Transcripts of news conferences and interviews in the Jets' Ralph Wilson Stadium locker room late Sunday afternoon following their 27-11 victory over the Bills:
HEAD COACH REX RYAN
Obviously we knew it was going to be a tough game. Buffalo was undefeated here, they're playing really well, a well-coached team, so we knew it was going to be a tough game. That's really what it was. I also knew that our team was going to come out guns a-blazing. We had that nice time off; finally happy to get a win after a bye week, so that's good; I've got that monkey off my back. Our guys were loose and focused — we were all week, and we're at our best when we play that way. Obviously we had too many penalties in the first half and we turned the ball over, so that was the biggest disappointment.
On the defense's physical style...
Your opponent dictates a lot of times what you play. It's give and take. That's how we play defense. We gave up an 80-yard drive at the end of the game there when we were up a bunch of scores, so that was disappointing. Obviously we're trying to stop them and keep them out of the end zone, but [Ryan] Fitzpatrick made a couple of nice plays there, so you've got to give him credit.
On the key to stopping the Bills' offense...
Playing New York Jets defense, and I think, when you look at it, we know how to play here. They spread us out to run the ball, and they do different things, but our personnel, I think the back end did a tremendous job. And we're a team — they feed off each other. It was just a great team effort.
On WRs Plaxico Burress and Santonio Holmes...
My hat's off to Plaxico. His back was bothering him, but he played great anyway. And I guess you guys can get off of Santonio. He only had one touchdown, but he affected two other ones with the [pass interference calls against the Bills]. Next week, I challenge somebody to come up with somebody else that's struggling, because it seems to work.
On the Jets' offensive struggles in the first half...
I don't know if concerned is the right word. It was frustrating, because we'd set it up and then turn the ball over. Again, our style of football is to eliminate penalties and protect the football, and that's kind of what we stand for. But we had a stretch there where we looked like the Bad News Bears.
On if there were any "frills" in their defensive strategy...
You'd need to bring that up to Fitzpatrick and ask him if he saw anything unusual. The interception we ran, he threw into trap coverage there. Maybe it's not as vanilla as it looks.
On TE Dustin Keller's injury...
It was a concern. He was definitely groggy. He did take a good hit on his shoulder and head; got up wobbly. Obviously you bring him in, make sure you go through the NFL protocol. We tested him, he passed all the tests and that's why he returned to the game. But I was concerned with him.
On Sanchez's interception in the end zone at the end of the opening drive...
It's tough down there because you don't have a lot of room to work with. It's got to come out quick, you've got to throw it in tight spots. Clearly, that kills you. You've basically got points on the board. Our kicker, Nick Folk, is outstanding, so you know you've got at least three points on the board. So we've got to do a real good job of protecting the football.
QB MARK SANCHEZ
On the slow start in the first half...
I thought we sustained a couple of really good drives, and then we just gave it away at the end. I've just got to be better in the red zone, can't throw picks like that. It's no good and it will get you beat. But I'm just proud of the way the guys battled and persevered through a tough first half. We ran the ball well and set things up. We got exactly what we game-planned for and we just didn't finish in the first half, but we ended up executing and capitalizing on some big plays and finished drives finally in the second half. So that was good.
On the interception in the end zone...
It kind of got away from me a little bit. It just sailed. Bad throws happen, but they just can't down there.
On how he feels about the different play calls that have been made through the wins and losses...
I'm not really worried if we run it or throw it a lot, as long as we're winning. We were pretty efficient in the passing game today. I was proud of the way guys really battled for the football when it was in the air. We blocked very well up front, had a lot of running lanes, had plenty of time to throw and got a couple of bounces, so that was good.
On if he feels that the offense could play better...
Like I said, we just didn't capitalize early. We could've scored early, I wish we would have, so we'll evaluate that. I was just proud of the way we battled. Mangold did a great job. Vlad [Ducasse] did a great job when he got in there. All three running backs really did well, John Conner got a touchdown. It was a great plan by Coach [Brian] Schottenheimer. When we stuck to the plan and finished drives, we were good.
On if people should stop talking about how the Jets can never seem to win after a bye-week...
It wasn't the amount of time off, it was just our execution the last few years in those games. The practice leading up to this week was exactly what we needed, and we're going to need that again this week for the divisional championship game.
On if his teammates were making sure he was feeling OK when he threw the interception...
No, guys know that I can battle and that I can play through adversity. It's obviously frustrating because you let those guys down, that's the worst part of it for me. I'm not worried about making bad throws or bad reads, I can get those right, I know I can fix that. You hate to let your guys down, so that's what it feels like when that happens. We bailed ourselves out of a couple penalties and a sack early, and to go down there and give them one like that, give them a cheap one, it never feels good, but those guys rallied behind me and I appreciate that.
