Transcript of Jets head coach Rex Ryan's midday news conference following Thursday's morning practice:
A little rain out there. A little sleepy right now it looks like, or maybe that's myself. Other than that, we cannot answer any questions so I guess that's it today [joking].
On how he and the coaching staff keep their energy up during practice…
It's just what you do. This time of year is not [hard]. It's what you do and you've been energized. Bill Walsh, Brian Billick, I was around staffs where you would give your coaches five weeks off at the end of the season. By then you can't wait to come back. I mean literally you can't wait. This is what you have all that time off for. When you get to the season, basically, you're hoping that you can go six straight months and maybe get one day off.
But that's what you do. That's what every coach does, almost every coach on this level. You get used to it and you look forward to it. That's why I think sometimes when you're hiring coaches, I talk about how I want the passionate guys, the guys that love the game. Because clearly, the hours you put in, it's so important that this is what you love to do. This is what you're meant to do. It's not work. It's hard to explain. It's just this is the best time of the year right now. I'm speaking on behalf of every coach that I think they can say honestly this is the time of year they enjoy the most.
On his use of foul language during the first episode of "Hard Knocks"…
The problem is that's what happens. Sometimes you get rolling and words come out and you don't even realize you're saying it. My mom is the only one really disappointed that I care about. I'm going to be myself. I know you guys have been around me when sometimes you get rolling, that's just what happens. I don't know why. I apologize if I offended more people than I usually offend. I apologize for that.
On how long his conversation was with his mother…
Short. I said, "Mom, I'm sleeping here." And that was when Kris Jenkins walked into my room. "Hey, what's up Kris?"
On how much LaDainian Tomlinson has left…
We all see — he has a ton left. Every day he looks great to me. We talked about how he's got that sizable chip on his shoulder, but this guy has got a ton of ability. The way he trained in the offseason, he came in and just really bought into the team here. I think he appreciates being around the guys and I think he's looking to have a monster year.
On Nick Mangold's injury status…
I thought it was just a little shot to the temple and would go away or whatever. When you're dealing with a head injury, you'd just rather be more cautious. You certainly don't want him to have it be a more severe injury. I think he's going to be just fine. We could have probably put him out there in a red jersey, but he's a center, he's going to get hit. It's not like he could go out there and run a route or something like that. He seemed to be doing well.
On if Mangold will be back Friday…
I would think so.
On if it's a concussion…
No. He got hit in the temple.
On if he will have to manage Mark Sanchez like he did last season…
No, I don't think so. I think he's got a great understanding of what we want. He's got a great grasp of our system. Matt Cavanaugh was on the field at the end of the season, I thought he did a great job down there. It allowed Schotty [Brian Schottenheimer] to be the offensive coordinator and not basically go over things with Mark all the time. That's what we have Matt here for. Matt did a great job. He's an extension of Brian, so that's good.
Now the fact that we have [Mark] Brunell, who will also be a mentor, I think that's great. I've gone against Brunell a bunch. He knows turnovers kill you, that you play to the strength of your team, and that you don't have score every time you get the ball. We do have a decent defense and we play good special teams, so lean on your teammates. That's what we ask all of our guys to do. Never just put it on yourself but go out and give us everything you got, but put it all on your teammates, to where we're going to do something.
On thoughts on Hard Knocks…
I thought it was good. I thought it was entertaining. I thought my part about fining about the snacks and all that was pretty funny. We have so many stories to tell. There are so many coaches, players and all that kind of stuff. You really want the country to see that. I think people understand that this is a good environment to play in. We don't take ourselves too seriously, yet when it's time to play we're going to play. We're going to step up and we're going to give you everything that we have. We're professional but we're also going to have fun. Our mentality is what it is and we don't to apologize for it.
On hearing feedback about Hard Knocks from other people in the league…
No, I haven't. When the thing is all said and done, we'll have that. I think there's a reputation we're building in the league that people want to play our way of football. I think they want to be around this type of organization. I think if you took a silent vote, I don't know what the percentage would be, but I bet you there will be a lot of guys that want to play here.
On how well the team is doing in training camp…
I think we're rolling pretty good. I looked at our defensive inventory and I was like "Wow, we got that much in now. That's great." Then our offense is very multiple, well, I've always said that about our offense. We're moving along pretty good. I know Westy special teams coordinator Mike Westhoff]; he’ll work on Ravens stuff, [New York Giants stuff, preseason stuff. He's getting ready, and he's already getting ready for specific teams.
The way we handle our training camp, our special teams, this is an important part of it. They don't get as much work in the regular season as they do now so they pack it all in there. One of every four practices is for special teams alone. In team meetings, they get a lot of meeting time. Westy has never been around anything like this before, up until last year, where he's been able to get a lot in. That's good. As far as Giants stuff, we haven't looked at one Giant tape or anything. We're just going to put the ball out and play.
