Pete Kendall, who is in his 11th NFL season, certainly knows what it’s like to be judged, whether positively or negatively, by the media and fans.
“It’s not a surprise. That’s the nature of the beast; that’s the way it goes around here,” said Kendall about some of the recent criticisms quarterback Chad Pennington has received. “Again, I didn’t seem to hear too many complaints last week. It is part of the business. Chad has been through it before; we’ve all been through it before. Our job is to go out there and win games. That is the expectation and when we don’t do it, nobody is more disappointed than we are.”
Read below for transcripts from Inside the Jets Locker Room
New York Jets’ G Pete Kendall, 11.20
On defenses doing different things to the Jets…
The defenses have made some adjustments. Earlier in the season, the running game wasn’t where it needed to be and now, we’ve been able to run the ball a little bit better. If you look at yesterday’s game, the only thing we didn’t do satisfactory in the first half, was score points. We had the ball twice as long as the Bears, we ran the ball for nearly 100 yards, we were efficient on third down, the only thing we didn’t do is score points. It’s hard for a quarterback to throw for 300 yards when 20 attempts are called. We all try to play within the system, to execute the game plan, whatever it is that the coaches give us to try and win the game. I thought that they gave us a good game plan yesterday and they’ve been giving us good game plans the whole season.
On the team’s confidence in Chad Pennington not wavering…
I would think so. Certainly for me, I agree with what Eric Mangini said, Chad has done a lot of things, not just yesterday, but through the year where he gets us into the right play at the line of scrimmage. It the right play is a pass, it gets thrown, if the right play is a run, it gets called. Of course, every time you run the ball, it’s one less chance to throw it.
On how Chad Pennington could have missed Brian Urlacher…
He ran from the other side of the field, that’s the first thing. Brain covers a lot of ground, that’s the reason why he’s been all-pro so many times. The other thing is, he’s down there in the tight red-zone, there are 22 bodies there and it’s easy for the game to start moving real fast. Chad has been, I don’t think tremendous is too strong a word, throughout his career in the red-zone I think that was only his second thrown interception in seven years. I’m sure if you asked him, he’d like to have it back, but nobody is going to play a perfect game.
On the media and fans being hard on Chad Pennington…
It’s not a surprise. That’s the nature of the beast, that’s the way it goes around here. Again, I didn’t seem to hear too many complaints last week. It’s part of the business, Chad has been through it before, we’ve all been through it before. Our job is to go out there and win games, that’s the expectation and when we don’t do it, no body is more disappointed than we are.
On being off-sides at home…
We do some things with cadence and you know how the old saying goes, sometimes you get the bear and sometimes the bear gets you. It worked for us yesterday as well, I think we had one sequence where it was third-and-one and we went off-sides, it was third-and-six and they went off sides and we were right back to where we started and third-and-one. I think in the end, the cadence has proven to be a better weapon for us than it has been a detriment. It hasn’t come without its ups and downs.
New York Jets’ WR Jerricho Cotchery, 11.20
On how tight Chicago’s coverage was…
They deserve some credit to a certain degree, but a lot of things were self-inflicted wounds that happened throughout the game. We just didn’t play consistently throughout and we didn’t execute the way we wanted to execute. Any time you don’t do that against a good defense, the outcome won’t be good.
On how much was good defense and how much was self-inflicted…
A lot of glaring things yesterday were self-inflicted. A lot of people didn’t play well or consistently throughout the game and in the end, that proved to be the deciding factor.
On wavering confidence in Chad Pennington…
No, not at all. We just know as a group, offensively, we need to continue to work at it every day, continue to go by what we see on film and continue to communicate with each other and I think we’ll be alright.
On how close they are to “clicking…”
We’re close to getting back where we want to be. Everything takes time. We just have to hold up an our end of the ball, because the defense it constantly getting better each week. As a team, we’re constantly getting better, we’ll just continue to work hard every day and see where it takes us from there.
On how chemistry between a quarterback and his receivers can be lost…
Chemistry is a thing that doesn’t just come and once you have it, you have to continue to work at it so you can keep it. Somewhere along the line it got lost, but we’re not in panic mode right now, we’re just going to continue to work hard every day. On offense, we’re just trying to get better to hold up our end on the ball.
On if it becomes harder when you get off to a bad start…
That’s true, to a certain degree. You always want to come out with that type of energy, and that will allow you to do things well, as an offense. Any time that you don’t come out with that energy and the execution, all the things you want to do as an offense, it slows things down. Half time allows you to regroup, so you’ll be able to come out the way you wanted to at the beginning of the game. We just have to execute better and more consistently as an offense.
New York Jets’ TE Chris Baker, 11.16
On if anything is wrong with Chad Pennington…
He looks fine to me, I don’t think there are any problems. It’s tough to win in this league and you can have an up and down game, that’s the way it goes. I know how he is and he’s working hard, so he’ll be ready to go come Wednesday.
On if he saw Vasher coming across…
Yeah, I saw him over there, when I turned. He was kind of hanging back in the zone defense. There was obviously a lot of pressure on the play.
On offensive chemistry…
That’s part of it. Our timing is a little bit off and that makes it tough, when you’re off like that, but that’s why we practice, to get back on the same page. Once we do that we’ll be fine.
