The last time the Jets faced the Dolphins, Miami gave New York a scare by making a fourth quarter run at the Meadowlands. Kicker Olindo Mare missed what would have been a game-tying field goal and the Jets picked up their third win of the season. Although many Dolphins players still believe that they are the better team, Jets head coach Eric Mangini says there were a number of things his team didn't do right in that first encounter.
"There were things we didn't do well early in the game that we could have done better," Mangini said. "There were some opportunities that they had that maybe they didn't quite capitalize on or we had that we didn't quite capitalize on. You can't go into the next game thinking that is going to happen again. You really have to say, 'Okay, that could have been a really big problem. What are we going to do about it.'"
Read below for Mangini's complete press conference transcript
New York Jets' Head Coach Eric Mangini, 12.21
Opening Statement…
Dave Ball's wife had a little boy, Mason, on Monday night. Everybody is happy and healthy. I would like to say congratulations to them.
Yesterday we did a lot of good things in practice. There are still a lot of things to clean up. Whenever you face a team like Miami who has multiple fronts, multiple pressures and they do a lot of things offensively with a lot of different personnel groups, a lot of different skill positions, there are always multiples that you have to address and then clean up. They make it challenging that way, and it's something that we'll continue to work on today and fix between the meetings this morning and the walk-throughs. Then we have to move on to third down.
Tomorrow will be our normal progression. It will be our installation day. They've created problems on third down both offensively and defensively. That's been something we've been doing well, our third down offense and defense. That has been key to a lot of games and something we'll continue to work on.
The message to the team is the same as it's been for a while. It goes back to number one. Just one practice, one meeting, one rep, one period, one game and that's the way we're looking at it. We have to have complete focus on whatever we're doing at that time and all the other things we've have to block out and concentrate. That's what we're doing.
On Jason Taylor…
I remember actually when he came out. He was a thinner guy playing defensive end, and you always wonder how much a guy will bulk up, how he'll do against the bigger offensive linemen, even though they have the edge in terms of speed.
He's had such an incredible career. He has the most touchdowns by a defensive lineman since 1970. He can make plays in the running game. You see those big guys bounce off him when he makes a move, and he can make those negative plays in the passing game. He's always a threat. He's got that pure speed off the edge, a nice combination of power, and his motor is like the motor guys we've talked about. It just doesn't stop. He provides great leadership to the team. The things I've heard about him, between him and Zach (Thomas), they're outstanding people in addition to being outstanding players.
On preparing to face Taylor…
He's tough, and he's a problem. He was on our offense's right side and slipped it and had a negative play. Then on third down we threw a screen with Tim Dwight, he made a couple blocks and made a play. He's the type of guy where even when you've got him taken care of or you've got an X for that O, it's still a problem.
On Laveranues Coles…
He reminds me a lot of Troy Brown in the sense that their leadership style is more on the field. Laveranues, the way that he practices, whether he is banged up or isn't banged up, he has that sheer toughness, the consistency and the ability to make plays whether he's in traffic or not in traffic. Where some receivers are very dominant on the edge outside the numbers, but LC can go inside. He can make plays on the slip screens. His consistency on the field is a good example for the young guys in terms of how you should conduct yourself and the intangibles that you're looking for.
On Coles' personality…
What I knew about Laveranues prior to the season was how difficult he was to cover. I mentioned when I saw the trade initially go through, I'm thinking, 'that was a really good decision. This guy is a huge problem, and I'm a lot happier with him in Washington than in New York.' I think he's everything I'm looking for in terms of being smart, tough, hard-working, competitive, selfless and football is important to him. It means something to him. And he provides comic relief. Usually that's my job with my great joke telling, but he helps the cause.
On reservations Mangini had about the veterans taking to his new system…
In talking to a lot of different players about things that they appreciated from coaches, the consistent thing was honesty. Honesty and opportunity. From the first day I got here, I feel like I've been honest with telling them this is what I intend to do and this is why I'm making the decisions I'm making. It's all based on what's best for the team, and if you're the best player, you're going to play regardless of all the other things that may be tied to your contract or your draft status or any of that stuff. I thought that was very insightful. I can't remember if it was Rodney (Harrison) or Otis (Smith), but he was talking about the best thing you can do in terms of your approach, and those were consistent messages from veteran players: Be honest and provide opportunities.
