Transcript of head coach Rex Ryan's morning news conference before the Jets' Monday afternoon practice at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center:
Looking at that game, like we said, we pretty well covered it after that game. I think the big thing when you look at it is you're looking for positives. When you get beat like that, there's obviously plenty of negatives.
There were a lot of positives. I thought we were more efficient in the running game than we were in Week 1 against a good opponent. I was happy with that. Obviously defensively, you hold a team to under four yards a play, I think that's pretty good. The rushing defense, 1.3 [average yards per rush] against the starters, 1.8 overall in the game, I think that was good. [Aaron] Maybin blocking a punt, that was impressive. That really showed up on the practice field. There were a couple of things that we did special teams-wise that we were really focusing on that showed up in the game. One of them was with Maybin, his technique in blocking that punt was impressive, and then with T.J. [Conley] punting inside the 20, down close with [Isaiah] Trufant, we worked awful hard on that and it was just like it was on the practice field.
There were some negatives with the special teams. Obviously with T.J., you've got plenty of time, just get out there and hit it. He's had some great days on the practice field. He just has to get more consistent. We talked about that. And then offensively, the production is not there, obviously through the first two weeks on the scoreboard or whatever, but this is a work in progress. You put in a brand-new offense, it is a work in progress and when it's all said and done, we are going to be productive on offense. It's simple as that.
As a football team, we're going to play complementary football. Sometimes our offense is going to have to score 30 points, sometimes our defense is going to have to give up 10 or less, sometimes special teams is going to have to pick them both up. That's what we've always talked about and that's what I believe. I believe wholeheartedly that our offense is going to be a very productive offense. Have we seen it totally in the preseason games? No, we haven't. There have been some mistakes. But I've seen enough of good things that I believe as we start putting this thing together that you're going to see more and more positive things. I think when it's all said and done by the time we kick this season off, I think we'll be where we need to be.
On if the offense isn't as far along as he expected…
No, I wouldn't say that at all. When you look at it, yeah, you would like to score 40 points or something. It's a work in progress. It's not even the fact that we're not showing everything. That's not it. I see some of the things that we're stressing. For instance, Nick Mangold, that might have been the best game that I've seen Nick Mangold play and here's a Pro Bowl center, the way he was blocking downfield on plays. I see us doing some little things that are going to pay dividends for us in the long haul. I see us getting movement on the double teams, all of those type of things. I see Shonn Greene running behind his pads again. There were positive things.
Now, there were some negative things. Everybody in this league is going to get beat. Even Darrelle Revis gets beat. Brandon Moore gets beat. It's very rare for both those guys. But you come back and you play fundamentals. You clean up your fundamentals. That's something where we have to fall back on. We talk about Wayne Hunter where he got beat by [Jason] Pierre-Paul. He's not the only one in the league that's going to get beat by Pierre-Paul. That is one heck of a football player. With that said, could his fundamentals be better? Of course, absolutely. That's what I'm stressing to him. We've got to get back to playing technique and fundamentals. It's not just him, it's across the board. We've got to get better at our techniques and when you get beat, you've got to rely on those even more and more.
On if Austin Howard will get some snaps with the first string during the remaining preseason games…
We'll see, I think he's had his moments in camp where we are really impressed with him, but then there's other things where he's got to pick his game up as well, but we'll see how it goes right here this week.
On if he agrees with Wayne Hunter's postgame comments that the team will find a replacement for him if doesn't improve…
Well, the thing I'm going to say about Wayne is like any competitor, he's going to try. We got to get better and it's not just Wayne Hunter. All of us across the board have got to pick our game up. Were there some glaring mistakes? Well, when you're isolated one-on-one against one of the premier pass-rushers in the game, it becomes clear when you make a mistake. He did some good things in the game as well but some of his mistakes were pretty evident. I just think if we get back to our fundamentals, I think we'll be fine.
