Transcript of Jets head coach Rex Ryan's news conference following Friday's midday news conference:
No changes on the injury report. [Mark] Sanchez is still going to play. But I really don't have anything, except our defense looked much better today. We tightened it up so I'm feeling better.
On if Lito Sheppard has been ruled out for Sunday…
I'm not one of those guys. If a guy can go, he shows up and on Sunday we think he's ready to roll, then we're going to go with him.
On how he will determine if Sheppard plays…
We'll see. We'll work him out before [the game]. That's a possibility. We'll see how he is right now. I haven't even talked to [John] Mellody, our trainer, yet to see how he is. I would say [Donald] Strickland, that one will probably be done as soon as I talk to him. He'll probably be out, but those two never practiced, again today.
On if Tennessee will come out with extra intensity because they are 0-2…
They're going to come out with everything they've got. There's no question about it, but so are we. At the end of the day, we'll see who the better team is. It's not like they're going to leave anything in the tank. They're bringing it all out on us. We understand that, but we're going to do the same. They're going to get everything we have.
That's what we expect every week from our guys. It's what our fans expect and that's what our guys expect from each other. This is going to be one of them old-fashion, physical football games. You've got two teams that believe in that physical style of play. They get after it on defense, try to run the football and try to impose their will on each other. So this is going to be a fun one to watch.
On if Dwight Lowery can use his deflection vs. New England as a springboard for this game…
This young man has made a lot of plays in his career. Through college, he had a lot of interceptions. So we think he's a playmaker. It's funny, the first thing that popped in his mind was to go for the interception and then he said, "I just need to knock it down." He knew the game specifics at that time, but you can tell even in that situation, he literally thought about going for the interception, which I think is good. It shows that he's got great confidence in himself. He's got a lot of ability. He's got great teammates around him. If he's in the starting lineup, don't expect us to drop off.
On who will play if the Jets are without Sheppard and Strickland…
Well, if they're both out, the guys that finished the game for us, Drew Coleman at nickel and Lowery playing corner. So we'll be fine there. We won't, obviously, have the depth that we normally have, but those guys can play. Like we say, we have no excuses regardless of who's up or who's down. This is a football team. Everybody goes through bumps and bruises.
On Drew Coleman…
I saw a lot of good things. That's why he made our team. He's got great man-cover skills. He's quick, fast and he's a lot tougher than you would think a guy his size is. I always kid guys that are really fast that they're usually fast for a reason - because they're running away from fights. He's a tough little guy. Where he really showed up to me, more so than on defense, was on special teams. He's our first guy down on the kickoff team. All through preseason as well, he's made some plays. He continued that in the regular season. I'm excited about him. One of our coaches, Jeff Weeks, was the coach in junior college when Drew was there so I knew a little bit about him. I knew he was a great athlete, receiver, quarterback-type athlete. He's got a lot of skill.
On Chuck Cecil as a player…
His biggest hits would have been outlawed now, but he would certainly throw it in there on you. We had him in Arizona his last year, I think, when he was in Arizona. Later he went to Tennessee. He had a big hit preseason, too. I remember we were playing the 49ers and he came and crushed somebody. It was great to see. Loved his competitiveness. Tough guy and really a heck of a guy as well, a great teammate. It's no surprise that he's an excellent coach.
On Tennessee FB Ahmad Hall's comments about Bart Scott…
Hey, bring it on. Nobody likes Bart. That's the beauty of it. Only his teammates like Bart. Trust me, Bart will be more than happy to accommodate him.
On Tennessee LB Keith Bulluck's comments about getting after Mark Sanchez….
We're going to see it. Both those teams we played first wanted to do the same thing. He was up to the task then and I think he'll be up to the task this week as well.
On if he thinks there will be trash talking every week…
That's fine. It's no big deal. We are who we are. We're going to play like Jets and we're a physical football team. I don't think our guys really instigate anything, but we're going to be out there one way or another so if somebody wants to fight us, we'll line up and fight them. We don't care. Whatever they want to do were more than happy to accommodate.
On today's practice being better than yesterday's…
We had a few too many mental mistakes yesterday, so we had everything tightened up today. We had no mistakes out there today.
On the players' attitudes at practice today…
The attitude was great. It was professional. They prepared at night. You have to do those things. You can't just go out there and be happy with what you've done so far. You've got to take care of your job. This football team we're playing is an outstanding team, a physical team, one of the premier teams in the league. If you give them anything but your best preparation-wise or with the type of emotion you play with or anything, you're going to get beat. I have a feeling we're going to be up for the task.
On what he plans on saying to the team before the game…
However I feel Saturday night, we'll talk about it then. We're going into this game confident. We're playing at our place with our fans behind us and we're just going to count on one another. If everybody is doing their job collectively, I think we've got a great chance.
On if there was a visitor at the team meeting today…
Yeah, we had Fireman Ed. We gave him, on behalf of the fans, representing the fans, we gave him the game ball. There are two actually. There's one in our trophy case and we gave him one because he does a great job. That's really the first time I've ever seen him. When I was here before as a visitor, I kind of blocked everything out and never really noticed him. It's hard not to notice him when you're standing on the sideline and he's getting the fans going. He wasn't the only fan you would notice, but I don't know the names of everyone else. I'm sure there was Fireman Joe out there and anybody else. It was great because they're our fans. We decided it was a little token of our appreciation to give him a game ball.
On Fireman Ed's reaction to receiving the game ball…
He was great. He was all fired up. He's expecting a lot of wins, as are our fans, and he said this is only the start. Our guys understand that. We have a responsibility. We want to be one of those teams that nobody wants to play, especially when they come into our house, to make it as tough and miserable as possible on our opponents. I think our fans are committed to it and I know our team is as well.
On Ahmard Hall…
I don't remember much. I think he got hurt early in the game the first time [Baltimore] played them. The second time, I don't remember as much about him as I do Chris Johnson, who was having a great day. I remember we finished the game with a tight end playing defensive end for us, a couple of safeties playing corner. We had to hold on there. I do remember we walked off the field a winner and moved onto the AFC Championship Game. I know that's a little burr in their saddle, but oh well.
On if Chris Johnson is the fastest guy he's ever seen…
He's the fastest running back I think I've ever seen. I never coached against Eric Dickerson or some of those other real fast guys but this guy is explosive.
On Chansi Stuckey's performance the last two games…
Outstanding in both games. It's not necessarily the receptions he's getting. It's what he does away from the ball. He's a great team guy and he's making plays. He made one catch, he's got about 10 yards to make the first down and he keeps moving, refuses to go down and gets 11 yards for the first down. He's been a clutch guy for us.