On opposing defenses doing different things…
Honestly, most of the defensive game plans have been pretty much what we’ve been practicing and we know what to expect when we come out. And the game plan… the coaches do a good job of getting us ready. We just have to execute our offense, because our offense is hard to defend, we just have to execute it. Once we do that, we’ll present those problems that we did earlier in the year to the defenses.
On if teams are ready for the no-huddle…
No, because there were quite a few plays where we were running the ball and they were still looking to the sideline to get the calls. It’s not that, it’s just us not being on the same page and getting the things done that need to get done. When you have those breakdowns, it makes it hard to move the ball and put points on the board.
On the confidence in Chad Pennington…
He’s been around for a while and he knows what to say to get us going. He’s our leaders, so throughout the game, he’ll say, “C’mon guys, lets get it going,” and things like that. He inspires a lot of confidence.
New York Jets’ CB Drew Coleman, 11.20
On if the field caused him to slip…
I just tried to get outside leverage and as I looked up, I was sliding. I don’t know if I slipped or if the turf made me slip, but I fell. I was out of wack, and he made a good move; he faked outside and came back in, so that could have done it, or the turf, or cleats. You could blame a lot of things. He made a good play and got a touchdown, it was game-changing play.
On if the blitzes make him feel out-of-wack…
That the corner’s job; they’re paying us to be out on “the island” and make plays. It was a tough break for me, he made a good move and scored. I just have to look past it and get ready for
Houston.
On if he’s surprised by his playing time…
Coming in, the coaches told me to keep working hard on technique and the fundamental things, and I would get my chance, and when I did get my chance to run with it.
On how important it is to move on…
You have to. I can’t keep dwelling over that play for the whole game. There was a lot of game left when we got the ball back, if the offense could go down and get a field goal, it would be a game again. I was never out of the game. As soon as I came back, the whole defense, even Chad Pennington, said, “Get it out of your head, we’re going to try and get some points on the board.” It was in the back of my head, but they did a good job of saying, “Don’t worry about it, we need you for the rest of the game.”
On why the defense has been playing so much better…
We’ve just been trying to get after people and not sit back, letting them pound us with the running game, take advantage of us and let them get us on our heels. We’ve been trying to get them off balance and create turnovers by changing it up and giving different looks.
On if he will change his cleats next Sunday…
Yeah, I’ll change my cleats next week. I’ll get some longer ones, and I might go to Reebok, I wore Nike last week.
On if the turf was slippery…
Bradley made a good move. Everyone was slipping the whole game, everyone slips on that turf, so I can’t sit here and blame it on the turf. He made a good move, it wasn’t a slick spot.
On why that field is so slippery…
It’s the little beads in it. They’re good traction if you actually catch the traction, but if you slip up a little bit, you don’t plant right, if you drop down on the side of your foot, you’ll slip. It’s very hard, you have to practice on it and get used to it.
New York Jets’ RB Cedric Houston, 11.20
On how his leg felt…
My leg was fine coming off the injury. I didn’t have any soreness after the game, and it just felt pretty good out there running yesterday.
On Chicago’s front seven…
It’s a great defense. Urlacher is bigger than I thought he was, he looks like he’s about 6’8” and 300 pounds, but it was good to get out there and get back in the flow of things.
On the hit Leon Washington took from Brian Urlacher…
He’s a big, fast guy, but Leon is a tough guy and I knew he would get right up and go back to the huddle.
On if he did enough to secure a spot in the running rotation…
You can never do enough, but it was good to get back out there and share carries with Kevan Barlow and Leon Washington and just get out there and try to make play. I think I did a pretty good job yesterday.
On the Jets’ good running game against a good defense…
The offensive line has been doing a great job all year. We just have to have a hat-for-a-hat, like Mangini says. Every time we have a hat-for-a-hat and everybody is blocking somebody, we usually have a good running game.
On getting back into the game…
I knew when I did get out there, I had to be effective. There wasn’t a sense of urgency, but I knew once I got in there, I had to make some plays.
New York Jets’ K Mike Nugent, 11.20
On the missed onsides kick…
If you don’t get it, it didn’t go the right way for us. I could have done a little better job of executing it. I hit it decently, just not well enough. I wanted the ball to get up in the air so we could get under it a little better. It was one of the calls that was really a surprise to them, no one had any clue that it was coming and we felt like it was a good time to execute it.
On one of the former Jets tipping off the Bears to the onsides kick…
I spoke to him (Darrell McClover) after the game and he said that he went over to the guy who caught the ball and said be ready for it. I’m not sure if it’s something they are always ready for all the time, so that might have been the case. I wasn’t really sure if he really picked up anything from it, I really couldn’t tell you.
On not going for a field goal from 50 yards…
The flags on top of the upright weren’t really saying much, but there was a little wind in our face and it was kind of tough to kick them from that point in warm ups.
On trying to get a higher bounce on an onsides kick being the luck of the draw…
No, not really. A lot of it is technique and it has a lot to do with your plant foot and the way you hit the ball. I hit it decent and it popped in the air decently, but not enough for what we needed with the way they were positioned.
On his field goal range…
The yard line would be the 36-37, that would be a 53-54 yard kick.
