Transcript of head coach Rex Ryan's conference call with Jets reporters Monday afternoon:
On any injury updates from the game…
I think with Joe [McKnight], I'm not sure what the MRI showed, I know he had one and was on his way back. Again, it sounded like a hyperextended elbow. We'll see how it is. Obviously, if you're a running back you have to be able to grip the football and protect it. So that's something. Jason Taylor played with a hyperextended elbow last year, but that's a little easier for an outside linebacker to do than obviously a running back. So we'll see how he is. I probably don't anticipate him practicing on Wednesday, but we'll see. As far as his status for the game, I'm not real sure. Obviously that MRI may tell us the answer. As far as right now, I'm not sure whether he'll play or not.
And then LT [LaDainian Tomlinson], it was interesting, I thought he got hurt because of a horse collar tackle, but it was really when he was getting up, he kind of slipped on that carpet or something like that, if you will, that they put on the sideline. He kind of slipped. But I think he's going to be OK. He was able to finish. He did a great job in protecting the quarterback on third downs and things. And it was interesting, he even ran the ball late in the game. In typical LT fashion he's like, "I can block, I'll be fine." Here's one of the greatest running backs in the history of the game and he's like, "I'll go in there and block." That was kind of neat to see, so hopefully he's feeling better.
I know [Jeremy] Kerley is definitely feeling better. He was here, he was catching punts and everything else today. Mike DeVito, I saw him out jogging today. Again, I think his status is probably uncertain, but I know DeVito is going to do whatever he can to get back and play.
On what Kerley's injury was from the game…
Nothing, I'm just saying, remember he had the injury before? He's fine. He's full-go.
On opponents kicking off short two weeks in a row…
I think when you have a weapon like Joe McKnight or Cro [Antonio Cromartie] back there deep, it does make teams think about doing different things. And obviously with [Josh] Baker, he had almost a 30-yard return, and if you kick it to the 20, we're in business. Mike Westhoff and I had a plan, anticipating something like this, and when it happens, you have to make it happen and that's exactly what Baker did.
I know Josh was upset with himself because the kicker made the tackle on him, but I loved the way he took it. I mean, he went full speed ahead and had a great run back. And clearly that was a huge, huge play for us because it set us up in great field position right at the 50-yard line and a couple first downs, we had a big pass to Santonio [Holmes] afterwards. So it looks good on paper sometimes. If you don't kick it deep to us, and you choose to kick the ball short, we have guys that can return it.
On if the opposing teams are intentionally kicking short on kickoffs…
I thought it definitely was a planned deal, a pop-up kick. I guess they're claiming he kicked underneath it. I don't know. It looked like a planned pop-up to me. But sometimes when you do that, sometimes it works out well because some guys don't have guys that can return it, but we do. We have our guys in position, we have some guys that can return the football, and Josh did a great job.
On if it has been a boost for the team to have opponents afraid to kickoff deep…
I think so, that's great. Obviously Joe wants the ball in his hands and so does Cromartie, but if you want to kick it that way, we just want field position. The fact that Josh was able to give us a 30-yard return and you kick it to the 20, we'll take that every day of the week. But I think when you have your guy that is basically maybe heading to the Pro Bowl as a kick returner, then you'll look at things on how you can prevent him from getting the ball. But that's fine, we're OK. Wherever you kick it, we feel pretty good about our kickoff return.
On the team's resiliency in games and throughout the tough stretches this season…
We're a team that just wants to win and get in the playoffs and see what happens. That's what we try to do. Our goal is intact, even though it looked really bad a few weeks ago. You're right, it was a devastating loss that we had to Denver, but again, we can't focus on that. We have to focus on improvement and finding ways to win games. We don't have any wiggle room. We have to get it done and we understand that.
We also have a great deal of confidence in ourselves and we're not worried. We're not focused on other teams in this league. We're just focused on getting better and finding ways to win. That's where we have a great deal of confidence in our players. We have a great deal of confidence in our coaching staff and the fact that we have been there and done that. It hasn't always been perfect here. Our first year here, we really struggled to make the playoffs, but we always believed that if we could get in there, we could do some damage, and that's what we plan on doing this year.
On if there was any message he sent to the team after the Denver loss…
I think they are clear on it. My message is usually pretty clear to them, to our players and things. We know that it's in front of us. We know we're a better team than how we played in some of these games earlier this year. But we also know what we have to get better and we have to work at it. You can't just assume it's going to happen. You have to hit the practice field with a purpose every day, and the same thing in meetings, or the same thing will happen to you. That's been our focus. It's one week at a time. Your preparation is about one opponent, one opponent only, and that's how we've gone about our business.
On if Kerley normally fields punts the Monday after a game…
This kid is probably one of the hardest workers we have. I know he catches 200 passes out of the JUGS machine every single day and I'm not sure how many punts he catches, but it's a bunch. It's just an unfortunate thing. The kid is a phenomenal athlete. Sometimes, mentally or whatever it is, when it's going bad, sometimes that's what happens.