On if he really feels the next game against New England is the 'divisional championship game'...
Next week. All these divisional games, this is for a championship and we need to win that thing. So it's going to be a big one for us.
On the botched shotgun snap...
It was just a crappy catch, bad catch. Shouldn't have happened. Stupid.
On being back in the division race...
It's getting momentum for us. We knew that the next three weeks, with two divisional opponents and then another AFC opponent, it's going to set us up nice. We want to make a good run in these three games in 18 days. We really needed to focus and eliminate distractions. When you're in the building, give your attention, give your effort and let it show on Sunday, and I think we did that at least in the second half today. We're going to need a great effort and we can't turn it over against those guys next week.
On why the majority of his turnovers have happened in the red zone...
That's the worst part. That's the worst play to have it. I think it's just the way things have gone, but those need to be eliminated.
On Dustin Keller's spirits after he was injured trying to leap over a defender...
I don't know where that came from. I know Coach Dev [Mike Devlin] can't jump that high so he's never showed him that. He's just got to be careful. He's 260 pounds, he's got to get violent on the sideline and use his body. He doesn't need to be jumping.
On the holding call against him when he was trying to block on the late Wildcat play...
It was terrible. That took 12 yards away from Joe McKnight, so that's no good.
On what was working for them during their consecutive scoring drives...
I don't know, we'll see on the film, but I thought we were hot. We got hot there for a while. The run game set up the pass game, the pass game was complementing the run game. We were rolling guys in, substituting quite a bit. We got PT [Patrick Turner] in there a bunch, [Jeremy] Kerley got a bunch of touches, so all these guys are coming along, we're really bringing them along each game plan. That was good to see, us moving down the field and marching down the field. We did it in the first half, we just didn't finish. When we finish those drives, it's huge momentum for us and its tough on the other team.
WR SANTONIO HOLMES
On his touchdown...
First off, it was a great pass from [Mark] Sanchez. The confidence he had and believing in me, that he can deliver a pass between what, two, maybe three defenders in the red zone. He placed it where only I could catch it. I know I had to grab it and pull it down and make a big play from it.
On the frustration in the first half...
Any game when you turn the ball over, you just get frustrated, no matter what. And I think we just have to do a better job of not turning the ball over. Early in the game, I think we could have put those guys away if we didn't turn the ball over down in the red zone. Unfortunate situation and things happen and we were still able to overcome it. Our defense came up and kept those guys out of the end zone. We knew coming in that those guys are one of the top teams in taking away the ball and it showed earlier in the game, but we did a better job of controlling the ball in the second half.
On the impact of being able to recover possession after turning over the ball so many times...
I think just giving our defense a chance to rest. Having all of those three-and-outs during the season, we're doing a better job the second half of the season that's come around. Just giving our defense an opportunity to rest up and knowing that teams want to take shots against our guys. And they like to run the ball and we'd like to give our team as much time on the sideline as possible. We did a real good job of controlling the ball, moving up and down the field against these guys. You know unfortunately, we did have a couple of turnovers.
On the encouragement to and from Sanchez that was given after the first half...
I'm pretty sure a lot of guys go up to him and talk to him. But my job is to always just to keep him high spirits, keep him laughing, keep him joking on the sideline, never let anybody see any of his frustrations. And he's doing a pretty good job of holding that. He's an NFL quarterback and he knows what he has to do and that the mistakes will come every now and then. He's an NFL quarterback. He's smart enough to go out, he still has to be up there like "I've got to finish this ballgame."
On if he felt the first pass interference call against him would get called...
I think those guys did a pretty good job of trying to cover us. But they obviously got caught and the refs were right on top of them when they needed to be and they made the calls that were necessary.
On the prospect of playing New England next week...
Probably once we get in tomorrow and watch the film of Buffalo. Evaluate the ins and outs of this game. And then we got an opportunity to get a head start on these guys.
WR PLAXICO BURRESS
On the rest of the Jets' season...
We are just going to keep playing football. That was the first half of the season. When we limit penalties, turnovers and things like that, we can pretty much do anything.
On playing well with his back injury...
To be honest, I did not even expect to play today. I just went out and played as hard as I could. The coaches have a lot of confidence in me to go out and make plays. We work hard in practice every day and it's going to come at the right time so we can be right where we need to be.
On next week's game against New England...
I'm thinking about them right now. There is no doubt about it. They are the team to beat in the division. We know what they are capable of doing. If we beat them and take care of business at home next week, we control our own destiny. We just need to go out there and play hard. We don't need to worry about what anyone else is doing. We just have to focus on what we are doing.
On what the Jets can do to keep winning...
