Transcript of Jets head coach Rex Ryan's news conference Friday morning:
My first training camp as head coach, first practice, all. A nice little rain out there. Like I told the players, it never rains on a football player. I was soaked [laughing], but a lot of those guys are dry. It's funny how rain doesn't really affect you. You get out there and you're just playing football, enjoying playing, and I think you saw that today.
The thing I was disappointed with today's practice, if you want to go from a negative [standpoint], it would be [that] we had way too many guys jumping early on offense. I don't even want to say the number [of times], but obviously we have to get that corrected. Some of that is expected. You have guys moving around and they're itching to go. They've been away from it for a little bit and it's certainly expected but it's not going to be accepted. We have to make sure we get that done. With this football team, if you're going to beat us, I want you to try to beat us not because we're making mistakes, and that's something we always talk about. We're going to be a tough team to beat physically, so let's eliminate the mental errors and the dumb penalties and make a team have to try and beat us physically and I think we'll be in great shape.
I think [Darrelle] Revis, you guys saw it today, jumped out at me. He had a couple of interceptions, maybe more than that. Howard Green, running with the second defense, showed what he's all about in those 9-on-7 drills and those inside drills. That's why he's here. He is a big, physical presence. We call him "Not So Big" Howard anymore. He used to be "Big Howard." He's not so big anymore. I think he dropped 20 pounds or something like that, and I don't think it's fair to say it was like losing a deck chair on the Titanic either. I might have put on the weight that he lost, unfortunately.
It is my first day on a diet. We'll see how long that goes. You guys may want to have a bet with each other. It's all liquid or something like that for five days. It's going to work great [laughing]. I feel good. [I had] oranges, lemons, and all that stuff to squeeze in there. It was a great breakfast. I'm looking forward to the vegetable thing that they have for me today [laughing].
On who put him on his diet…
I think it stemmed from the entire organization. They saw I weighed 340, I was like, "that's enough." I think I hit that spot I was looking for [smiling]. Now I have to go back down in the other direction.
On how much he weighed at the end of last season…
I think around 300…ok, 310 [laughing]. I figured I'd throw it out to you. The move and all of that, a lot of new restaurants. There are so many Italian restaurants around here.
On if he has made a considerable effort to lose weight in the past…
A little bit. You could ask [Marques] Douglas and some of these older guys that have been with me. Every year, I used to get the weight up a little bit and then my kid would play on a travel baseball team. So to raise money, I would have to lose 30 pounds, so this is not new for me.
On holding Leon Washington out of team drills
If you had to run the running test at six in the morning, I think you'd see that he did do a lot. We purposely held Leon out of drills. We'll hold him out again for this afternoon as well because he did have to take the running test. That's a day's work right there. We're being very cautious.
On when he learned Leon Washington had arrived to camp…
I had bed check last night and I saw him [studying] his playbook. It was like, "Hey Leon!." It's always great to have him here. Like I said yesterday, we need Leon. A huge part of the success that we're going to have is when Leon's in there. Obviously we're happy that he's here and he's joined his teammates. Those great competitors, it's hard to keep them away. They start football and they have to show up. Look at what has been reported with Thomas [Jones] before. Contract things happen, but Thomas is here. He's excited to be here with his teammates.
I had a little slip last night in a meeting with the team. I said, "We only have one guy that's not here and that's Thomas." For some reason while I was looking right at Thomas and I just said his name. I said, "To be honest, I'm a little surprised you're here," after reading all of these reports, but really he's ready to go. Everybody came in shape and I think that it shows the kind of commitment they have to each other as well. We want to do some great things this year.
On if he knows anything more about Washington's contract situation…
No. Really, I think both sides [are continuing] to negotiate, but [nothing new] to my knowledge.
On what he said to Washington last night when he saw him…
He said "hey coach," with a big smile on his face. Obviously, I'm sure he'd like to have another deal done, but Leon's here and is where he should be - with his teammates.
On if Washington gave a reason for not being with the team yesterday…
No, I never discussed that. I was just happy to see him. I mentioned [earlier] the running test in the morning and he knocked it out.
On if he sees a contract resolution in the near future…
Again, I'm not going to say one way or the other for two reasons. Number one, it's more in-house business, family-type business [with] the negotiating. The other reason I won't really discuss it is because I don't know all the particulars. Mike Tannenbaum and Leon's agent are doing the negotiating.
On if he has spoken with Thomas Jones and Leon Washington…
I spoke with both Leon [Washington] and Thomas [Jones]. Thomas said general things, such as, "I never carried [the ball] enough last year." He came in great shape, and it's good to see [that]. The great thing that we have is that everybody wants that ball among all those backs — "Rex, I can get over 300 carries," everybody wants over 300 carries and that's a great thing.
I think they realize that if you're running behind an excellent offensive line and they have confidence in that offensive line, they have confidence in themselves and they just want to tote it [carry the football]. They know that we're stacked at running back. They all want to get their carries. That's for sure.
