*Transcript of head coach Eric Mangini's news conference with the New York Jets media Friday morning: * *
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With yesterday's practice, I thought it was another good day. I really like the way the team's working. I like the intensity. I like the focus. I like the effort. I like the level of communication that we've had. In talking to the team, the most important thing is the process of preparing for any opponent. It's the meetings, practice and personal prep. When you focus on the process, the results come and I've been very pleased with that over the last couple of days. Today's another opportunity to string a third day together.
The other thing we talk about a lot is going out and practicing with a purpose from an individual perspective. We're going to work on the things we have to do in terms of the game plan, but each guy should go out there every day and say, "I'm going to get better at this skill-set."
D'Brickashaw [Ferguson] is a good example of that. He'll go out and work on his punch. It's something he wants to get better at individually. When he walks off the field, he should know, "Did I get better at this? Did I do the things I wanted to do in that one area for that one skill-set?" If he did, he's made progress. Same thing with Laveranues [Coles]. He's done a really good job throughout camp working on the tops of his routes. He's an excellent route runner. His stem is very good, his release at the line of scrimmage is an area he identified. Each day you see him working on that phase, so when he leaves the field he's gotten a little bit better in that area. It's a constant self-scout and it's a constant honesty with yourself as to what you need to get better at on this day that's going to help us. It's going to help them individually and it's going to help us collectively.
Today we'll move into the red area. We touched on that a little bit yesterday. We will review all the different phases, get some of the things we need cleaned up and top off the physical side of the preparation for the week.
On how he gets the team to take the same approach after an 0-2 start …
It's about talking about it every single day, reminding the group every single day and reminding each other every single day. As you enter the building, that's your mindset, to be consistent. If you're at home and you have a preparation routine, that's got to be your mindset: "Each week I'm going to have the same preparation routine." When you're 2-0, 0-2, 8-8, whatever it is, consistent level of preparation and consistent focus on the preparation is what leads to progress and what leads to better results.
On whether Teddy Atlas addressed the team after Thursday's practice …
He wasn't coming in to specifically address the team. He's got the ability to come in whenever he wants. Whenever he has an opportunity, he'll come out and spend some time. Sometimes it's just talking to different players at lunch or in the building or wherever it is. He's always welcome and I enjoy having him here.
On whether Ferguson has worked with Atlas …
Brick did some work during the off-season with the boxing program. He's always open to working with guys individually and evaluating guys on tape. The program we put in place this off-season stemmed from him sitting in on the offensive meeting postpractice where we were watching the tape and me talking about the offensive line's punch, the defensive line's hand placement, the defensive backs in the jam and the receivers when they go out and block a player. There's so much tied to hand placement and there's so much tied to the ability to strike just like you would with a jab and power angles with your hands. There's a correlation we both saw. That's why we wanted to move that program forward and formalize the relationship.
On who will return kickoffs with Justin Miller on IR ...
There will be multiple guys that will work back there. Throughout the preseason, with Justin not being available for a block of time, we were able to work different guys there. Leon [Washington] presents some problems. Brad Smith has a certain style. Wallace Wright has worked back there. Darrelle [Revis] has worked back there. All of those guys will have opportunities different weeks. Like the offensive and defensive game plan, you may want a certain type of runner based on the return that you have or based upon the coverage pattern they have. Having those four different options there, it gives you some flexibility.
On special teams kickoff coverage …
We've definitely focused on it. We've worked some different people there, we've worked some different patterns there. That's going to be true with any phase we have. You're going to constantly evaluate: What have we done, what could we do differently, and what do we expect from this team, not just what they've shown but what they've seen on tape that's worked against us. You've got to counter the issues that you had in the past. You have to be ready to counter the issues they presented in the past and then have a program to deal with both things as you go into the game.
We work quite a bit on it and we'll continue to work quite a bit on it. Now it's a function of going out and executing what we talked about. The lane discipline is so important as you go down and cover the whole field. The players that are responsible for setting the edge on the return, the force players have to do a good job pushing it into the funnel of the coverage. The safeties have to do a good job. You really try to create two different walls where you have the force guys and the bulk of the coverage unit, then you have the safeties and the kicker. You are really hoping it never gets to a kicker as a second point of coverage, but sometimes it does. "Nuge" [Mike Nugent] has actually been effective. He's had more opportunities than we'd like, but he's been effective.