I remember when we played the Giants, a young man that we really felt was a tremendous player, he fumbled three punts in our game. Sometimes, that mental part, you have to overcome that as well. The great thing about Jeremy is that he is focused on what he can improve on, and that's the physical part. He goes out and catches punts every single day off the Jugs machine, all that extra work, and I think it'll pay off for him in the long run.
On how they will handle the punt-return situation…
I'll be honest with you, I feel really comfortable having Jim Leonhard back there. This is the same guy that has averaged close to 10 yards a punt return his entire career. As I mentioned before, he can catch it in a hurricane. This time of year, the weather has a tendency to pick up, the wind and all those types of things. I just, right now, would feel more comfortable having Jim Leonhard back there. I know Westy and I feel the same way. I think that's how we're going to go.
On why the offense decided to use so many new wrinkles Sunday…
I think it's tough to defend. Some of that, if you're not really focused on it or anything else, I think sometimes that's hard to defend. I think that is why the Wildcat, originally when Miami broke it out against New England, which really is just single-wing plays, when they brought it out, it put New England on their heels.
We thought that this was a good football team. They're really good against the run, but we thought that we could challenge them by putting in some of those things. That was my feeling on it and when Schotty [Brian Schottenheimer] and I talked about it, he said, "Hey, yeah, that sounds like a great idea. Let's go for it." Bill Callahan did a great job of putting in a lot of the blocking schemes to it and I thought it was successful.
On if this was the first time he made such a significant suggestion to Schottenheimer…
Yeah, you make suggestions to everybody. We're just trying to help. We're all on the same page and if there's something that I see that I think might be decent to us, whether it's a play, whether it's something like that, then we'll mention it. We'll have our defensive coaches come up with a suggestion for the offense and vice versa. We don't care where we get it from or whatever, even though I wanted the credit after the touchdown [joking]. But we really don't. We're a team. We're all trying to shoot for the same thing. That was something that the offense kind of embraced and we went out and practiced it and I thought we were pretty successful at it.
On if he felt like the team was in a bad position after losing to Denver at the time and if the players felt that way…
No, not at all. I'm just saying the fact is you've lost two games in a row and you just got beat by a team that you really were playing well against the whole game. And the way we got beat, obviously, it was like, "Oh, great." But, again, this team has plenty of confidence. We don't lack for confidence. Not one bit. We think we can beat any team in this league. Obviously, we've lost five games this year, so that's not always a fact, but we believe, going into every single game, that we're going to win. We're capable of beating anybody in this league and we just have to put it together. We've had a recent history of being able to do that. So, I think that that kind of builds into that confidence.
On how detrimental issues in the locker room can be to a team…
I think our biggest thing is that we all want the same thing. There's no question. We built this team, Mike Tannenbaum, myself and everybody else, we built this team on, it's about respect, it's about building people up. That's who we are. We just had to do it. We have a great deal of confidence in the people we have in this building. And when we pull in the same direction, we are tough to beat, and there is no doubt about it. Are we perfect? Of course not. We're not close. There's nobody perfect. Green Bay's got a perfect record, but they're not perfect. We recognize that, but we just have to be true to ourselves and stay the course. We know what works for us. And that's basically what we do.
On if he was ever concerned that turmoil could have been detrimental to the team…
Well, I wasn't worried about it, because I know the people we have here. It just kind of pointing us in the right direction. Getting us steered back on track. We're getting back to the fundamentals of our organizational beliefs. When we're able to do that, we're able to right a ship, and that's kind of how we do things.
On Matthew Mulligan's penalties and if he had words with RBs coach Anthony Lynn on the sideline…
I'm not sure if they had words or anything else. I know it's disappointing that you have a penalty. There's no question about it, and Mully's had a few this year, there's no doubt. Everybody has to be accountable. We've got to ask why it's happening and we've got to get it corrected. There's no question about that. But as far as having words with Anthony Lynn, I'm not sure. I know how competitive everybody is. A lot of things happen in between the white lines on game day. It's never a personal thing, even if things do happen. It's not like getting punched in the face or something. Those things just happen. Whatever it is, I'm sure it's forgotten by now. Even if there was, I don't really know what went on, but I can tell you this, that this football team, we're focused and we'll be ready to play this week.
On Mark Sanchez being a quarterback that comes through in the fourth quarter…
Well, it's funny, that's who he is. He's a winner and he finds way to raise his level of play and the level of play of his teammates around him. Everybody believes that we're going to get it done and that's just how Mark plays. There's no question and that's the encouraging sign, because everybody is going to struggle in this league, there's no doubt.
But he's the type of guy that can pick himself up, elevate his play and everybody, we're a team now that we expect it. He's done it so often that we just expect it. I think that's a great thing about this football team and a great thing about Mark. Everybody believes in him and it's just a matter of time, a matter of do we have enough time for him to come back, because we think he's going to get it done.
