The Jets played perhaps their most complete game of the season against the Texans.  They were efficient in all three phases, but head coach Eric Mangini says there is plenty of room for improvement.  The 6-5 Jets hope to move two games over .500 next weekend in Green Bay.

"The good news is that collectively we played a lot better," Mangini said Monday.  "The better news is with as many mistakes as we made, we have a lot of room for improvement. That is what we're doing now. We're correcting the tape, going through the things that we can get better on.

"We'll focus on that throughout the week as we move into our preparation for the Packers," he added.  "The guys will finish up their tape work today, get their DVDs, their initial scouting report, and start their preparation for Green Bay."

New York Jets’ Head Coach Eric Mangini, 11.27

Opening Statement…

I just talked to the team. What I told them is I was really pleased with the group effort, all three phases contributed, making very important plays to put us in a position to win and eventually win the game. The good news is that collectively we played a lot better. The better news is with as many mistakes as we made, we have a lot of room for improvement. That's what we're doing now. We're correcting the tape, going through the things that we can get better on. We'll focus on that throughout the week as we move into our preparation for the Packers. The guys will finish up their tape work today, get their DVDs, their initial scouting report, start their preparation for Green Bay.

The players of the week this week: Offensively it was Chad Pennington. That was a tough decision with the performance that Jerricho and Laveranues had. I thought all three were good candidates. Chad won in a close decision. Defensively, Victor Hobson, I thought he did a real nice job in the run and passing game. He's been close for a few weeks now. This week was his week. I really have been pleased with not just his progress in base defense, but his progress in the sub-defense, some of the plays he's making that are within the context of the system but also just show really good awareness on his part.

On special teams, it was Mike Nugent, four-for-four (field goals), had the tackle (on a return), the career‑long field goal (54 yards). I thought he did a pretty nice job with his kickoffs. This is one time where we're actually splitting the special teams award. The guy that he's splitting it with to me is a great example of what we're looking for organizationally. Came to the coaches, came to Mike (Westhoff) and said, I want to start playing on special teams, I want to contribute there. We gave him the opportunity during the week to work on the teams. We're going to play him in the game because of what he did during practice. Then Justin McCareins goes out and makes two tackles on the kickoff team. He hasn't played on special teams for three years. He seeks out the chance to play, does a great job in practice, goes in the game, has two tackles. I think that was just an outstanding not only effort on his part but just shows all the things we're looking for from the players, where everybody is trying to contribute in whatever way they can.

Our most important award is always the practice player of the week. That went to Joe Kowalewski. He gave us a real nice look. Plays tight end on the show team, but also works some on defense as well. He's a high motor guy, really knows only one speed. You always know a practice player is doing his job when he can frustrate the defense, and they're angry throughout practice because of the tempo that he's setting. Joe consistently makes people angry (laughter).

Offensively what I was most pleased with was no turnovers. The fact we had no turnovers, no penalties, we were able to beat man-coverage, which is something we talked about all week. We had the long drive that didn't take very much time but resulted in a touchdown ‑ long in terms of yards. Then we had the long drive in terms of time at the end of the third quarter, start of the fourth quarter, which I thought was key to getting the game under control.

Obviously we have some things we have to work on in the running game. There were some good plays there, but there were too many negative plays, too many missed opportunities we had. It's not a case of it just being the running backs. They're not alone. Everybody needs to improve the offensive line, the tight ends, the scheme. That's something that we'll continue to work on. There are some good things to build off of, but we need to continue to improve on a weekly basis.

Defensively I was pleased with the turnover. I was pleased with the fact that we were able to stop the run as effectively as we did yesterday. Also you see now where week-in and week-out the game plan changes, we're not pressuring as much, playing the base defense, the core stuff we've been doing for a long time, doing that effectively, but disguising and giving looks that create confusion offensively.

On special teams, Mike's field goal was outstanding. We gave Justin Miller a little grief about getting tackled by a backup quarterback on his opportunity. He had a nice wall being built there. That was a heck of a tackle by Sage (Rosenfels). Putting the punt there down to the four- or five-yard line late in the game, the on‑side kick recovery from Laveranues, a little lonely over there, he did a nice job coming up with the ball.