On whether he is worried about Washington and Jones' contract situations affecting their frame of mind…
I don't get that at all. You guys see him out here, you can't participate the way they do and not be fully committed. Obviously there are things — contract, home, etc. One of the reasons we came here [to Cortland] is to get away from it all where you just focus on football. I think the fact with Thomas and Leon, and I'm sure with others too, is that you just play football and everything else will work. You hire agents to do a job and you let them do it. You enjoy your teammates and [think], "let's get better as a football team."
On sharing reps between Calvin Pace and Vernon Gholston…
Today Mike [Pettine] was rotating three guys there. So with Calvin and obviously Vernon and BT [Bryan Thomas], they were rotating with the two spots with three guys. And we'll do that with a lot of guys. I think even on the D-Line, we've got [Marques] Douglas rotating in and Sione [Pouha] and obviously with Shaun [Ellis]. We held Shaun out a little bit today just to get his feet wet. This is really the first action he's really had. And boy, that's a big cat, I see his nickname. I see why they call him that.
On reports that he was "disappointed" with Vernon Gholston's performance so far…
Yeah that's amazing to me because I've been happy with Vernon. That's interesting. I don't know where those things come from, but I've been happy with Vernon. I think he looks good. Do I think he needs to step up and be a big player for us? Absolutely. Especially now with Calvin's situation, he has to step up for us in a starting role. But we're expecting big things out of him anyway. We knew that he was going to have a bigger role than he had last year for us and now he just jumps into a starting thing. So he's got to be ready from the time we kick it off for real. He better be ready to roll and I expect him to.
On Bart Scott's role compared to his role in Baltimore...
We'll see. Those guys are going to be a little more interchangeable than we had in Baltimore. With David [Harris] and Bart, I think they really give us a little more flexibility. But he'll probably have to take on a little bit more of a leadership role, I think, here because he knows the defense. He's familiar with it, he knows the style of play that we're looking for and Bart will have no problem doing that.
On if he approves of the facilities at Cortland…
Oh absolutely. I think you could even ask the players. I went around and did bed check last night and those that were up a little bit looked up I'm like, "This is too easy right here. I mean this is great." Everyone's got their own room. I'm the only one, I have a single room and there's three of us in there. My kid who got lit up and my nephew. So that one is a little packed.
But other than that, this is great. The cafeteria is outstanding. Everybody on this campus has been so great to us, they really have. We're excited about it. The grass field probably took another hit tonight and today. It's only going to rain all day. I hope it doesn't have to push us back another day but if it does, we want to make sure those fields are right so we can spend the majority of our time on it.
On whether the quarterback play was impacted by rain…
Yeah, wet ball conditions but probably the defensive conditions. That's a good group back there in the back end. I think you saw where Lito [Sheppard] and [Dwight] Lowery were competing there to see who could get that starting job. You see even [Darrelle] Revis. He comes out. He wants to be the best. He comes out today and has a couple of interceptions. You throw one over his direction and it might be a boomerang. It might come back at you.
This group, they want to be the best in the league. They want to be considered with all the best defenses in the league and, quite honestly, I think we will be. But I think again it was more of a defensive day today. I think the defense was maybe even a little bit more focused than the offense. Hopefully, this afternoon our offense can come back today and get after it a little bit.
On the expectations for Kerry Rhodes…
I just want Kerry to be part of a great unit and not put the pressure on himself. Nothing against you guys or anybody else, sometimes we all get so caught up in the numbers that if a guy doesn't have X amount of interceptions, then he's not playing well. Ed Reed had one interception halfway through the season, he ended up with 11, I think, so he played decent.
I think it's one of those things. So I don't want to put any pressure on Kerry saying I think he'll get 10 interceptions. He may very well get 10 interceptions, but I want him to be part of this unit and I want the focus to not necessarily be on an individual as much as it be on a unit - whether it's the defense or whether it's the offense.
And I want our guys to take pride in that unit. You know the individual claims you guys will see, playmakers make plays and I'm sure Kerry will end up making a lot of plays. But again the focus is on the unit. Where we are I think is the big thing and I tell Kerry that as well.
On if Lito Sheppard comes in as the starter…
Well, Lito is the starter for sure, but Lowery's certainly not approaching it that way. Lowery is going to say, "Hey if this guy wants to slip up a little bit, I'm going to try and take it." I mean this guy wants to get on the field and that's the beauty of the system that we have. We can make roles for players and whatever the call is we'll have. I'm a starter in this defense. I'm a starter in this one. And that's the way it'll be because he'll certainly be a starter in some packages. He's playing to well not to be a major contributor for us.
On how Mark Sanchez and Kellen Clemens played today…
It probably wasn't the best day, as we said, throwing incompletions. I thought Sanchez had a really good day. When you look at it, he threw a couple of balls that could've been picked but other than that, there were some trap coverages that [Mike] Pettine and his crew threw out there. He threw into a couple. But other than that I thought he threw the comeback and the deep out exceptionally well today. And then Clemens, I thought he had good command of that huddle and did some things well. It just wasn't putting up the numbers or all those deep completions.
On how Sanchez can win the starting job…
He has got to be the best quarterback and the best leader. And I think again, we're going to compete everyday and we'll end up at the end of the day doing what's best for our football team where we can win on that particular Sunday.
