After placing wide receiver/punt returner Tim Dwight on injured reserve Saturday, head coach Eric Mangini and general manager Mike Tannenbaum had to make a few adjustments for the Jets' week 13 contest at Green Bay. The Jets first promoted rookie wide receiver Wallace Wright from the practice squad to the active roster. Wright contributed on Mike Westhoff's special teams Sunday, but didn't crack the stat book. Justin McCareins and Brad Smith took over Dwight's receiving duties, while veteran defensive back Hank Poteat and rookie running back Leon Washington shared the Jets' two punt returns.
"Tim's snaps will probably go to those two guys (Smith and McCareins), so they'll definitely have to get a few more snaps, which is a nice opportunity for them," Mangini said Monday. "I think that Wallace (Wright) now has an opportunity as well. It's right there for him. Whatever he does, he does well; he'll get in the game, too."
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Read below for Mangini's complete locker room transcript
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New York Jets' Head Coach Eric Mangini, 12.4
Opening Statement…
Start with Players of the Week: On offense it was Cedric Houston, defensively it was Jonathan Vilma, special teams was Cody Spencer and the most important award, practice player of the week, was Ed Blanton.
Offensively I thought we did a nice job having 178 yards rushing, which worked out to be a 5.7 yard average, being able to score on the first five possessions we had, four of those being touchdowns, and what I really liked is when things weren't going as well as we'd hoped in the second half, the offense responding with the 81-yard touchdown drive. I thought it was extremely important, showed a lot of poise and a lot of ability to deal with the adversity that had kind of creeped in there in the third quarter.
Defensively held them to 10 points, which I was extremely pleased with, had the three takeaways, stopped them on three fourth down possessions and also had the good third down percentage, 31 percent, which is always going to be important in any game.
The return game, I thought overall our coverage units played well. I thought that the onsides kick that they had was pretty well executed. That's something that is a difficult play to defend and something we need to work on. I thought Justin Miller had another nice return. This is two weeks in a row now where he's been tackled by either the kicker or the quarterback. So we'll work on those things here moving forward.
On feeling like the "toast of the town"…
(Laughing) No. I feel like it's really any other week. It's pretty consistent here. Nothing changed too much.
On getting excited about the team's position…
We're excited about the progress we're making but there's still a quarter of the season left, and that's the way we're approaching it. I appreciate the excitement, I appreciate the fans' excitement, and I think that's great. But if we lose track of the next game and get caught up in the other things that are happening, then that's when you let a game slip away or you let some level of preparation slip away, and it really won't matter what happens outside of this building if we're not continually focused on the task at hand.
On whether the Jets have emerged as the number one team in New York…
We're trying to be the No. 1 football team here in Hempstead and keep working. Like I said, there's still a quarter of the season left and a lot of football, so that's what we're focused on.
On experiencing the excitement of the fans…
I really haven't had any contact with anybody outside the building except for the family. I talk to my brother here and there, he's been excited about the Jets here a while. Elmo called Jake (Mangini, Eric Mangini's son) last night, it's a service that Julie (Mangini, Eric Mangini's wife) set up, and that's all he was excited about. She told him that I arranged it, so he thinks I'm a pretty good dad right now. I'm fired up about that. Really it's the people here in the building that I deal with and then a few people outside.
On the major reason for the Jets' success…
Everything goes back to what we've talked about for weeks and weeks. It's the way these guys are working. They've been doing it for a long time. Training camp was difficult, the mini-camps were difficult, practices have been difficult and they respond to that. They're doing all the things that we ask them to do, and then the players are doing so much more on top of it, between the film studies, the extra conditioning at practice. Every time that we have a drill going, you see 20, 25 other guys running behind them to improve their conditioning, focusing on hydration, working with each other, the work in the weight room. It's all the stuff that they're doing on a consistent basis outside of what I think is fairly challenging practices that's helping us to make progress that week.
On whether this is the vision he had when he interviewed for the job…
We've been committed, and that was the exciting thing about the opportunity. In those conversations we all shared the same vision: A team built on character and characteristics that we all valued collectively. Identifying those players in free agency, identifying them in the draft, drawing all the best things that we could from the various experiences we've had and then putting together a plan for the New York Jets. Committing to the philosophy of always trying to make progress as a team but also in terms of who you play and who you activate and explaining to the players the importance of making the team then figuring out a way to make the 45-man roster and figuring out a way to contribute. So all those things were core values that we shared, and they're things that I've seen work over time and I firmly believe in. Mike (Tannenbaum) shares that and Mr. Johnson shares that. It's the vision of the Jets.
On whether Green Bay was a sign of progress…
We've been putting more and more complete games together, and that's what's important. I thought New England was a good example of that, and even at the beginning of the season with Tennessee. As we collectively perform well in each area I think that anything is reachable with that type of consistent effort.
