Transcript of head coach Rex Ryan's informal news conference outside the Jets' SUNY Cortland dorms on Thursday afternoon:
On if it feels good to be back in Cortland…
It does. It's funny, when you turn into Cortland it felt great and then you get into town and you see all of the Cortland people out there, it's great. We did miss it last year. The thing about this is you are far enough away and, nothing against families or anything else, but you have each other and you've got football and I think that's a good thing.
On if he can see that the team wants to prove something…
I don't know if I see it right now but we are getting ready to see it and the big thing is that the league sees it in 45 days. My job is in 45 days to build a football team that is in a certain image and plays like Jets and that is what we plan on doing.
On if he was happy to see Darrelle Revis this morning…
It was nothing. There is a corner there [joking]. I mentioned the entire time that I expected Darrelle to be here. Obviously, he is great. There is no question how I feel about Darrelle, but I am here to coach this team. Obviously, I am happy he is here. I am happy that everyone is here as a football team which is not surprising, considering you had 99 percent participation in the voluntary off-season conditioning workouts. It is not surprising that this team would be in good shape.
On what he plans to say at the team meeting…
Whatever I come up with [smiling].
On the plan for the first practice…
You know I would like to scrimmage immediately, but with the new rules and all that stuff, we won't be. It is good. Guys want to come out here and hit and everything else and that is kind of the thing you have to back down on because you have a few days before we are able to get the full pads on. It will be teaching mode, it will be what they retained from the OTA's and things like that. That is pretty much it. We will start tonight and we are going to build a football team.
On how he will utilize Tebow during training camp…
Well, I know Westy [special teams coordinator Mike Westhoff] has him as a personal protector, that and quarterback so at least two ways. We will see. Obviously, Tony has him doing some wildcat things, obviously learning our base offense as well.
On the tone he wants to set during training camp…
We are coming back and we are building a team and guys caring about each other. I think it is great. When you have this time, it has been my experience in the last two times we have been here that this team gets close. I think sometimes it is hard to let go of that rope when you spend all that time together. You know your teammates and I think it builds a closer team.
On if he has seen Mark Sanchez grow as a leader during the off-season…
Two things I know for sure about Mark right now, he knows this offense better than any player on this team. There is no doubt about that. The other thing is you see the physical maturity of him as well. This is as good as he has looked physically, the strongest he has been physically and I am excited to see how he progresses and everything else but I know we have got him mentally at his best and physically at his best.
On the expectations he has for the rookies…
Yeah, there are some. There are tons of them. Obviously, bringing [Quinton] Coples in, bringing him in in the first round, you expect him to go out there and be a starter and a major contributor to you, same thing with [Stephen] Hill. His physical talent alone is intriguing, but then when you consider some of the questions I had about him or any receiver coming in as a rookie is getting off the press, getting all that kind of stuff, learning the routes. He comes from Georgia Tech. One thing he should be able to do is block. He only caught 28 balls and when you talk about ground and pound, those guys pound it in there more than we ever have. There are some things, learning the route tree and everything else, he is way past that. He can catch his balls, all the little things he has already shown, he is ready to get deep, there is no question but there is more to him than that already.
On Jeff Otah being placed on the PUP list…
With Jeff, he has not met the terms of the trade agreement right now so we are not going to comment specifically on Jeff. I don't feel comfortable doing that right now.
On if Otah will be at training camp…
Yeah, he will be here. I don't know if he is here right now, but he will be.
On if all his players passed their physicals…
There were a couple of guys that didn't pass their physicals. [Demario] Davis, he was actually leading all of the conditioning drills and he actually popped a hamstring. I don't believe it's that serious. That's one of those rookie mistakes where you go out and you lead everybody, you're competing with everybody instead of the clock, which is your competition there. He's way in front, in other words you get 11 seconds, he is running them at 8 seconds and then it kind of jumped on him and he popped a hamstring. So we'll see. Hopefully, it won't set him back too much. Then we have one of our young offensive linemen [Terrence Campbell] that had some issues and has not passed yet.
Other than that, everyone passed. LaRon Landry passed his running conditioning today and I think he sent a message to me and everybody else — he is LaRon Landry every day. And you see him right now, he is making his in 8 seconds, every one of them. He had trainers and guys like [head strength and conditioning coach] Bill Hughan telling him to slow down, but he never did. He just made them all at 8 seconds and it was pretty impressive. He probably could have run another round but I think he wanted to send a message that he is LaRon Landry.
