Transcripts of news conferences and interviews in the Jets' Edward Jones Dome locker room following their 27-13 road win over the Rams on Sunday afternoon:
HEAD COACH REX RYAN
First off, it's great to get a win. I'm happy for our guys. I think all of that work on the practice field and in the classroom paid off today on the game field. Our guys have been working extremely hard. I'm really happy for all of us that it showed today. We needed a win obviously in the worst way. On our plane ride home, of course we play on Thursday, so we can enjoy it for about five hours and then it's on to the next opponent.
It was really a sound performance by the entire team. Obviously, it wasn't perfect. We had a blocked field goal and that wasn't good and there were some other things that we have to get better. When the runs and completions are 57-43, obviously that is huge for us. The turnovers, we won that 3-0, I think that's huge, and a couple of fourth-down stops. When you look at our quarterback rating, in the NFL now that seems to be a big statistic when determining wins and losses, Sanchez had a 118 and Bradford had a 67.4 All of those things are really positive for us. The fact that we had 40 rushing attempts, obviously that is good for us.
On the adjustments the defense made after the opening drive...
You kind of have to give them a lot of credit. They made a lot of good plays. I thought Schotty [Rams OC Brian Schottenheimer] did a nice job of keeping us off balance that first drive. As the game went on I thought defensive coordinator Mike Pettine and everyone did a great job of really playing fundamentals and the communication got much better and we made some plays up front, so I think that was huge.
On pressure building around the team and the relief of the first victory in a month...
The thing that I have been encouraged about, because a lot of pressure is coming from outside in, and when I look at it this is a hard-working football team that believes in one another and that is a start in the right direction. It hadn't paid off on the game field until today, but that is good. You just have to stay the course, believe in what you're doing, and good things happened today.
On an unnamed source in a newspaper story last week saying the Jets weapons were "garbage"...
I look at it this way. That is an unnamed source so I don't want to comment on that specific thing. I will say this: I was proud of our guys. The thing about Chaz Schilens is that everyone in the league knows what type of competitor he is and what type of blocker he is and he is a big target, so you think of all of those short routes. But when he throws a double move on you, that's hard to defend because you're thinking that you have to be aggressive and challenge this guy underneath. He is a big, fast guy, very competitive, so I was happy for him in making that big play. He does a lot of dirty work and today he was able to make a huge play for us.
And WR Jeremy Kerley, being a little banged up, never played as much as we hoped earlier in the week with his hamstring issue and that heel. He's a tough guy and sucked it up and really competed hard for his teammates and himself so I was proud to see Jeremy do that as well.
On QB Mark Sanchez having a well-managed game...
I am looking at the stats. He had 15-for-20 for 178 yards and a touchdown, I think it was a great performance by him. It was what we needed. He made some big throws for us and outside of the one where they had a great rush on us and he was able to get that ball out, other than that I thought he did a really nice job of protecting the ball for us.
I made a call where I had him keep the thing at the end there. That was on me. I thought we would take a chance of him being open, but Jeff Fisher did a great job of bringing in two on the off side. That was a poor job on my part there. Again, I thought that he really had a strong game.
On QB Tim Tebow not playing much and Sanchez being in a rhythm...
We had planned for Tim to have a big part of the game. They gave us some looks that we really weren't expecting and that kind of shut that down a little more than we had originally planned. I think we did a good job of adjusting, I think that was part of the reason you didn't see more of Tim. Again, I thought our guys did a tremendous job. We converted 47 percent on third down and when we do that it is really a formula for success.
On the Rams' penalty that nullified a kickoff-return TD...
That was huge, no question about it, the penalty. Obviously, I was happy to see it at that time, but Chaz has done a great job. Here is a guy that catches a big touchdown pass and he is there covering kicks. He does a lot of dirty work, he made a lot of good tackles on the kickoff team, and that was another time he was becoming free and they grabbed him. We were fortunate to get that call.