On using the bye week to improve…
I felt like we had been making progress each week in different areas and we used the week of the bye to go through everything offensively and defensively and on special teams as a coaching staff. To go through personnel, to give the players the problems that we've had, to go through that with the players, walk through it, process it, identify it. To me it's the consistent work. As you keep striving, then good things usually happen.
On B.J. Askew's appearance on the field pre-game in Green Bay…
No, I did not advise him to take his shirt off. We had talked a lot about the elements and Jerome Henderson, having played in Buffalo, there's always an element in Buffalo in evaluating the opponent and how are they responding in pregame to the weather and feeding off that. Where if you look over at the opponents' bench and they're standing by the heaters and shivering with their hands in their pockets, he had said that they used to really build off that. We talked about that the night before, and B.J. just put his touch on it, which… it was cold out. He had to be cold.
On the team's approach to football in December…
It's something that's out there, and when you're playing football in December, it's always an issue. When you're in that mix, it's difficult -- you're aware of it, but it doesn't mean anything if you don't win the games that you have to play, and that's what I've seen over and over again. The second you lose sight of what's important, that's when suddenly the playoffs are no longer an issue. The important thing is the next game, the next opponent, the consistency, and to me it's all about the Buffalo Bills.
On changing practice methods down the stretch…
We've done some different things. We've pulled off the pads a little bit. We have definitely taken them off a little bit more than we had been.
On taking off pads to keep the players fresh…
I think it's important to be able to practice without pads effectively, and that's a learning process just like anything else. We even talked about that in training camp where we'd have some days without pads. You need to understand how to get the work done without the pads on, and as you do a better job with that the more you can take the pads off so that you have the balance of being fresh but also still be able to get the fits that you need and the running game and the blitz pickup and those things that usually require more contact.
On Chad Pennington's improvement the last two weeks…
Chad has made a lot of good decisions, even those games where he really wasn't maybe as efficient as he has been here the last couple of weeks. He's made a lot of good decisions in those games. I think that's just been another example of receivers and Chad working that much harder to improve the timing, improve the mechanics of the passing game. There wasn't any one specific thing that we did differently. It's the consistency of approach and reevaluating where we need to get better, targeting those areas, practicing those areas and then fixing the problems.
On Pennington's interceptions at Green Bay…
The second one was really tough. Chad's arm kind of got hit there, which affected the throw. The first one, the deep seven that we're trying to hit, that was a tough one, too. You always want the receiver to do everything possible to avoid the interception, and it's something that you work on but it's hard to simulate in practice. You almost turn the receivers into a defensive back, which we've done to some degree, but you're hoping that you can get in position and make the play and then usually by the time you realize you can't you're in a difficult spot to get the ball out. But that's always a point of emphasis is anything you have to do to get (the ball) out.
On Brian Schottenheimer's offense evolving because of Pennington…
Chad has definitely helped that process along. But you saw it even in preseason when Brooks (Bollinger) had that 21-play drive in the fourth quarter with a lot of guys that aren't here anymore. I think Brian does a really good job and the whole offensive staff does a really good job of breaking it down, using the time efficiently, practicing at a really efficient level and having smart guys helps that along. Chad's capacity for information is very high, so that helps too because you don't have to come up with the same thing multiple times to get it right. He has that ability, that presence on the field to direct traffic and when traffic is not exactly flowing the way you'd like it to, to be able to settle everything down and go.
On whether Cedric Houston will be the feature back…
No, it will be exactly the same this week. All three guys will have a chance, and whoever practices the best will play.
On the lack of penalties in the last three wins…
That's a big focal point for us. We have the officials at practice every day and they call it pretty tight at practice. We had the same program in place we had during the preseason where if you get a flag, you get a little extra reminder, and I think Mike Westhoff does a really nice job as well. He's got an outstanding working knowledge of the rules and the interpretation of the rules and how things are going to be called. He's been a big asset for me and for the team in terms of, 'This is what happened, this is the rule, this is how it's being interpreted.' We try to explain that in as much detail as we can so that we can be as educated and execute plays as efficiently as we can.
On getting fewer penalties at inopportune times…
Some of those were just better decision-making. We had a couple of those against New England. We had a third-and-20 where we were pressuring and we stopped them and they got us hooking out of the backfield which really wasn't even part of the read. Some of it is understanding the rules, some it is making better decisions, and we're going to keep working at that because that's something that we can control to a big degree by the way that we study it and the decisions that we make play-in and play-out.
On the defense last week…
There were quite a few plays where it was two-or-less and three-or-less, and you can't give up those chunks. I think Brett (Favre) had 33 yards of that rushing, which is lane discipline in terms of the pass rush and not allowing the quarterback to get out of the pocket. You never want to see those substantial runs and there are things that we need to improve on. We've made some progress on those but we just didn't quite get the fit. We talk about that all the time. One guy out of one spot and if the crease is right with a downhill running team like Green Bay was, they're up on the safety pretty quick.
