As if New Year's Eve wasn't festive enough, the 2006 New York Jets made December 31 a lot more thrilling for Jets fans. At 1:00 p.m. Eastern time on Sunday, the 2-13 Oakland Raiders will be the only thing standing between the Jets and a playoff berth. Head coach Eric Mangini feels that the Green & White faithful will be just as they have been all year long: energetic and contagious.
"The atmosphere at the stadium is always great," Mangini said. "I appreciate that excitement. I enjoy hearing the cheers, and when they get going - it's great. And our guys feed off that, everybody feeds off that. The energy is great, and our job is to go in and do what we need to do against Oakland and give them something to cheer loudly about."
Read below for Coach Mangini's complete press conference transcript
New York Jets' Head Coach Eric Mangini, 12.26
Opening Statement
The Players of the Week for us; offensively Leon Washington, defensively Jonathan Vilma; on special teams it was Mike Nugent. Our practice Player of the Week, which is always our most important player, was Matt McChesney. He gave us a really good look at the way that their line blocks, and he's a high tempo, high-motor, aggressive guy that is a tempo-setter at practice. So he's worked very hard over quite a few weeks, and this was his week to get that award and I thought he did a great job.
Yesterday was a tough game, tough place to play, and tough weather conditions against a good team that's playing good football. What I was most happy with was the way that as the game swung back and forth, which we knew it would, the team collectively responded. There were things that came up in all three phases that we had to respond to and we were able to move on to the next play, deal with the adversity, and finish the game, which is exactly what we had talked about going in. We knew it from the first game, and just understanding the way the Dolphins played, we had a good sense of that's how it was going to go, and I really liked the way that the team responded.
Offensively, we made some big plays when we had to. Defensively, we did a really good job on third down, which is a key part of why we won. And on special teams, I thought that Mike (Nugent) made a great kick there at the end to seal the game. I was very pleased with that. Just like any week whether you win or lose, there's a lot of things that we need to clean up and we'll address that tomorrow in addition to the Oakland installation. We'll make sure we learn from the mistakes we made this past week and continue to make progress.
On what types of things need to be cleaned up…
It would not be one specific area. It could be the way we ran a route. It could be the fit in the running game as to how we were supposed to get up on the second level defensively. It could be a blitz, the gap integrity of the blitz, the way we played one of their blocking schemes, or there were a couple new schemes there they introduced last night which could come up here this week. So it's a lot of those things that you have every week where it may be core offensive and defensive plays, but maybe some new looks you have to get coached up in case you see it the following week.
On Andre Dyson…
He got a little banged up and I'll have an official report here tomorrow. We're monitoring it here today, and I'll be able to give you more information tomorrow.
On the approach this week…
This is definitely an exciting time of year for us, but our approach will be consistent just like it was with Miami. We need to take care of what's in front of us, and what's in front of us is the Oakland Raiders. That's all our focus has to be on. Anything else after that point we'll address when and if it happens. The key thing for us is to take the same consistent approach that we had in week six, week one, week 12, that's how we've been able to make progress. That's how we've been able to be successful and that's not going to change.
On what type of atmosphere he is expecting from the fans against Oakland…
The atmosphere at the stadium is always great. I appreciate that excitement. I enjoy hearing the cheers, and when they get going, it's great. And our guys feed off that, everybody feeds off that. The energy is great, and our job is to go in and do what we need to do against Oakland and give them something to cheer loudly about.
On appreciating the team's accomplishments this season…
I've appreciated how these guys have worked since the first organized team activities, since the off-season program into training camp throughout the course of the season. It's gotten better and better, the personal preparation, the level of intensity across the board, the level of execution of practice. To me, what I'm most proud of is the progress that we've made and the work ethic these guys have had. We've talked for months and months about controlling things, and we're firm believers that we control the things that happen to us based on the way that we have prepared, based on the way that we work and based on us carrying that over into Sunday. That's been a consistent approach in that we control what happens by the things that we do.
