Transcripts of Kyle Orton's and Josh McDaniels' conference calls with Jets reporters this afternoon:
DENVER QB KYLE ORTON
On what he sees from the Jets defense on video…
A lot of good players, a good scheme. A team that thrives on taking the ball from you.
On if the Broncos' approach changes if Darrelle Revis does not play…
I don't think so. We try to throw the ball to the open guy. If that's on Revis, that's on Revis. If it's on somebody else, then it's on somebody else.
On being confident going against a Jets defense that is ranked 22nd against the pass…
We have a lot of good players on offense as well, so we have a lot of confidence going into every game.
On if they need to run the ball better to have success…
Yeah, no question. We have to be able to find a way to stay two-dimensional. It's going to help out a lot of things — situational football it will help out in, it will help out in pass protection. It will help out, obviously, with our play-action, so if we can find a way to get some success in the running game it would certainly help.
On where the team has struggled…
We just haven't executed as well as we need to. We've moved the ball pretty well, but when we've gotten into some situational football in the red zone and some other areas, we've struggled a little bit. We're working hard to get it right.
On the Denver receiving corps…
We just have a versatile group, a group with a lot of guys that can do a lot of things, whether it's catching the ball deep, catching the ball short and running with it or running good intermediate routes. I think they're very versatile and very selfless. Guys are happy to take one for the team and get their buddy open behind them.
On Antonio Cromartie…
A good player, a good athlete. Really, one thing I see from everybody on the defense is they're trying to take the ball, always trying to take the ball, trying to turn it over, and he's certainly one of the best at intercepting it.
DENVER HEAD COACH JOSH McDANIELS
On what he's seen from LaDainian Tomlinson this season…
He's certainly off to one of the best starts of his career. He's got great quickness. Again, we're familiar with him out here because we played against him a few times last year and I've played against him a number of times in my career. He's a complete back. He can run with speed. He can run with power. His quickness has really shown up this year. His ability to find holes behind that big offensive line has certainly gotten off to a good start this year. It's going to be tough to handle. They do a great job of scheming things for him and he does a great job of complementing the other back.
On if going into the season he expected his offense to be pass-heavy…
It's certainly not what we wanted. I think we've really had to be one-dimensional in some instances and then in other instances we just haven't been able to get our running game on track for whatever reason. We're happy that we've been able to pick up some of the slack in the passing game, but certainly that's not a formula to play the entire season with. We're striving to become more balanced and we're working hard to do that during the course of the week.
On if the Jets and Ravens are similar teams and if that's a bad matchup for them…
No, I think that every week in the NFL's a different team and different opponent. You've got to prepare hard, you go through your preparation and your game plan and try to figure out the best way to play each team. The Jets are different than Baltimore. They're not the same. We've got a great challenge ahead of us. New York is excellent in all three phases and a very tough, physical team that challenges you on defense with their man coverage and pressure schemes and also runs the football extremely well on offense and throws it when they want to. They're probably the best kicking unit that we've played as a whole up to this point this season. We've got our work cut out for us but we're looking forward to the preparation.
On the issues with the Broncos' run defense…
Last week was the first time we really lost a ton of possessions decidedly. Our defense was out there for 36½ minutes or whatever it was, and anytime you're capable of running the ball 40-some times, it means you have control of the game, which Baltimore did. I think that just goes back to our ability to play complementary football offensively, staying on the field, taking care of the football and trying to help our defense out by not having them out there all day. And our defense has to play better if they're out there longer. There's certainly no excuses for allowing a team to run the ball as well as Baltimore did and we've got to do a better job of playing run defense and also taking care of the football possession on offense.
On Kyle Orton's play this season…
He's certainly had to throw the ball more than we like. Kyle's really responded well to the challenge. He's had to be a big part of how we move the football so far. He's done a great job. He's fit in there and made some big throws. We focused on some things in our offense in the offseason and he really started this year off very well in terms of his deep balls, his ability to push the ball down the field, and he's been very accurate. He's also taken care of the football. We're going to need to have that kind of play from our quarterback all year long and Kyle's really been up to the challenge so far.
On what makes the Jets' blitz packages difficult to block…
Rex [Ryan] does an excellent job of never really letting you get comfortable. He changes his looks up front. They change their packages in terms of personnel and really do a great job of disguising and working together with the front and the covers. Everybody's responsible to do their jobs and the Jets and Rex's scheme really forces you to work together and every guy is responsible for something. As soon as somebody makes a mistake, then you have a problem. They just continue to put pressure on you for four quarters and in certain games, at some points, they've really had an opportunity to make a lot of plays with their pressure defense. And we're going to have to be on top of it for four quarters on Sunday.