Overall, again, I thought it was our best collective team effort, which is good news. There's plenty for us to improve on, which in a way is good news as well.

On Mike Nugent’s field goal leading into halftime…

It's always nice to be able to capitalize on field position. We had those negative plays there which usually knock you out of field position. That's something you always want to avoid. Mike Westhoff felt really strongly about Nugent's ability to kick it. We talked about that before the game. Somewhat based on conditions, somewhat based on the warm-up, things like that, he felt strongly about it, so thought we'd give it a shot. Mike really nailed it. Mike is the type of guy that everybody cheers for because of the way he works, the way he cares. He's easy to root for. Obviously, everybody wants three points, but aside from that, it's just good to see him hit that type of field goal.

On taking a chance on Nugent with long kicks in the future…

I think once you get one on the board, it always helps to make the next decision. But it will still be week to week. The surface changes a lot of things. The hash mark changes a lot of things. There are a lot of factors that go into it. It won't be a universal, ‘We're definitely going to kick it from this point or that point.’ It ties into the game day as well as him being able to hit that, which I think helps his argument.

On problems with Chad Pennington’s shoulder today…

Not that I'm aware of. It looked fine to me.

On Pennington taking extra treatment…

No. It was more a case of getting the wind knocked out of him as opposed to anything bigger than that.

On establishing one back for the running game…

It's not a function of one guy or another guy, one style or another style. They're complementary. Having complementary skill sets helps because it's different things that the defense has to prepare for. What we need to do is collectively execute the plays better. That's the path of the running back, the hole that they hit, getting a hat for a hat with the offensive line, the lead blocker, the tight ends, the mesh point of the quarterback, the perimeter play by the receivers, making sure they have their guys blocked. All that stuff ties them together. The situation we had yesterday isn't tied to one person or one play. It's such a group effort that everybody has to continue to improve if we're going to successfully run the ball game in, game out.

On the Texans holding the Jets to 27 yards rushing…

I thought that Houston did a nice job with some of the things they did. They brought some more pressure than they had shown, some different types of pressure. I know we talked about that last week, where they had those game plan packages that are unique to the New York Jets, they had those a little bit more than we had anticipated. Some of that ties in to some of the games they were running. It really wasn't one point where you can say, it's this or that. It was really a group effort.

On the growth of Jerricho Cotchery this season…

Opportunity is some of it. He earned that right during training camp. As he's gotten in the game, he's taken advantage of it. He's tough. His run after the catch is impressive. He's fast, but he's also very strong. The play he made against New England, to be able to stay up, even though he had been hit by two guys, and finish the run. He made a nice play on the over rout where he essentially jumped up and took the ball. He attacked the football. That gave him the chance to catch it there. He has a lot of characteristics outside of his ability that you're seeing more and more week in and week out.

On opponents predicting the strengths of each running back…

It would be hard because we've mixed the plays. For example, (Kevan) Barlow ran the flip play yesterday, which he hadn't. We historically used Leon (Washington) on that. Some of the other core runs, they all run those. I don't think there's a definite tie-in. The way that they run those runs actually helps us because they are a little bit different.

On not running the ball well…

New England really hasn't given up very many hundred-yard rushing games. We had 117 against them. We ran it down in the red zone three or four consecutive plays against a pretty good red zone defense, a very good rushing defense. We had 97 yards in the first half against Chicago. We’d like to obviously build on that. Those are two pretty good defensive teams that we had over a hundred yards against. I think you could go either way on that.

On opening up the passing game by having the run game stifled…

I think that's a good sign. If their philosophy is to take away the run, then arguably they went into that game thinking this is something that we're going to have to deal with and stop to be successful. Any time they do that to be able to attack what is there, that's always a good thing.

On being more aggressive defensively…

There were two games there where we did blitz a little bit more. Yesterday in terms of max pressure, I think we hold one the whole game. There were some zone blitzes mixed, in but one max pressure the whole game.

