roll.
On the empty roster spot…
At that point, (before the game) we didn't think that we wanted to make a move. There is usually a little bit of movement early in the week in terms of other team's rosters and practice squads, so we'll evaluate it throughout the week and talk about it. We haven't talked about it since the end of last week.
On not using Brad Smith as much…
It was how the game unfolded. We had a package for him like we do each week, and Brad is going to continue to get opportunities, not just in the Brad Smith sort of role plays. He made two catches last week that were really outstanding. One was in one‑on‑ones after practice, where it looked like the Jordan picture where he's slam dunking it; with the one‑handed grab. Then he had another one where he caught it on the sideline, didn't get touched, got up, kept going. So plays like that in practice merit more plays in the game, and he'll definitely get more opportunities here this week.
On Brad Smith’s improvement as a receiver…
He has made a ton of progress there. It really goes back to the original deal with Brad; each day something gets a little bit better. He has made a lot of progress there and his role will continue to expand because he has earned it.
On what he said to Bill Belichick after the game…
I said, "Good game." That was it.