On communicating that message of consistency to the players…
That's been something that we've been talking about for a long time. We've worked extremely hard and the things that we've practiced have come up in games, and we've been able to execute on those things and take advantage of some opportunities. The level of conditioning that they have worked at where a drill is going on and they are running behind the drill, and as we get into the fourth quarter, we have got an edge in conditioning and they see that and they see how their opponents are responding. It could be the way that we execute a play in practice. Maybe it was not executed very well in practice and it's not executed very well in the game and you can draw the practice play and put it next to the game play and show the parallels there. It's consistently reinforcing that you play like you practice and you execute like you work.
On Chad Pennington's performance in the rain vs. Miami…
We didn't have any rain this week. If we had, we would not have been in the bubble. We were trying to simulate the humidity in the bubble. But we had the exposure of the rain prior to New England and then in the New England game, so there was some familiarity with that. The rain always makes it more challenging. The throw that Chad made to Justin McCareins at the start of the second half, the touchdown pass to Jerricho (Cotchery), there were some other big plays mixed in there that were also important. Some other things that were not as obvious, like getting us into a good play or out of a bad play; I thought Chad responded well.
On the team's discipline and the lack of penalties…
We've been working at that for a while. We have the officials every day at practice; if you do get a penalty in a game or a turnover, you run the following week. It's just reinforcing that we can control these things. We try to understand how the rules are being interpreted, which Mike Westhoff does a really good job of; not just explaining the rules but explaining how they are being interpreted and how they are being called. Then we try to educate the players on that, have it reinforced by the officials at practice and make sure that we practice clean football so that when we get into the game, we can play clean football.
On being proud of the team…
I'm definitely proud of things that we have done and progress that we've made. This is an ongoing process, and we have another opportunity here this week to make progress and go out and execute. Consistency is the goal. Finishing is a core Jets value and this is part of finishing the regular season. That's going to be a big focus of ours this week.
On the core Jet values…
Communication is the first one. It's better for us to all be wrong together than to be half wrong and half right. The ability to focus. To be able to focus on an individual play or on an individual meeting or an individual practice. That's another one that we talk about all the time. Finishing. Whether it's finish the play, finish the drive, finish the game, finish the season. Those are three of our things that we constantly are preaching about.
On Pennington's arm strength…
The tapes that I watched, I thought Chad threw the ball well. He hit Justin (McCareins) for 42 yards and the middle read there to Jerricho (Cotchery). He's made a lot of big plays with his arm this year. In the first Miami game when he rolled out to his right and had Laveranues (Coles) in the corner of the end zone; the deep ball that he hit to Justin McCareins in the Detroit game. That's the tape I've been watching, and I can only evaluate the tape that I've been watching and the plays that I've been seeing. Chad's made a lot of vertical throws that have been very important to us being successful.
On the play when the ball bounced off Brad Kassell…
We had a two-deep set, so we had put two returners back and we had staggered them and the ball fell shorter than we had anticipated. Brad was doing a good job of trying to complete his block, then the bounce came back and we're yelling our call for basically get away. It's a short punt, but it's so hard when it's hit that short and you do have a two-deep set. Sometimes it just bounces the wrong way and you get hit. The approach was sound and the bounce was unfortunate.
On speaking to Kassell after the game…
That stuff happens. When it happens, you go out and you play defense, and he (Kassell) had an opportunity to go play defense. It's going to happen at some point. The ball is going to bounce the wrong way. There is going to be an interception, there's going to be a fumble. We're going to get some kind of turnover and whatever it is, you've just got to deal with it and move on. I would not want Brad thinking about that play as he went out to play defense. It's over.
On Ben Graham wearing gloves on holds…
I didn't even check on that. All I was worried about was catching the ball and putting it down. Gloves, no gloves, peanut butter, whatever you need. I don't know if peanut butter is legal, not that we use it. (Laughing)