We need to keep plugging away. There is a lot of hard work ahead of us and we know that. I have been doing this a while and I know how quickly things can change. We are going to focus on the little things that can make us better as a football team.
On playing today when he had a bad back all week
The training staff stayed on me for the past few days, stretching my sides and doing just about anything they could possibly do. The doctors and the training staff got me going today. I woke up this morning and did not think I was going to play. I woke up, stretched, said a couple of prayers and played as hard as I could.
RB SHONN GREENE
On how the game went...
It went almost exactly as we planned. I thought we played a really good game. There are still some things we have to clean up as far as penalties and turnovers. I think it was a team game and effort. It was a good victory.
On the Jets defense...
I think they played very well. They forced a lot of turnovers, which the opposing defense is good at. They didn't let them score until the end of the game. They did a great job.
On leaving the game with an apparent head injury...
I'm OK. I got dinged up a little bit. As I started going towards the sideline, I started feeling weird. I had to go through an evaluation. I could have come back, but we were ahead in the fourth quarter and it would not have made sense. I just stayed out.
On the Jets' first road win...
It is good to get rolling. You have to be able to do that in this league. It is hard to play away teams. You have to deal with the crowd. With this team, the crowd was into it throughout the whole game. We pulled away with it.
On what the victory says about the Jets...
It says we are back on track. I think we have some momentum going and hopefully it carries on.
CB DARRELLE REVIS
On how the game went...
We came out very fast on both sides of the ball. The offense did a great job. The special teams did well. We were collective today and the score showed.
On the game plan defensively...
We planned to play physical and aggressive. We had a couple of things in our defense that were different this week. The coaches challenged us to execute against [Ryan] Fitzpatrick and the Bills. We accomplished a lot this game on the defensive side and just made plays. That is what our defense did.
On if having many good defensive backs helps against Buffalo...
We always feel that we match up well when we play against Buffalo. That is how we approach it and look at it. We match up well. We have a lot of defensive backs on our team that contributed and made plays. When they spread out, they are almost the same as the New England Patriots. They try to find mismatches.
LB BART SCOTT
On getting back in the middle of the division race...
We didn't listen when you were counting us out. Now you'll be saying "The Jets are back" and we won't listen to that, either. At the end of the day we know that you guys don't know what the hell you're talking about.
On containing the Bills' offense...
It was the same plays they ran last year. They didn't put in any new magic formula. It's all about executing. That's still a good football team. But it's dangerous when a team that traditionally hasn't won starts winning. You have to handle success and that could be a dangerous thing. It could go one of two ways. You could be overconfident and you could be underconfident. Some people can always relish being the underdog and can't handle being the favorite.
That's still a quality football team. Whenever you have hope and belief, you have some of the wins and comebacks that they have had. They've always been a feisty team. They've always played hard and have always been a thorn in our side. Now we know we have to play four quarters, but across the board, we know we have maybe one of the most talented teams in the NFL.
On containing Bills RB Fred Jackson in the run game...
Well he made me look silly on the first play of the game. I had a clean shot at him and he swim-moved me. I always knew he was a very quality back. He has great vision and he is their No. 1 playmaker. We knew if we had the opportunity to slow him down, we had to stop him.
RB LADAINIAN TOMLINSON
On if the Jets' play early in the season was caused by less physical play...
I would not necessarily say that physical presence had been missing, but we had been starting out slow with penalties, turnovers and deficits early. A lot of times, we fell behind and could not stick to our plan. That is what you saw a lot of times.
Om next week's game against New England...
It is right there in front of us. If this is our time to take over and win the AFC East, this is the time to do it. This is the week it has to happen. We have the chance to put them at two losses in the division. We control our own destiny. If you can't get fired up and ready to play for this game, you shouldn't be playing. That's plain and simple.
On if the team has changed since the beginning of the season...
I think we are much different. We are playing at such a high level confidence- wise. I think we know who we are identity-wise. That makes a big difference. Typically, it takes a little part of the season to really find out what kind of team you are. We are playing good football at the right time.
On the offense's performance in the first half...
We were moving the ball fine but doing things to hurt ourselves. Whether it was penalties or turnovers, those things were costing us points in the first half. We talked about it at halftime. The guys came out and had great focus in the second half.
On why they are playing better than earlier in the season...
We are still jelling. We have new receivers and different things going on, on the offensive line with Nick [Mangold] playing hurt. Certain guys were banged up. We just didn't have our team together. We didn't have that rhythm. We hadn't had enough work together to really find who we are. That is the difference.
S ERIC SMITH
On the effort from all three units in the win...
That was the game we should be playing on offense, defense and special teams. That was the key. We were ready to play. Fast start and we finished the game
On playing against former teammate Brad Smith...
It was great to see Brad. I'm mad I didn't get to hit him a little harder, but it was good to see him.