I was shocked because Matthew Mulligan has never run that fast in his life, but he was trying to track down Bart Scott [on the second-quarter fumble return]. It was great play by Mully and a good play by Bart to pick that ball up and running with it. He'll be quick to tell you that because of his toe injury he was walked down by Mulligan. It was a nice play.
On the Jets possibly making their way back into the division race...
Right now we just have to focus on each day and get better. We know that we're a long way away. We're 4-6 and we can't come up for air. We just have to stay the course and keep getting better.
QB MARK SANCHEZ
On his ball security during the game...
That was part of the emphasis coming into the game, taking care of the football and being in control of those situations down in the red zone. Some plays that have got us early in the season, we just wanted to be real smart in those situations, make the right reads and the right throws. That was all part of it, just like every week, nothing is different there.
I'm just really proud of the way the guys played up front. I love those guys up front. They played their butts off in the run game. We had contributions from Bilal [Powell], Shonn [Greene], from Joe McKnight, Clyde [Gates] on the reverse, little things like that. Not so much me on the naked, but those guys ran hard. We knew it was going to be a tough battle on the ground. That's a great team, a tough team. Their record is not indicative of how tough they play and how hard they play. It was a quality road win, an all-out team effort. I'm just proud of our guys.
On the offensive game plan...
We ran the ball efficiently. We got a couple of completions in a row, we started to string good plays in a row. When you do that, you feel good about the plan, and we felt good about it coming in but there's really something to be said about putting long scoring drives together. I think at one point we had 12 plays and a touchdown. Even if it's a couple of plays and a field goal after a turnover, we've just got to go get points. It does really help. That starts with our defense and special teams putting us in good positions and then the offense capitalizing on that.
On his touchdown pass to Chaz Schilens and key third-down completion to Konrad Reuland...
Chaz just made a great play on it. He beat his guy over the top and I was just trying to deliver the ball. Dustin [Keller] did a great job down the middle holding that safety. The other one to Konrad was a great design by Coach [Tony] Sparano, really trying to sell the run, then Konrad making a great play after the catch.
On if winning is a habit...
If you really believe that, and I think there's guys in that locker room that do, this kind of stuff becomes a habit now, if you make it a habit. If you really take the positives from this game, build on those, continue to get better and improve, we can become a team that just doesn't turn the ball over. That could be our identity if we want it to be and if we work at it.
Again, it's one game. We've got to keep this thing in perspective. We've got a quick turnaround. I think Rex [Ryan] said it best. We have this plane ride on the way home to really celebrate, but when you have a turnaround like this, a Thursday game to put us in a good position in our division, there's really no time. We've got to take care of our bodies this week, get our sleep and just keep building off of this.
On if he's can draw on 2009 to help him deal with the rest of this season...
When you've been in situations like that, it's hard your rookie year to draw on anything because I never experienced that kind of adversity at USC, in high school. We just won a lot. It's great, it's a great feeling, but when things go sour and south and nobody believes in you, that's when you really get tested. We're in that spot right now.
It seems in some of our toughest times, we end up playing our best football. It's a fast way to lose your hair and turn your hair gray, but whatever it takes to win, we've got to get wins. I think this team can really turn it around. We've shown we can handle pressure situations before. We've shown we can play well on the road and at home. Now we just have to keep building off of it.
On how important this win was in their division race...
Each win can help us no matter what. That's where we're at right now. We just need as many wins as possible and we'll see where everything ends up at in the end. That's all we're focused on, just one game at a time, and we've got another tough test next week.
On if he felt confident and in control at the beginning of the game...
That's the way I try to feel every game. I don't know if it was the stadium, the calls, whatever it was, we were clicking on offense and that felt great. The defense got us the ball. I just thought we were great. Just managing it in tough situations, whether we needed to make checks, whether we were down in the red zone, third-and-short, we just handled the ball well and played a good, clean, smart game. There's a penalty here or there we'd love to clean up, but other than that we made some plays and it was nice.
