On third and goal from the Chicago six-yard line Sunday, nearly every single one of the 77,632 fans at the Meadowlands were prepared to erupt in joy as the Jets looked to take the lead on the NFC’s best. In the blink of an eye however, all the life was sucked out of the Green and White faithful as the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year, Brian Urlacher ,intercepted Chad Pennington six yards deep in the end zone.

“The throw that (Brian) Urlacher picked off, I thought he made a really good read on a play,” head coach Eric Mangini said. “I understood where Chad was going and why he was going there. Initially it looked good, but Urlacher is a pretty good player. He came over and made a great catch on a great read. They have the most takeaways of anybody in the NFL. They are pretty good at it.”

Read below for Coach Mangini’s complete press conference transcript

New York Jets’ Head Coach Eric Mangini, 11.20

Opening Statement…

After reviewing the tape and talking to the team, the Bears are an outstanding team. When you play an outstanding team the margin of error is very small. They made more plays than we did and they were able to accomplish some things that we were trying to keep them from doing. That was the difference in the game.

Defensively I was encouraged by us holding them scoreless in the first half and only giving up 10 points in the game. I was, and I have been for a while, impressed with our goal line defense. They have done an excellent job of responding in that situation, which is a critical situation to winning and losing games.

Offensively, overall we ran the ball well, especially in the first half. We did some good things in terms of time of possession in the first half as well, and there were some good drives. We penetrated into positive territory four times but unfortunately couldn't come up with any points.

On special teams, overall I thought holding the two biggest play-makers from a coverage standpoint to one assist, keeping Devin Hester to seven yards, was an excellent effort. We were physical on special teams. I thought we could have executed the onsides kick a little bit better.

Moving on to Houston, we will be getting through the corrections here today, then everybody will be moving and working on Houston.

On the onsides kick…

That's always a difficult kick. It's one that he's improved on quite a bit. A little bit more height would have been good. There was decent height, but it could have been a little bit higher. As far as coverage is concerned, after watching the tape, we were even closer than I originally thought from the sideline. We had a really good opportunity there. I thought they made a nice play. They did a really good job covering it.

On Chicago recognizing the call for an onside kick…

Maybe they recognized it. I couldn't tell you. You'd have to ask them. I think it was more that it was a better play in terms of recovering a really difficult ball with four guys bearing down on you, and no real fact that they knew it was coming.

On kicking the ball to the right instead…

He's better on that side. That was the thinking there.

On the chemistry between the receivers and quarterback…

I think we all have things we can work on, whether it be the receivers, the quarterback, the tight ends, running backs. Everybody has things coming from the game that we need to improve, offensively, defensively and on special teams. I thought there were some really good plays in the passing game as well and some good examples of them connecting. It's all of us working to improve.

On the positives of the run game versus Chicago…

We had 91 yards in the first half, which is pretty good against, as I said, a good team. I thought that the fits, there was a lot of movement, for the most part did a good job of getting a hat for a hat and giving the runners a chance to get through. Cedric (Houston) did a really nice job with his opportunity, he had some good physical runs. I thought (James) Hodgins did a nice job as a lead blocker.

On Patrick Ramsey taking more reps this week in practice…

It will be the same as each week; Chad (Pennington) will be the starter, Patrick will have his normal reps, Kellen (Clemens) will be mixed in a little bit.

On Pennington’s performance in the past three games…

I think what gets lost is a lot of the plays that Chad got us into, because it's not really seen. You only see the final play call, but he'll be given different options coming out of the huddle. Based on the look, he'll check to one thing or the other thing. There were quite a few really positive plays that he got us into based on the look to help us with the drives we got. The one drive there that stalled on the five-yard line, him moving down the field, seeing what they're in, having the different options, it’s called 'check with me'. He ends up the line, what he tells everybody is essentially, check with me, I'll tell you what we're doing. He got us into a lot of good plays. That goes unnoticed.

On Pennington’s play versus Chicago…

Chad has made some good throws throughout the season. The throw to Jerricho (Cotchery) there, the one over by the sideline, I thought was a nice throw. I thought he had a couple nice throws on the stop routes there, a few of the inside breaker routes. There are a few that I'm sure he'd like to have back and we'd like to have back. But he's made quite a few good throws throughout the season.

