Transcript of Jets head coach Rex Ryan's news conference Friday afternoon:
This is pretty funny, you have to admit. This is your typical rookie camp [laughing]. There's a Game 7 in the NBA coming up, but I guess it would be the same if we had taken a tackle in the first round [laughing].
It was a good start. We had 18 plays in on offense, and eight plays on defense, and we just had the one meeting. We had some speed-coaching. I expected a lot more guys to run into each other. The hardest hit of the day was when my son got smashed by [Kenwin] Cummings on an over route that we threw. That was encouraging because the next time we threw it, he caught it. The guys were on top of it [laughing].
I found out later why the offense was able to put in 18 plays. Schotty [OC Brian Schottenheimer] gave out the playbooks the day the guys came in. There were no meetings yesterday but everybody got a playbook. There was some guy who we have on offense who got the entire offense together and installed the base offense. I guess you can figure out who that was. That's impressive. That's the kind of young man we brought in here.
With Shonn Greene, you see how thick he is, a big guy in there. The vision a little bit, you saw that a little today. I was happy with him stepping up also. They broke the huddle one time and he called them all back in. I think we got the right guys moving forward. Those two individuals especially are the kind of guys we knew we were drafting, but it's always good to see them out here and confirming what we thought.
On Mark Sanchez pulling the offense together Thursday night to install plays …
It was news to me. I was asking Brian, "How the heck can you put in that much offense in that meeting time?" He said, "I guess Sanchez got them together last night." That's the kind of guy you want. A guy who loves the game, is comfortable around his teammates and can lead his teammates. That's encouraging.
On Sanchez's personality and enthusiasm on the field …
I just think he's himself. He's a natural leader. Some guys can lead and some guys can't . Either you have it or you don't and clearly he's an individual who has leadership qualities. He's just flying around having fun. This is something he loves to do and it's good to see. It slows up practice a little bit but that's OK. You love that. Anytime a guy makes a play, he's quick to go over there and congratulate him. I think he appreciates his teammates' efforts.
On how he will evaluate Sanchez at this minicamp…
I just want to make sure nobody hits him, first of all [smiles]. Realistically, you want to see him get the guys out of the huddle, see him be himself out there. With all the cameras, all the media here, it never bothered him one bit. He's just stepping in there, playing football. He doesn't know any different. That's why I think we got the right guy. It doesn't bother him. He knows how to be successful, he's been successful all his life. He's just going to be himself out there.
He's got a little swagger in him. It's easy to follow someone who has confidence in himself. The thing with Mark is, he has confidence in his teammates. That's what you saw out there. Some other things I noticed that I was happy to see — a lot of times when you do 1-on-1 drills, that favors the offense, just like a pass-rush 1-on-1 drill favors the defense.
But even with that, when Schotty is throwing a three-step route, [Sanchez] is throwing the ball on time. I've seen guys in the 1-on-1 drill just sit back, like back yard bombardier, just wait and wait for the guy to separate. He's not doing that. He's treating it realistically. And that's good. That's how he's going to get better, how his receivers are going to get better. And the DBs.
One negative, I told Mark before, on those comebacks, you have to throw the ball to the outside, on this level especially, because it will be a boomerang, it will come right back at you. He goes, "I got you, Coach."
It was good. No turnovers out there. A good thing on offense, a bad thing on defense. I think they dropped like five balls. Hopefully the defense, this afternoon, if they get the opportunity they can come up with them.
On the competition at QB…
It's going to be great. We're talking about Mark, and then we have Kellen Clemens who has four years in this system. This is going to be a lot of fun to watch. Do I expect this many cameras out there for every practice? Maybe not, but maybe. You guys tell me.
On his "first 100 days" as Jets coach…
This is every head coach and you hear it all the time: Until you really experience, it you can't fully appreciate it. You don't have near the time to spend specifically on football. I had great plans on putting the defense in, in front of these new guys. "Well, Pett [DC Mike Pettine], you do that." You don't have as much time to do those things. You are pulled in all different directions. The press conferences and all that. Here there is much more of an obligation to that than there would be at other places.
This has been great. I am fortunate because I have surrounded myself with great people. We have an outstanding coaching staff that I have bragged on since I took the job. We did put together a great staff, with Mike Tannenbaum as the general manager. Like I said before, I've spent more time with him than I have my wife, my kids, everybody else these last couple of months. He's outstanding.
It's the whole family, the Jets. I am just a part of it. A piece of the puzzle, maybe a big piece, but just a piece of this thing.
On the attention and expectations…
I think it's a positive. On Sundays, there is going to be a lot more than just this out here. It's great. The more guys can get used to it, I think we're going to be a team that people are going to want to see anyway, so they'd better get used to it.
On other rookies that caught his eye …
[Jamaal] Westerman from Rutgers, and talking about local guys, Brian [Toal] from right here [in New Jersey], his dad's a coach, the BC linebacker looked pretty good to me. And then you had a tight end — I do have to look at this number — [Jack] Simmons looked pretty good to me as well. The free agent-type guys, I was impressed with those guys. We will see. It is one day with no pads. It is kind of like the quarterback deal, but those guys did step up and show some things today.
On how he'll handle the QB competition…
You just let them compete. I can sit up here and say we are just going to let them fight it out and that is true. The cream will rise to the top and I truly believe that. I have an opinion on how it is going to go, but I am not going to share it with you [laughter]. Obviously I would be lying if I said I didn't.
