Transcript of Jets head coach Rex Ryan's news conference before Saturday's midday practice at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center:
Do I want to share why we're having this meeting at this time? All right, somebody's kid is playing their first high school game. I don't know what to tell you. You have to see the first one, right? Sophomore playing on varsity, let's see what happens.
On what position his son plays…
He's a corner and he's a punt returner. He's their starting punt returner. He's a backup corner right now.
On if he was a similar athlete to his son…
No, thank goodness. He's a better athlete than his dad. Anyways, it should be fun to watch.
On when his son's game starts…
I think it starts at one. I don't know when I'll be there, but I'll be coming back here after. I'll go to practice.
On what school his son is playing…
Voorhees, I think. I remember it's the defending state champions. It's hard to crack that lineup, I guess [laughs].
On team injuries…
I think Brodney [Pool] will be questionable, whether he plays. Obviously, Calvin [Pace] is out. The rest of us are healthy.
On Pool's injury…
An ankle injury he had should really take more time. He's been a quick healer. He's almost at that point, where "Do we push him through it and risk him getting more of a longer, nagging injury? Or do we give him a little time off so he gets to 100 percent?" That's what we're weighing right now. Brodney wants to play, so we're still looking at that.
On playing a real game on Monday…
I can't wait. In fact, we're playing against an outstanding football team. There are easier opponents than the Baltimore Ravens, but again it's going to be great. This one, you talk about, a knock-down-drag-out-here-it-comes. If you were going to say, "Who are the most physical teams that we could face?" the three most physical teams in the league, in my opinion, would be us, Baltimore and Pittsburgh and shake them up anyway you want. We want to be the most physical team, so we'll see.
On the "Hard Knocks" experience…
I thought it was good. I think one thing we've always mentioned here is that we want every player in the National Football League to want to play for the Jets, every coach to want to coach for the Jets. Hard Knocks showed it. There's a lot of good people in this organization and the most important thing is that, not to mention we have the No. 1 facilities in the league, which I think is a huge thing, but the way we take care of our players.
We take care of them by having a masseuse, chiropractors and everything else is right here in our building. Anything that we can do to help one of our players, we do. I think that shows if you're putting your facilities in a place, it's hard to get better than where we are. I think all that showed well. I understand Cam [Cameron] was saying that he got a lot out of it, took a lot of notes and all that. Well, I'm like, "You got the playbook right there. There might be something in the playbook that might be a little more revealing than what you saw on Hard Knocks."
On if it's possible for another team to get an advantage because of Hard Knocks…
No. What are you going to learn? You guys saw it. What did you get out of it?
On if the game has become personal for himself and the Jets like it may be for Baltimore…
No. That's the way they always lead in. That's the way we would always feel, but no, absolutely not. I have respect for the organization and the players. They helped get me this job, period, by the way they played. Ozzie Newsome, Steve Bisciotti, the owner, helped get me this job. I'll always be indebted to them. But I'm going to try to kick their butt, period. We're going to try to win the game. No matter what my attachment is to them, I'm no longer their coach. I'm here. This is my team. Will I always respect those guys for what they did for me? Absolutely, there's no question about it, but we're going to try to win. Whether you take it personal or not, or you feel disrespected, which I think is ridiculous because I certainly don't disrespect them. It's just the opposite. Again, we're going to play.
On if Monday night is a statement game…
The opening game is always a statement game. Both teams are gunning for it. Both teams are going to try to win this game. Both teams recognize the fact that they are playing against a good football team, at least we do, and they will, they'll figure it out.
On if it's going to be a physical game…
It's going to be a physical game, no question about it.
On if the teams plan on displaying a gesture of solidarity like in the Vikings-Saints game…
No. That's great. We'll go out there like this [waving his index finger]. That's cool [smiling].
On Mark Sanchez's consistency…
I think he did have a typical rookie season last year. He played great some games and not as good in some other ones. We think that's going to level out. We think he is going to play consistently this year. I think you're going to see a few more highs, but you're not going to see the lows he had last year. I think the five-interception days are behind him, way behind him. I would expect big things from Mark.
On the defense being the strength of the team…
We think we have the best defense in the league. We think that will be our strength, but we think our offense is catching up to our defense quickly, and especially, with the play of Mark. We're excited about this.
On a playing a potential-playoff team in Baltimore…
We're just going to be ourselves. We go out and play our game, we think, at the end of the day, that will be good enough.