On Pennington’s interceptions…

The throw that (Brian) Urlacher picked off, I thought he made a really good read on a play. I understood where Chad was going and why he was going there. Initially it looked good, but Urlacher is a pretty good player. He came over and made a great catch on a great read. They have the most take‑aways of anybody in the NFL. They are pretty good at it.

The one that I think he should have probably thrown away, I'm sure he thinks he should have thrown away, is the one where he threw across his body. The second best thing that can happen on a pass play is an incompletion. That would have been the best thing for us at that point.

On Laveranues Coles being open on the Urlacher interception…

It depends on the look. You have both those options. Based on what was called, it looked decent inside there. The play over to Laveranues' side broke through and he had an option there. But the play inside didn't look bad to Baker either.

On if Mangini faults Pennington for making the throw…

I understood what he was doing with that. It was a play that we had practiced. As I said, Urlacher did a really nice job breaking over and not only doing that but being able to convert on the catch. It was a pretty good catch, too.

On Coles being a decoy on the play…

Sometime it's based on the coverage. The coverage they were in usually takes you inside on that initially.

On the Bears’ pass-rush affecting the game plan…

Some of it was just based on the coverage they were giving us, where the weakness in the coverage was. This is a team now that's scored 30 plus points in five of their eight wins. A lot of those points, almost half their points, came on takeaways. It was very important to be able to control the ball, be able to run the football effectively, not give up points due to takeaways, and be able to understand where the pressure was coming from and where the weakness was based on the pressure.

On the Bears’ players commenting that they were reading the Jets’ offense…

You know, that (Urlacher’s interception) was relatively early in the game. I think he (Urlacher) makes a lot of plays that are instinctual. He's an outstanding player. I'm sure, like a lot of outstanding players, he saw something there that he was athletically able to break on and make the play. Overall there were receivers that we did have some options for and I think Chad did go through his progressions for the most part. We had some opportunities. We just didn't capitalize on those opportunities.

On offensive penalties…

Cadence is something that was very important to us. We had the third‑and‑one where we jumped, the third‑and‑six where they jumped. It worked both ways. That's something that we do work extensively on day in and day out and for a long time. That's something that we're going to continue to incorporate throughout the rest the season. We can't have multiple false starts.

On concern for Pennington becoming fatigued this late in the season…

This is my first season working with Chad. I talk to Chad quite a bit. I think physically he feels pretty good. We monitor him and we monitor all players. I think the reps in practice, the things we do, they're all catered to everybody being physically at their best point at the start of the game.

On Pennington’s progress since training camp…

I don't see a lot of difference where Chad was then and where Chad is now. I think he's done a good job. I think he'll continue to do a good job.

On if, in hind sight, Mangini would attempt the onsides kick again…

Yes.

On the players looking ahead at the remainder of the schedule…

I think if you stop focusing on what's in front of you, that's when you stop progress. The formula for success is looking at the next opponent. You see week in and week out teams with different records, teams that the statistics say one thing, the record says one thing, then the game unfolds and the game turns out totally different than what statistically it should or what based on record it should. The best way to perform each week is to practice and prepare the same way.

On execution…

I think we need to execute better. When you face a team that's as good as Chicago is, it all comes down to execution because the margin of error decreases substantially. It was 3‑0 going into the fourth quarter, and we missed a tackle on the blitz. That changes things. There were a lot of opportunities. There were a lot of opportunities across the board offensively, defensively, on special teams for us all to do a better job, myself included. We all have to continue to improve. That's what we did today. We looked at the tape. We're learning from those things. We're going to come back.

The players picked up their DVDs and started their work on Houston. We'll come back on Wednesday and our compete focus is Houston.

On the defense…

It's always the same equation. It's been something that we've talked about since training camp. When you blitz, you have to do it well. You have to hit the right gaps. You have to execute it effectively. On the flipside, if they're able to complete the pass, you now have to limit the six‑yard gain from being the 57‑yard gain, or against Jacksonville where it was a 41‑yard gain. Those are things that tie in with the front and the coverage. We've been blitzing quite a bit since the beginning. It's all based on risk/reward. Yesterday was a good example that at some point you do have the opportunity with less bodies back there to turn a six‑yard play into a big play.