On Pete Kendall…
He's pretty funny, that dry sarcastic humor. He had me cracking up the other day.
The best thing that Pete does is he studies a lot of film, and in studying the film, he asks a lot of really good questions. When he's studying the film, things come up that he wants to get cleared up. Sometimes when you get in a room and you say, 'does everybody understand?', somebody may not raise their hand because they're afraid to ask the question. Often that's the look or that's the blitz or that's the problem that comes up in the game, when you really wish he would have addressed it on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, or at any point prior to it coming up. Pete does that. He asks the good questions, gets the answers. Then he's sitting there in between Nick (Mangold) and Brick (Ferguson), two guys that want to learn, want to do the right thing and really respond to leadership and to guidance. He's done a great job with both those guys in helping them along and taking control of that offensive group.
On Kendall's performance on the field…
Even prior to coming to New York, I've always liked his approach. He has the ability to pull, which you're looking for from guards. Some guards can't do that, they're just zone defenders, but he can run the gap scheme, the angle blocks, the pulling blocks, and then he can run some of those zone schemes, too, where it's just man-to-man, and maybe you've got two guys on one and working up to the next level. He has the ability to do all the different things we're asking him to do in terms of the multiple running game attacks.
On bringing Kendall back for the 2006 season...
He has always done a good job. In working against him and getting to know him and talking to him while I was here and in talking with Mike (Tannenbaum), as well, and evaluating that, our pro personnel guys, we looked at the body of work and thought that it would be a really good fit. Having his leadership has really helped all the younger guys emerge and grow.
On Cole's humor often being at Mangini's expense…
I grew up with brothers and there was a lot of humor at each other's expense throughout that process. You learn to find the humor in that and you learn to give it back. It's that give-and-take that's important.
I thought the penguin thing was probably the funniest thing. That was his high water mark. I haven't heard all the other ones, I'm sure there have been some other funny ones, but those are the ones that I'm aware of. I just got a gift in the mail that was cookies in the shape of a penguin.
On Mangini returning humor to Coles…
I always try to show those instructional videos, and I had asked him what bird he thought that we could learn from, I think he said the hawk or something and the crowd went crazy. Then we showed 'March of the Penguins' and taught off of that. I learned a lot about penguins that day. They have great hearing and they are important to the ecosystem.
On Jonathan Vilma and Victor Hobson…
Jon, sitting there in the middle, he is going to deal with the down linemen, all four linebackers because in the system one of those linebackers is usually becoming a fourth down lineman, so there will be a strong side and a weak side and one of the middle guys, so it's important the D-line knows where the rush is coming from because they have to balance it up, and then he has to tie into the secondary, as well, because there may be some times where the whole defense changes. Jon has to get up front, he has to confirm it with the back end and everybody has to be on the same page. There are quite a few moving parts where it's not just getting the guys lined up, it's also confirming with the guys behind him that we're all in this together, everybody understands, and then you go.
I'm really happy with Victor. As he's played more and more, he's become more productive. He's really building off of each rep, he's building off of each experience. You're seeing the depth of his understanding as he gains more knowledge. You see the nuances, you see him take advantage of things that maybe happened six to eight weeks ago against him, now it happened again, and now he's hitting the right spot.
Then, in the sub package, he's been playing quite a bit there and he's been very disruptive. It's nice having him there because now you have the flexibility of him, Jon, Bryan Thomas, Kerry Rhodes, those guys are interchangeable parts and you can move them all over.
On the increase in sack production this season…
It's a combination of things. With more comfort level with the calls, better understanding of how they have to be run or how we need to run them, the coordination between all the different parts. I know I talked about this with Jon before where maybe he's playing the middle linebacker in one play and he knows where he's supposed to blitz and we're bringing the money or the safety. Everybody has a spot. On that play Jon may say, 'okay, me and you switch, Kerry, you hit this gap, I'll hit this gap.' But it looks totally different, you're looking for 51 and 51 is way over there, you've never seen that, that's where Kerry is supposed to be. Now Kerry is where 51 is supposed to be and it looks dramatically different, even though it's exactly the same call.