I have no idea how it is going to work, I assume it is going to work out a certain way. You have to earn the job. Whether it is Kellen [Clemens] being the quarterback or Mark [Sanchez] being the quarterback, you have to earn the job. It is too important of a position for us to say, hey, let's give it to this guy or give it to this other guy. It will come out in the end. It always does.
On more confidence in a young QB since Joe Flacco and Matt Ryan were successful last year…
When we had Flacco, I thought it was pretty obvious by the time we got out of OTAs to me that by far and away he was our best quarterback. Now, it was also obvious to me that wasn't the direction Baltimore wanted to go. It just so happened we had no choice but to end up making that decision. It ended up being a great decision. Clearly, he was the best quarterback and it was obvious to everybody.
Up until last year there was a stigma that you don't win with a rookie quarterback. I think we proved that wrong. This past season obviously was proved incorrect. If your team is good enough, you can win with anybody.
On a certain level of expectation for Sanchez by the end of this minicamp…
No, not really. We want these guys to get their feet wet, understand the pro tempo, our tempo, how we expect them to play, introduce them to the drills, try to catch them up a little bit as best we can on the system, just get them moving around a little bit.
On if there is a different level of expectation on everybody else in this minicamp…
There could be. They are just coming in. We are not looking at it that way. We are just trying to get them caught up to the other guys as best we can.
On the Jets' interest in Plaxico Burress…
We will do our "due diligence" here because that is what it is. If anybody is out there, you want to find out because there are a lot of unknowns. Quite honestly, through that conversation [with Burress' agent] I don't think that it's clear right now either way. Is he going to be available? Is he not? None of you know that answer, either. We just wanted to see if they had heard anything.
On if the Jets would pursue Burress if he is available to play…
We will let that situation happen and we will see. I want to see our guys through these camps. Let's see what we have here.
On if he viewed the competition between Brett Ratliff and Kellen Clemens the same way as Mark Sanchez and Clemens…
I don't think I will go 1 and 1A there. Let's just say we have two real good football players. Let them compete and, again, I am a believer that it will be obvious who should be the quarterback.
On if Erik Ainge is in that competition…
I would say that Erik is in competition, but is it equal footing? No. We drafted a guy in the first round. You have a guy that looked good in our first minicamp. He is behind and he is going to start as the No. 3 quarterback. I would say it's unlikely that he would beat the other two out, but again not impossible. He will have an opportunity like everybody will. It is just going to be harder for him. He will not be given the same reps that these other two will.
On Ryan and Sanchez being a good match…
I hope so. Mike Tannenbaum, myself and everyone else in this organization is tied to him. Hopefully it is the next 10 years.
On if Sanchez has a swagger…
I think so. I think Kellen has that. I was impressed with Kellen in our first minicamp. We had this conversation and he asked me, "How do you want me to act?" I guess he was asking me how I see him leading. I was like "Just be yourself." Because that is the only way anyone is going to buy it. If you are not yourself, I don't think you can lead.
I like what he did in the first camp. He was getting people fired up, he was running around and having a good time. I think it was rubbing off on guys. I see the same thing with Mark. How do you not like playing for those guys? You want to make a play because you know that guy right there is not about himself, he is about the team.
On expectations for the upcoming season…
You know how I feel. I've never gone into a game I didn't think I would win. I'll let you know when that happens. I have faced a lot of good teams, but I always thought I was going to win even though it doesn't always come out that way. No matter who it is or where we play. I am sure I am going to have that mentality.
You have to get me closer to the season, but I feel very comfortable and very confident in the players we have here, coaches we have and in the entire Jets organization. For me to sit here and say that I hope we come third, anything but winning everything would be underselling our guys. I am not a guy that's big on underselling just to say, "If we say we are going to be terrible and all of a sudden we are decent, man, what a great coach." Forget that. I'm going to tell you the way I feel.
I think we are going to be very successful — period. We will see what happens. If at the end of the day we don't reach those goals, there will be reasons, whether I didn't do a good enough job, I am sure you guys will report it. The fact is I believe we are going to be very successful next year, this year, whatever you want to say.
On if Sanchez's height is an issue…
I don't know. We are going to have to see. I know he is only 6-foot-2 and change, but you are exactly right in that there are a lot bigger guys than that playing the position. He has a great presence and a great feel like all the great ones do. With Brady and Peyton Manning, Tom Brady is probably the slowest quarterback in the league, yet with his ability to move in the pocket, he probably moves as well as any quarterback in the league. It's hard to get to him because he knows when to step up, he knows when to slide.
All the great ones have that. I don't think you can play the position without it. That allows a shorter quarterback to be able to play. I think Sanchez has it and Kellen is the same way. Kellen is not the biggest guy, either.
On what sets Sanchez apart from other recent Southern Cal QBs...
I can't say much about John David Booty or Matt Leinart. We are worried about the guy we got, not worried about a guy who has the same decal. This guy just needs to be who he is, not this guy or that guy. We can say Carson Palmer. That is pretty good. I will take that. It's the same system.
I remember Dennis Thurman, who is a USC guy, telling me, 'What are they going to do at quarterback? After Leinart the kid that is by far and away the best is this kid named Sanchez. "They thought they'd never give him the job, but he was right.
On Sanchez handling the media…
I think clearly he is a guy that can handle it. I think if his approach doesn't change, he is going to be successful. There is no doubt. If he is just himself, he is going to be able to handle anything. It's in his best interest to say, "You know what kid, just be yourself. It's got you this far, it will get you through." If he takes that advice, I think he will be fine.