On the coverage of the touchdown pass…

That was a blitz, all‑out blitz.

On if a safety was supposed to be back…

No.

On two corners being back…

Yeah. Somebody's band was going to play.

On the third man back…

Everybody was going. We had everybody covered. Pretty much you're out there. Talk about the island ‑ you're on it.

On gambling with blitzes…

We've done it since the Tennessee game. We did it during pre‑season. We've done it quite a bit. Again, it comes back to you where you have to hit more than you miss. You have to make it work. With anything like that, it's even more important that everybody is in the right spot, everybody's hitting the right gaps. One small mistake, the exposure increases, especially for the coverage unit.

On D’Brickashaw Ferguson’s movement on Pennington’s second interception…

Some of that was based on the pull of the play. I thought the end did a nice job staying upfield. If you remember earlier on the reverse, same type of action. Came down hard. That historically had been what they did. We hadn't really come back to that action for quite some time. I thought he did a nice job recognizing that. At that point you really just say 'uncle' and throw it away.

On the defense…

I've been pleased defensively over the past two weeks in the sense that two of the better offenses in the league, scored a total of 24 points. There were a lot of mistakes in both games defensively. There were a lot of things we could do better defensively. But to hold two teams like that to a total of 24 points and have that many things that we need to work on I think is in a way good news because there is room for improvement. That being said, you need to be able to hold up across the board in order to keep dialing that stuff up. There's going to be some games where you may want to blitz, but it's just not effective. It's not worth it to do it. It will be catered based upon the opponent.

On correlations between Pennington’s interceptions…

I think there is a mixture of things. I think it's the same thing as getting interceptions defensively. Some could be the throw. Some of it could be a good play defensively. I thought Urlacher made a really good play on that interception. That happens sometimes, where the defense makes a really good play. Sometimes it could be the receiver not having the right depth, not hitting the right spot. You try to throw things on time. They're not quite where they need to be, so the ball that should be completed, the window it should be completed in, now sails to a safety. It's not one consistent mark that you can just say, ‘That's the issue, and once we eliminate that, it will all take care of itself.’

On if Pennington needed to throw a fastball…

I think he was throwing it relatively quick. That guy's pretty good.

On Mangini’s confidence in Mike Nugent…

Each game that we go into, Mike (Westoff) and I talk about it when we get to the stadium, what yard line do we want to go from, what do we feel good about, what do we like. It will be based on the wind, the conditions, the hash marks, all of those different elements come into play. As we talked about those situations, I just thought that the alternative was the better choice at that time.

On making a quarterback change…

I think it would be like anything else: I think if someone had earned the opportunity and someone had clearly distinguished themselves, just like any other position, it would be evaluated. Everybody in every position is really under the same guidelines. It's not a special set for one position or another.

On considering the quarterback change…

Chad is the quarterback right now. Like I said, I thought there were a lot of decisions I really liked in the game. There's a lot of things that Chad does that I appreciate as a coach, I really respect. I think he does a nice job. As always, I'm sure he'd like to have that second interception back. I think the first interception was really an outstanding play on their part.

On making the decision to attempt the onsides kick…

It was really that I thought it was going to work. It wasn't about the offense or about the defense. I liked the play. Watching it in practice, watching how we executed it, seeing what they were doing in terms of the return game, seeing the match‑up we had, seeing the numbers we had, I really liked the play. Sometimes the plays you like don't work out the way you'd like them to.

On if they had decided at halftime to attempt the kick…

If we lost the toss or it had gone the other way, we would have started the game with it.

On deciding whether to go for it on fourth and 12 late in the game…

There was quite a bit of time on the clock there. I felt pretty good about getting them backed up. I thought the defense was playing really well at that point. If you get a three‑and‑out from the punt, keep them backed up, you have really good field position, you get a nice opportunity there to at least get through and ideally get seven.

On considering the Giants/Bears’ game from the previous week when making decisions…

Each game is different. Each defense is different, the approach. At that point I felt pretty good about our chances to get the ball back. We had been playing effectively on defense.