Transcript of head coach Rex Ryan's news conference following Friday's midday practice at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center:
On Nick Mangold's injury status…
OK, we'll start with that. He was limited today. He actually did some reps today. We are listing him as questionable. I think if today was the game, I would say no. But, the fact it's a Sunday night game may help the process. We'll see how it is. He truly is questionable.
On if Mangold is a gametime decision…
He's a legitimate gametime. Not one of those you-really-know-what's-going-to-happen-and-say-he's-gametime. He literally is gametime.
These other guys were probable: Plaxico [Burress], he was full today. Remember he kind of had that hamstring tightness, but he practiced full today. [Antonio] Cromartie was full — all these guys practiced full. Mike DeVito has a shoulder. David Harris, toe. Santonio Holmes, shoulder. Muhammad Wilkerson is listed as probable. He was limited today with a shoulder, that's still a non-contact deal. And then Logan Payne of course, we all know he still has the cast on. So he's out. So that's pretty much the injury deal.
It wasn't a great practice today as far as our offense is concerned. The first three periods of it, we started off with some mental mistakes and never looked really good. Now, we closed the practice, looked good. The thing I was really encouraged about, Mark [Sanchez] missed a pass to Santonio, so we repeated it. OK, he hits it. But after practice, I see him working on it. He had like 30 throws, trying to hit on it, make sure they were on the same page and all that. So that was encouraging.
But some Fridays have really looked good and all that stuff. And that old saying, "Hay is in the barn after Friday," that's not true. We have to get better. And there's time to do it, but it just was kind of sloppy today. But other than that, I thought the defense looked great, and our special teams had a good practice. But I'll go ahead and open it up for questions.
On if he has had Fridays with great practices but then not performed on Sunday…
Oh yes, the biggest one was the New England deal [45-3 loss last December]. Now at the end of it, remember, we had the injury [to Jim Leonhard], but up until that point, it was the best practice we'd ever had here. And we stunk up the joint. So hopefully we'll have a great game. I've seen that happen, too.
On if the presence of Haloti Ngata has anything to do with whether Mangold will play or not…
I think, for Mangold, he wants to compete against the best, obviously, and Haloti is the best. He's trying to do what he can to get ready. He's been doing that. I think as competitive as Nick is, he'd like that opportunity. I think your great competitors want to go against the best, there is no question. Nick, even though he wouldn't be 100 percent, I think he still wants that opportunity. Again, we'll see. We'll make the best decision for the team, obviously. If it was me, I'd be like, "No, my hamstring is killing me." "Well, I thought it was your ankle?" "No, it's my hamstring, ankle, shoulder, everything." He wants to play against the best.
On why he thinks Coach Mike Pettine was so angry about the defensive performance…
It got to all of us. When a team is playing against the New York Jets, you want them to play against us. If they beat us playing at our best, then you tip your hat to them. If we don't play up to our standards and they do that to you, that's when you're like, "Come on, we let this team run for 240 yards or whatever it was on us. There's no way." I think that the whole group felt that way. I know we can play better. We all know it and Pettine knows it.
On if a good defensive performance is important to Coach Pettine and him this week since they are returning to Baltimore…
There is no doubt. If we're going to win this game, we better be at our best in all phases because if you're not, you're going to get beat. What they did to Pittsburgh, they absolutely smashed Pittsburgh in all phases. We don't want that to happen to us and we better be there. Again, I can live with anything. If we're at our very best and a team just flat beats you and all that, then OK, you can live with it. But for us to think that it was the preparation or whatever, we have no excuses. We know who we're going against. They're going to be in the all black uniforms, which one of the players thought was the difference [laughing]. See what I'm saying? We should've brought our Titans uniforms, then we would have had something [laughter]. Then, we would've had it going on, absolutely.
On whether improving the team's pass rush is a matter of technique or getting teams to third and long…
If you get a team in third and long, you know they're not running, so there goes that possibility. I agree with you there. They do a nice job protecting the quarterback, and a lot of it's based on they can run the football. You've got to respect the run and then react off of it. Sometimes, we're not a team that just gets straight up the field all of the time. We're not just going to be one-gap penetrators, or whatever. That's not in our style of defense. We might be a little more hesitant on play-action and all that to convert the pass, but we want to stop that run, too. You're looking at things. We've worked on that. I even took the D-line myself, went over some converting from run to pass. We're definitely looking at everything to improve.
On the importance of getting the ball into Santonio Holmes' hands …
Since we're playing the Ravens, you look at, when we played them that one year, my last year there, we played Pittsburgh three times. He scored every single game, and they won every single game against us. He's a playmaker. I don't care if it's a short pass, he can turn that short pass into a long gain, whether he's running over the top of you, whatever. There's a reason he was our number one priority this offseason. He's a talented guy.
On if it's OK for Holmes to tell the coaching staff to make sure he gets the ball…
It's funny, but every great player has that kind of mentality. You look at basketball. Games on the line, who shoots it? Well, you want every hand to [go up]. You want all of the teammates to go, "OK, if it can't be me, OK, we want him to shoot it." I think we want him to catch it. That's kind of how I look at Tone. He's a big-time guy. Whether he says it to you or not, we're mindful of it, there's no doubt.