On when the team starts planning for their next opponent…
Some coaches will start as early as Friday. They may start looking at some tape. We'll get an advance report from the pro personnel department, core formations, core personnel groups, injuries, starters. I'll usually look those over on Friday. Everybody has a different approach. When I was a defensive backs' coach, I used to try to get some done on Saturday night at the hotel before the game. Usually the hay was in the barn for the next day, so you'd try to get a little bit of work done on some of the downtime.
On the changing game plans each week…
There's a large volume of information that comes in. You've got to get to know the players, you've got to get to know the scheme, you've got to get to know the coordinator, you've got to understand what his personality is, what his fingerprint is. Is he a game plan coordinator? Which means that he's going to pull things out of his scheme for you. Is he a copycat coordinator? Which means he's going to pull things that hurt you that other teams did. Each guy has their philosophy, their approach and understanding that is a big first step. Once you have that, then the specifics come in. Trying to figure out: This is what we've done, this is what has hurt us, this is what he has in his system that hurt us, what do we anticipate, what do we expect to see. Then we have files on coordinators that you build up over the years, so you may draw on something that they did five years ago. Whenever you faced that person in the past you try to build up a folder of information and see, 'O.K., this has stayed the same, this has stayed the same, remember that play.' That was always the unique thing when I was here with Bill (Parcells), RAC (Romeo Crennel) and Al (Groh), they'd be drawing that information from '85 when I was just starting high school (laughter).
On seeing if Cedric Houston can be the primary running back…
I'm pretty content with the competition and the work that they do and the ability to play each guy to their strengths and play him within the package. Leon (Washington) has had some 100-yard games. Kevan (Barlow) had the 75-yard game against New England. All three of those guys have been productive. To me practice is very important and it's going to continue to affect the game and who plays.
On being on the two different sides of a blowout…
It was a lot more fun (this week). I can tell you it was a lot more fun. I've been on both sides of those games, and it's always interesting because you play Jacksonville, you lose the way you did, and then Houston plays them and beats them twice, then you play Houston and beat them, and each week it's the team that beat you loses to someone that you beat. It's really so week to week how well you execute.
On Tim Dwight's absence boosting the role of Brad Smith and Justin McCareins…
He's actually been playing between 15 to 20 snaps a game at receiver and Justin has been maybe a little bit more than that and Tim had been somewhere in that range, so Tim's snaps will probably go to those two guys. They'll definitely have to get a few more snaps, which is a nice opportunity for them. I think that Wallace (Wright) now has an opportunity, as well. It's right there for him. Whatever he does, he does well. He'll get in the game, too.
On using Wallace Wright as a defensive back…
Yeah, he's worked quite a bit of defensive backs, so that adds some position flexibility for him. If we need him to, he can go in. He knows most of the calls and he's actually worked with the first defense, he's worked on scout team, so that does give you a little bit more flexibility there.
On how he's been able to get the team to buy into his philosophy…
I present them with the information, I present them with the examples, I present them with the experiences that I've had. I try to show them examples of other outstanding players like Jerry Rice and the way that he worked every day and let them hear it in his words. Tiger Woods or whoever the athlete was, the recurring theme from all those guys is it's not about ability, it's about how you develop that ability, how you work with that ability, how you continually expand on that. So it's giving them the information, showing them examples from other sports. Some guys try it and it's successful, and then as people see it be successful for them, they try it as well. I think there's no substitute for hard work.
On showing an example of an athlete recently…
It wouldn't be in the past week we showed it. Not in the last couple weeks. I can't remember when Jerry Rice's name was -- it was around the bye or somewhere around there, but I've shown quite a few examples of that. To me that's a great teaching tool is to hear it from other guys that are considered incredibly talented. Although Michael Jordan, did he even play high school basketball? He got cut. That to me is a great example of is it just his talent, a guy who couldn't make his high school basketball team.
On what athletes he has used as an example…
Jordan was another one. There's a list there of probably 10 different guys. But even having (Decathlete) Dan O'Brien come in. He actually spoke to the team, and that was his message. Or a guy like Roman Phifer. What did he play, (15) years? And even some of the coaches on the staff who had long careers that maybe weren't the most talented guys. Rick Lyle was a rookie free agent that ended up playing a long time, and seeing those examples. Bobby Hamilton is another great example of what hard works gets you. He's played probably much longer than the scouts thought he would coming out of college.
On his demeanor with the team…
I don't know a lot about jail, but I think this is pretty nice comparatively. I just do what I believe is right, commit to that and every decision that we make here is for the good of the team and to help us be successful. I'm committed to that and that's what I believe in. I told them from the first day that I got here that that was the vision, that that will be ongoing and that's what I'm committed to.