On if D'Brickashaw Ferguson needs to raise his game…
I think we all need to raise our game. I think Brick is doing a tremendous job. Quite honestly, I really do. Sometimes when you say getting beat, you ride the guy and the quarterback has to step up in the pocket. Sometimes that happens. You're not going to keep a guy on the line of scrimmage all the time when you're the open-side tackle. That doesn't necessarily happen. Sometimes you do have to ride the guy out. If he runs the corner on you, sometimes you have to push the guy past the quarterback.
On if they will have enough playmakers on offense.…
I think we definitely have enough playmakers. Clearly, I would like to see three of our top receivers back on the field. That would help - Santonio Holmes, obviously being the headliner there, but Jeremy Kerley, I think is an excellent slot receiver. He was an outstanding punt returner last year. I would like to see him on the field and Schilens. You're minus three weapons, that probably takes you down a little bit. I expect them to be on the practice field. We're going to see what they can do and what the trainers tell us, hopefully get them involved in some individual work. They'll probably be in red jerseys and we'll see how they progress during the week.
On Tim Tebow playing the whole second half…
I think you want to get him some reps in some base offenses. That's what you try to do. He's a guy that you're going to play with during the season. He's going to need some reps playing some base things. You noticed [Quinton] Coples was in there the whole game. You have guys like that, Vlad Ducasse, you have different players that are playing. Even Kenrick Ellis started the game, but you put him in in the second half as well because you need that experience. For Tim, it's a brand-new offense. He needs to get some work in running this offense.
On if it bothered him that Tebow got hit so many times…
Yeah, it bothered me. It bothered me that anyone was getting hit. Of course that bothers me. Tim's a quarterback. He's a 250-pound quarterback. I wasn't worried about him getting injured. I was hoping that he wouldn't get hit like he got hit, but that is part of the game.
On not running any Wildcat reps with Tebow yet during the preseason…
We'll see. We have our way of doing things. Our offense is a work in progress, but we're going to do what we think is in the best interest of our football team.
On if they are committed to Hunter as the starter for the regular season opener…
We're committing to putting a good football team on the field. Competition's not just at the right tackle spot but there's competition throughout. We're loaded in some spots and the competitions elevate people's play. I think that's a great thing. To sit back and say this guy is definitely the starter, I'm not ready to do that. Maybe with Darrelle Revis, Brandon Moore and Nick Mangold, but is it a slam dunk 100 percent? I like to see guys compete and earn their jobs out there.
On if he can say for sure that Hunter or Austin Howard will start the season at right tackle…
I'm not going to paint myself in a corner because things happen.
On blocking at the tight end position…
I think we're getting better in those areas. Certainly, we can still work to get better, but you're taking a guy like Jeff Cumberland who is a converted receiver from college, making him a tight end. The thing I like about Jeff is he's tough, he puts his face in and he's trying to finish better. I think he's getting better. You see him getting better each day. I see Dustin Keller getting better. Dustin is never going to be considered Mike Ditka as a blocking tight end and neither is Cumberland or anyone else in this league. I think we can be more than adequate there.
On putting Hunter one-on-one with Jason Pierre-Paul when he had his first sack…
On that first one in particular, it was a third-and-three, so you're thinking the ball is going to get out quick. Pierre-Paul got a good jump on us and was able to hit our quarterback. You don't go in there intentionally saying I'm going to put our quarterback in harm's way, but it was a third-and-three. The kid won there. Those things happen.
On why they didn't send help on Hunter's side…
Watch the whole tape. It wasn't like he was there one-on-one by himself the whole game. That's not the case, but in that situation, a third-and-three, that was the case. He was one-on-one. Eventually, you're going to have to take a stand and everybody sometimes has a tough down, whether it's Nick Mangold, D'Brickashaw, Wayne or whoever.
On where the breakdowns occurred in pass protection…
Well on that first one in particular, it's a third down-and-three, so you're thinking, well the ball's going to get out quick. Obviously, [Jason] Pierre-Paul got a good jump on us and was able to hit our quarterback. I mean, you don't go in there intentionally saying we're going to put our quarterback at harm's way, but it was a third-and-3, the kid won there, so those things happen.