On the defense playing faster and more aggressively…

I know we talked about it the Thursday before the bye week. I had mentioned that I thought the defense had had its best practice of the season. I see that continual progress. There were several times we were just in a base front, in a base defense, and it was plus zero, minus one in the running game. The interception was just three-deep coverage, standard what they play in high school, college. Not too exotic there. It's the understanding of this is how the defense is played, this is where the fits are, this is how the running game should be played, the core runs, the passing game. As the guys continue to work in it, mix in things that really we've been mixing in since training camp, now it complements each other. To be able to do both successfully is going to be so important each week that we move forward.

On Bob Sutton…

Bob has done a nice job since the beginning. I think everybody, as you get more experience, you learn from mistakes, you learn from the things you've done well. Whether it's Bob or Brian or me, the players, Mike, each week the goal is to sit back and say, ‘Okay, here is what we did well, here is what we did poorly, here were the personnel mismatches, the preparation errors, these were the key mistakes.’ That's what we do every Monday in our staff meeting, each coordinator lists those things. We talk about them. We talk about the players. We talk about all the things we can do better. Now if we play that opponent again, we have that. But we also have that as a continual self‑scout to lead into the next game.

On running the quarterback sneak on fourth-and-one…

That was a situation we work on. Really the play has three different options. Chad has the ability to use any of those options. You go out there, you see how they respond. If they give you something, you take it. If you don't, you have an option to get out of it. It's a little bit of a situational awareness play where you put it out there and see what's given and what's taken away, make a decision then.

On if the first option is to draw the defense offsides…

We used cadence quite a bit. We've been using that throughout the year. Something that drew them off-sides a few times yesterday. I think that is very important, not just specific to the Texans, but to operate effectively offensively because it takes away the rhythm of the pass‑rushers and timing of blitzes, things like that.

On the toughness of Pennington…

I think who he is, the way he is, the way he works, the way he approaches things, and as we talked about, there is no blueprint for what he's gone through. He's really breaking new ground in terms of a quarterback coming back from two surgeries to his throwing arm. There's nothing historically we could draw from and say that this is how it will go. Every injury is different, so you never know. There's really no body of work to base it on. Chad is the type of guy that's not going to be denied. That's how he approaches everything.

On using the fourth-down play late in the Giants-Titans game as an example…

I've only seen it on the highlights. I have to see it. We'll get all the different situations from the week in the NFL. We'll cut those up, teach off any of those that we can throughout the league. That would definitely be one to look at.

On Sunday being an exceptional game for Pennington…

Even when we're talking about the Chicago game, when I mention there are a lot of things he did really well, he does them well each week. Sometimes they result in touchdowns, the big plays. Sometimes they result in getting out of a bad play. Even though it's a gain of one or two, it's a heck of a lot better than what would have happened if you had kept the original call on. He's done that since training camp. It's a great quality.

On Green Bay playing tonight slowing down preparation…

No. There are plenty of games for our guys to work on. That's what they'll be moving forward on. We usually start our prep work a little bit on Friday with the initial breakdown at the hotel (Saturday), stuff like that. You're always trying to get a jump. I think it's good.

On playing at Lambeau Field…

I've been there only once. It was during preseason. It's always nice to go to the places that you've seen, that have such an incredible history. But it's nice to go there and leave there the way that we're always looking to leave.

On preparing for the weather in Green Bay…

It was pretty cold here on Thanksgiving. Ask any of those guys. It was cold, wet and windy. There was plenty of complaining on that day. They got a little bit of a head start there. I don't know what the weather report looks like. Maybe we'll get some extra cold weather here this week. I don't know.

On players complaining during practice…

We have a lot of loud music playing (laughter). Usually tunes most of it out. I think complaining happens anywhere. I'm sure I've complained my share.

On Adrian Jones being inactive…

It was just a coaching decision.

On looking towards the playoffs…

I definitely appreciate the excitement of the fans in terms of the playoffs,. I think that's great. I think it's a good thing to be in that situation. Philosophically, though, I believe if you start worrying about what another team is doing, worrying about two or three games down the road, thinking about what could have been if we had done this in that game, you lose track of what's important, which is the next opponent. The only thing that's important for us is to control the games that we can control and win the games that we can win. All that other stuff takes care of itself. That's what I've experienced. That's what I've seen. That's the formula that I know works. I definitely appreciate the excitement and the thoughts behind it. I just philosophically believe this is the best approach and really the only approach.