On if the blitzing unit has exceeded his expectations…
I felt very comfortable with the ability to get to the quarterback as being a group thing as opposed to an individual thing. Sometimes you're the cannon, you're the fodder, and everybody has got to be willing to be bold. It may not be your time to get the sack, it may be time to ease back and have coordination between all the parts and do more of a group mentality.
On learning from playing a team a second time…
The second time we played New England that approach was consistent. After each game that we play we do an evaluation, put that in the bank and when we do it next time, bring it back out, look at it and try to evaluate. It refreshes your memory, this is several weeks removed, but then you read the write-up and you say, 'right, that was a key issue,' and you try to draw from that experience. 'Okay, what did we do well? What didn't we do well? What opportunities did we miss that we might be able to take advantage of?' You have to look at that in the context of what they've been doing since you played them to see whether those problems still exist. Then you formulate the game plan that way. The other thing that happens, is sometimes you've got guys that are playing now that weren't playing then and you have to take that into account, as well.
On problems the Jets had with Miami in their last meeting…
There were things we didn't do well early in the game that we could have done better. There were some opportunities that they had that maybe they didn't quite capitalize on or we had that we didn't quite capitalize on. You can't go into the next game thinking that's going to happen again. You really have to say, okay, that could have been a really big problem, what are we going to do about it.
On the Jets' pass defense in the fourth quarter of the last Miami game…
There were plays throughout the whole series where there could have been one guy, could have been one technique, it could have been not hitting the right gap in the blitz. That was one element of it was defensively, but then offensively we had two three-and-outs at the end and didn't chew up a lot of time. Both those things come into play, where at New England, obviously they have quite a bit of time, they really only had that one drive. It's both sides could do some things better there.
On if the team will be celebrating the holiday…
We have time off prior to leaving, and then when we get down there we'll do the special teams scouting report, and that will be festive (laughter). No, we really have to take care of that stuff that evening. However, there will be some rooms set up if guys who have family down and if they want to spend some time with them. It will be decorated. I wasn't the party planner on this one. I handed that off to (Mike) Tannenbaum.
On Coles' production despite teams paying extra attention to him…
What happens a lot with outstanding receivers is even though you're giving him extra attention, they still find a way to get open. The way it's set up, you can't always give them as much attention as you'd like to just because of the running game or you're blitzing or whatever the case may be. Sometimes there's going to be windows there, and he's been able to really take advantage of those windows.
On if Miami has improved vastly throughout the course of the season…
I know they went through that stretch that was difficult, but when we played them, they were well-coached, they were tough against the run and they did a lot of good things offensively, defensively and in the return game. I see those same consistent things that we saw prior to our first game. Sometimes you just go through a period where it doesn't fall right, and I think that they're a good team and they've been a good team, and you can see it.
On if Miami is less frustrated…
They have been pretty consistent. They've played hard throughout the season, and Nick is a good, demanding coach, and he's always going to demand a level of execution and intensity, and that's really what you can expect from Nick and his team. Just like with Buffalo and with some other teams, you go through some phases there where it gets tough. It's a long season, and you see them get some things back.
On if Cedric Houston practiced Wednesday…
Cedric didn't do anything yesterday. We had him rehabbing. We're going to have to look at it today and just see where it is.
Thursday Injury Report Jets Questionable: FB B.J. Askew (foot), CB David Barrett (hip), WR Laveranues Coles (back), RB Cedric Houston (calf) & Eric Smith (foot)
Probable: *RB Kevan Barlow (calf), *LB Matt Chatham (foot), *C Nick Mangold (hip), *WR Justin McCareins (foot), *OL Brandon Moore (back), *DL Rashad Moore (hand), *QB Chad Pennington (calf), *LB Anthony Schlegel (illness), *DE Bryan Thomas (shoulder), *S Jamie Thompson (ankle) & *WR Wallace Wright (thigh)
Dolphins Out: DT Dan Wilkinson (calf)
Doubtful: WR Marty Booker (ankle)
Questionable: *CB Will Allen (groin/quad) & *RB Ronnie Brown (hand)
Probable: *QB Joey Harrington (ankle) & *DT Keith Traylor (knee)
*Denotes players who participated in practice