On why Hunter was lined up one-on-one with Pierre-Paul…
Well, you can watch the whole tape. It wasn't like he was there one-on-one by himself the whole game. That's not the case, but in that situation, a third-and-three, that was the case, that he was one-on-one. And again, eventually you're going to have to take a stand and everybody sometimes has a tough down, whether it's Nick Mangold, whether it's D'Brickashaw [Ferguson], whether it's Wayne [Hunter], or whoever.
On if the team will bring in a punter to compete with T.J. Conley…
Well, again, I talked about this [after the game]. With punters, you compete with everybody in the league, so it's not just a guy on the street or what have you. Again, I told you I have confidence, I know T.J. [Conley] has enough ability to be a good punter in this league. He's just got to get back to being consistent and last year I thought he had a decent year. He's worked hard. There [have] been times out there where he looks like Ray Guy out there. We just have to see it consistently.
On being stopped on short-yardage situations…
Well, I think you attribute that to a few things going wrong. You've got to, first off, give your opponent a lot of credit. They made the plays. The young man came through there a couple times, defensive tackle, did a nice job for them. We had very few mental mistakes. We had one in one of those situations that cost us clearly on one of those plays, but that was the thing where I was really disappointed, because with our football team, that's got to be a staple no matter who you are. We need to pick it up.
In fact, with Tony [Sparano], when he was in Miami, I don't know what the number was exactly, but they ran that exact play and it was like 35 times in a row they converted. I forget the fullback's name, I think Polite or something like that. Literally, we would go into the game knowing they were going to run that play, but they got it done. I think I'm confident that we will get it done, whether we run the same play with John Conner again, I'm confident we'll get it. We just have to fix a few things up.
On if the mental mistakes occurred on the fourth-and-1 play…
I'd rather not really get into that exactly, who made a mistake here or there, but there was one time that something like that happened. We got beat physically a couple times and again, technique wasn't as sharp as where we want it to be.
On if it's hard to evaluate Mark Sanchez since he's only thrown short passes…
Well, I mean it's hard to say he's not throwing the ball with accuracy. I think he's over 70 some percent, over 75 I think right now, which is a good thing. Clearly, you want to be able to make bigger chunks down the field and I think there were a couple of those out there. We left a few out there, but overall, I've been happy with the way Mark [Sanchez] has been throwing the football. On the interception, he slid a little bit to his left, [and] that allowed the guy just enough time to undercut him. If he stays in the pocket and delivers it just a tad quicker, then it's a completion, but again, it's just one of those things where you're off a little bit, whether it's in protection, a throw, whatever it is that ends up being unsuccessful.
On if he is putting Sanchez in a difficult spot since the team is having protection issues and is missing receivers…
Well, I mean you prefer that you have Santonio Holmes out there for instance. You prefer to have this [and that], but that's not the case right now and you don't necessarily know that's going to be the case during the regular season. Whoever's out there, you've got to make the most of it. The fact he was nine of 11 throwing, I think is a positive. If we can avoid the one mistake he did make throwing football, then all of a sudden that's a pretty good night throwing the ball. You're going to win a lot of games if you're at that percentage.
On Sanchez's interception…
No, I think what happened is when you really look at it, he slid to his left going to his right, and so the pressure came through the middle. If the ball is delivered a little bit sooner, then it's going to be a completion. Instead, Mark slides to his left a little, tries to throw it a little later in the down than probably we would like and the kid [Jayron Hosley] made a nice [play], undercutting the ball.
On the injured receivers' status for the game against Carolina…
I'm not real sure. I think probably one, which would be Chaz [Schilens], but hopefully we'll see the other two, Holmes and [Jeremy] Kerley out there, but we'll see how they progress during the week.
On if there is any concern over Santonio Holmes not being ready for the start of the regular season...
I don't think so. I think he will be ready.
On if he is worried that the offense has not scored a touchdown this preseason…
Yes, it bothers me, but again, we don't need to be at our best right now. We need to be at our best opening day and I am confident that when we get going, we will be. I see some encouraging signs that we're heading in the right direction. It might not be obvious to everybody in the public, but again, I'm confident in our offense, I'm confident in our coaching staff, I'm confident in our players. I believe that we're going to have a very productive offense when it's all said and done.