On if Landry will be monitored at practice…
He will be monitored, there is no question about that. The thing about him is that he knows full speed and stop. Sometimes full speed is great but we don't want to have any setbacks that we can avoid as a team. We will evaluate it daily. Quite honestly, he is on a pitch count initially and we will see how we alter it as we go. It may be one out of three practices. Obviously [head athletic trainer] John [Mellody] and Bill Hughan, we will lean on those guys to do what is the best interest.
On if Tebow's popularity will weigh on Sanchez…
The one thing is we look at it as the New York Jets. I don't care. Tim Tebow, he's number 15. Is he a quarterback? I'm proud he's a Jet. Everybody is. The scrutiny of how popular a guy is on this team, that's great. I want them all to be as popular as Tebow. I don't think that is going to happen, especially with Santonio Holmes obviously, but realistically it is what it is. He is trying to be the best player he can possibly be. Whether this guy is here, that guy is there, whatever it makes no difference.
On his comments regarding Holmes remarks on the two quarterback system…
I think all I remember is saying literally is that we brought Santonio in to be a receiver not the offensive coordinator. Again, we will make those decisions. We will always do what we think is in the best interests of our football team and that is the way it will always be.
On if it bothers him that Holmes may be skeptical on if the two quarterback system will work…
We are always never going to be all lined up. We don't tell guys what to say and what not to say, all that kind of stuff. I understand where Tone [Santonio] is coming from about the rhythm of a quarterback and all that kind of stuff. Again, we will make those decisions.
On if there is a competition for a starting spot at quarterback…
Did you say cornerback or quarterback, because I don't think Revis has any competition. I just think that he is who he is. I think you always sit back and say that we clearly have a starting quarterback. Mark Sanchez is clearly our starting quarterback. One of our missions this season is to protect him better than we did last year and that can involve a lot guys. We need to run the football better than we did last year so whatever that means. You could have Y.A. Tittle back there at quarterback but he will never be successful if he is flat on the ground. I have a great deal of confidence in Mark Sanchez. Is he our starting quarterback? Absolutely.
On any scenario other than Sanchez suffering an injury in which Tebow would become the starter for the season opener…
Again, I don't want to speculate on this or whatever, but Mark Sanchez is our starting quarterback.
On if he has studied the history of two-quarterback teams…
I know the history of this league. You always say if you have two quarterbacks, you have no quarterbacks. Tell that to the 49ers when they had Steve Young and Joe Montana. I think they won a few games, I'm not really sure.
Again, this is a different situation. We have a clear-cut starting quarterback and we also have a good football player in Tim Tebow. You guys know how I feel about the Wildcat. I know the pressure it puts on defenses. When we had Brad Smith, there's only one coordinator in the league that can stop Brad Smith and I used to needle Schotty [former offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer] on it. That's what we did, because I thought he was the only guy that could stop him. He only averaged 8 yards a carry.
We'll see. I think Tim throws the ball better. I don't want to take a shot at Brad Smith, but I look at him as a guy that can be a real asset to this football team.
On if he wants Tebow to try and take the starting position…
You always want every player. You never want a player that doesn't want to be the guy. You never want that regardless of the position. Competition is great for everybody. You want guys always competing. There is no question about that. Again, Tim is going to play here, there is no question about that.
On if he wants to create competition at right tackle…
Again, you always try to do what is in the best interests of your football team. If there is an outstanding football player out there and we have a chance, Mike and I talk about this all the time, to make our team better than we are going to investigate that.
On if Matt Slauson and Bryan Thomas will fully participate in practice…
As far as I know, they are full go. They have done a great job. John [Mellody] will probably have to monitor down there but they are full go as far as I am concerned. They are both in great shape and they were around here when we had the rookies, quarterbacks and guys that were injured for a couple of days. Those guys were moving around great.
On if he would be hesitant to take reps away from Sanchez…
I will say this. I am here to win games and whatever that means. If Mark is not physically ready to go or this player is not ready to go, I hope that we have guys on this team that are ready and will be ready to step up. We will always do what is in the best interests of this football team and what gives us the best chance to win.