QB TIM TEBOW
On the win...
I think it's a great win. It was a good week of practice. I felt like we had a good week and we executed this week and we came out here and played together as a team to win the game.
On how the team is handling the win...
I just think you take it one day at a time and constantly work on improving. You've got to get ready quick. It's a short week. By the time we land, we'll have to put this one behind us and get ready for New England.
On what determines how much he plays...
To be honest, it's tough to know exactly how the game is going to go and what plays are going to be called, how much of a role you're going to have. It's trying to be ready at all times.
On Mark Sanchez's play...
Mark played very well today. He executed and made some good throws. The offensive line did a great job. Receivers stepped up and played well, and our running backs played very well.
S LaRON LANDRY
On how good the win feels...
It's feel great. It's something that we needed. We just have to be consistent. We played start to finish. We had a couple of hiccups throughout the game, but we had time to correct it and we executed.
On stopping the Rams on third down and forcing turnovers...
We had a couple of third downs that we didn't finish and we have to correct that because next week will be a bigger challenge. It's a division game, so it's back to the drawing board tomorrow.
On video study for the defense following today's win...
We put a lot of great things out there and a lot of bad things out there. And the bad things we have to correct.
On the Jets offense...
They came out here and they did well. I saw it all week during practice and they executed today.
On how emotions played a big part...
It's our will. We all contribute together as a team, held each other accountable, and we played ball together.
S YEREMIAH BELL
On the defense in the win...
We just played hard. We're focused every week in practice. We work on turning the ball over and we know if we stay the course and play like we're suppose to play, good things will happen. And that's what we continue to do.
On the defense creating turnovers...
There's been an emphasis on stripping the ball. We've seen on tape some instances were we could possibly get the ball out, so we continue to knock the ball out and try to get turnovers. I think anytime you can make a team turn the ball over, it's a momentum shift in the ballgame. And the more times you do it, the more times momentum gets on your side. It's something we stress and it's something we try to do week in and week out and we did a good job today.
On the defense facing former Jets offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer...
When you go up against a coordinator, they have things that they like, special things they like to do. We knew that coming in, but also we have a coaching staff that's coached against it for a long time and we were well prepared for what they wanted to do today.
On this being a gut-check game for the Jets...
I don't know if this was a gut-check game, but I can tell you this: We needed a win in the worst way. We're going to take this thing one game at a time and just see what we can do from here. We're not going to look ahead at anybody. We're going to take it one game at a time and play good football week in and week out."
On the win...
Anytime you win, it's a good feeling. We haven't had this feeling in a while and it feels good not to come out here and hurt ourselves today. We actually made them turn the ball over and hurt themselves, so from that aspect it feels good.
LB BRYAN THOMAS
On the win...
It was a much needed win. They're are a helluva team, they played hard, but the Jets came out victorious.
On the Jets moving forward...
We just have to keep doing it. We had a lot of mistakes in that game. We have to correct our mistakes. That wasn't a perfect game. They drove the ball around us on the first drive of the game. Those are the things we have to eliminate.
On what changed after the first Rams drive...
Adjustments. There were certain adjustments we made, but you have to give credit to them as well. They did a good job of driving the ball. But we came out in the second series and made adjustments.
On the Jets' past week...
It was a good week. All the stuff that was said, it's over with, It's over with and it didn't deter us from getting a win. And that was the most important thing.
TE KONRAD REULAND
On how satisfying this win is...
It's satisfying because it gets us back on the right track. Are we content with where we are at still? No, but it's a step in the right direction. We have a big test next week. I thought we could play even better than we did. We just come out and try to improve every week and keep working and believing. We have a shot.
On dealing with outside distractions throughout the week...
It was difficult. I didn't want to turn the TV on and watch ESPN, that's for sure. It was difficult in that, but at the same time we have a really tight team. In our locker room, there's no division from within. So we kind of just pulled together and tried to focus on winning one game. That was our goal this week, win one game, just win one game and get back on track.