On special teams coordinator Mike Westhoff …
Mike's pretty consistent with his level of being fired up. He's got the consistency part down, especially in that area. He does a great job. He's seen most things people present and he's invented or created a lot of things that are used today throughout the league over the course of his career.
On kickoff coverage …
Historically, we've had good kickoff coverage. It's something that's very important because when you have a kickoff return, it's coming either after you scored, which is a big momentum boost for your team and the best thing that an opponent can do or the best thing you can do if you're returning a kick is to get the ball out and change the momentum back, or it happens at the beginning of a half, which sets the tone for the drive that's coming. They're always based off of momentum plays or momentum times in the game. So it's important.
On whether he has any experience coaching special teams …
I was fortunate when I was in Cleveland, because when you're an offensive or defensive assistant or quality control coach, you do a lot of work with special teams. When I was in Cleveland, I worked a lot with Scott O'Brien helping out there during special teams periods. That's how you get to cut your teeth with some of the on-the-field coaching.
When I came to the Jets the first time, I worked with Mike Sweatman and was part of that process as well. Both Bills [Parcells and Belichick] felt that was important. We have the young guys work with special teams as well. We have a lot of coaches that have done significant work with special teams. Mike MacIntyre did a lot of work in Dallas and Jim Herrmann has done a lot of work in college football [at Michigan] with special teams. Usually every coach has a background in special teams to some degree because they've worked through it as they developed into whatever position they coach.
On his special teams philosophy …
You talk a lot about offense and defense, but it's a three-phase game. Special teams is just as important as the other phases. You can change field position dramatically and you can change momentum dramatically with good play on special teams. Field position translates into successful drives or non-successful drives.
We told the players if you get tired on offense and defense, you're going to come out on offense and defense before you come out on special teams. You're going to play those reps and we'll take you off the field on offense and defense if you need a break. Everybody is available to play special teams. It's crucial. We spend a lot of time working on it. We allocate a lot of meeting time and practice time to it. It's three equal phases of the game, even though it's not often talked about in those terms.
On trying to prevent the opposition from scoring on the final drive before the half …
Most of the drives happen as a result of third downs. We've spent a lot of time on third downs this week. Each week you've got to be able to get off the field when you have those opportunities. When you get down to a situation and it's third-and-goal, that's when it's crucial because that play becomes a four-point play. We haven't been able to turn those into field goals instead of touchdowns.
That's something we continue to focus on, and we spend a significant amount of time on two-minute, whether it's two-minute before the half or two-minute at the end of the game. We present situations that have happened in the league with putting our players in those situations, practicing it every day, showing teams in those two-minute situations, and talk about how they handled the clock management or how they handled whatever the case may be. It's important and I believe in it. I learned a lot about it from Ted Marchibroda [in Baltimore]. We're going to keep working at it and get better at it.
On whether he feels an urge to get more involved with coaching the defense …
You try to stay involved with all the phases on the same level and on a consistent level. It's important to not dramatically shift one way or the other way. All those phases are going to be important and you need to maintain the things that you've done well and you need to improve the areas that obviously you've had some struggles with. The approach needs to be consistent and that's the approach that I take with the coaching staff and with those areas.
On QB Chad Pennington …
He's continuing along the path that we have. I'm comfortable with his progress throughout the course of the week. It's a plan we've put in place and a plan we've worked out with him and with the doctors. We'll keep following that through today and through the weekend and evaluate it each step of the way.
With any injury situation, you have to go through the whole week. I've been part of decisions where it looks really good going into gameday and you do a pregame workout and it's not exactly what you expected. Or vice versa, you didn't look as good, you work out pregame and it looks great. You have to go through the whole process before you make that final decision.
On how often Curtis Martin is at the facility …
It varies. Every time I talk to him he's pretty busy working on a lot of projects, whether it be charitable or business. He's got a lot of irons in the fire. What I've told him is any time he wants to, he can come on by and spend some time. He's always welcome.