On live special teams drills…
I think sometimes that you want to get a true indication of your guys. Just like when we had the Green & White, let it go, let's see what happens. Maybe you'll be surprised by a guy. Maybe you'll be surprised in a bad way about somebody. There are guys that stood out in that drill, John Conner, Lance [Laury] — we brought him in to be a special teams guy and he stood out in that drill. I thought [Jamaal] Westerman was standing out in that drill. It was funny with Dig [James Ihedigbo] cause he's great special-teamer, he got knocked on his back on one of them. I'm like "Hey, kid, you'd better strap it up," but those are good things to see. That way when we kick it off live, it wouldn't be the first time we went down and tackled somebody.
On if Conner is still impressing him…
His best hit of the year happened today. We were running a draw, an iso draw, we call it. He isolates on the linebacker. Whoo, he smoked him. This kid's got a talent for running through people.
On who Conner hit…
I think it was Kenwin [Cummings]. Not sure. Kenwin is a big man and a physical player. I think it was him, I'm not 100 percent percent sure. It was a shot. That's what this guy brings us. He also did a great job on running down on kicks. You see him split a double team on that kickoff drill. One thing we know he is, he's physical.
On Braylon Edwards as a field goal blocker…
He's just out there. We're just experimenting.
On if Conner could beat out Tony Richardson for the starting fullback job…
There's a chance. There's definitely a chance. Tony is obviously a very talented guy. He's got the experience, he's got all that kind of stuff. Is he being pushed by this kid? Certainly. This guy is turning heads. Jason Davis was turning heads, especially in the OTAs. That's when he was turning my head. He hasn't had quite as impressive a camp as Conner has. All three of these guys, if we let one guy go, and I think that was even in that piece on Hard Knocks, you let a guy go, someone is getting picked up in two seconds. We are loaded up at fullback. That's for sure.
I think it will be a battle. It's going to be hard to beat out Tony Richardson, in my opinion. The guy's attitude, both those guys, Jason and John are great. They're doing what they're supposed to do. They are going full speed at it, and they're going to try to take themselves a job.
The great thing is that's what Tony is doing. You look at Tony, he came to me while we were trying to give him a practice off. He's like, "I really don't like doing this." I'm like "What? You're the only veteran I've ever seen that never appreciated a day off." I think he feels like he's getting pushed a little also. Maybe that's great. Tony is a great competitor. It's fun to watch those guys compete with each other.
On Tomlinson having a second surge to his career with his new team…
I just know that right now we got a great back in LaDainian. He's tremendous. Does he look like he's through? Absolutely not. He's running, he's doing everything that you ask him to do. Everything. I remember for years in San Diego they wouldn't even give him the ball in preseason. Right now, he's carried it probably more in this training camp than he has in a long time. He's strong, he looks fast. He looks tremendous to me.
On if his statement on Darrelle Revis on Wednesday led the official statement today…
Do I say yes or no? Nothing. No comment. Can't talk about it. Yes, no, maybe [laughter].
On Sanchez sliding…
He's already slid once more than he did all of last year. That was good. I think he will take care of himself better, I really do. I think it was tough on him. [Yankees manager] Joe Girardi told me that sometimes it's tough to slide on your opposite leg. All your life you slid off of one leg. That's just what you do. Then when he had to slide on his other one. That's why he never did, I think, because it never felt comfortable. Now he's back to sliding and popping up. That's something that's obviously critical. We need him to be healthy.
On Drew Coleman's missed field goal at the end of practice…
I don't want to give an official comment. I'm going to give you something and I want to see if it gets out [laughter]. Here's the deal. We were going to give them [something] they were all chirping for. Last year we gave them a movie night — 100 percent had to go or we were going to have night meetings.
On the schedule there's a team meeting tonight scheduled. There's also a movie night scheduled for tonight so I figured I had nothing to lose. Let them kick for it. If he gets it, great, if not, no big, but it's already scheduled. They don't know that yet [laughter]. That's the beauty of it. Anyone have a good idea? I'm open to suggestions. Maybe you want to see Kris Jenkins catch a punt? It's that time. I want to see them do it. We're going to all go to the team meeting. They are going to assume that we're having meetings and that we're going to do what we always do.
On Mike Tannenbaum's missed punt catch…
The great thing is, no matter how much he begged to keep that out of there, I was like, "Ross [Greenburg], it has to be in there." That was the only thing. Once that happened, I don't care what's in there, but that has to be in there. That was great [laughter]. I'm not going to make my obvious comment, but I bet you there are some people that watched it over and over [laughter].
On where the Jets draw the line on Hard Knocks…
We don't. Everything is free game. That's what we signed up for and these guys do a great job. They've been around enough to know what's appropriate and inappropriate as far as giving somebody an edge. There is where that trust comes in. We want to present a true picture of who we are. I know I was cussing, but that's who I am. I'm not a saint.
On if he knew in advance what would be aired on Hard Knocks…
No. We can see a rough, a non-official copy. You can see some of the things that are going in, but that's it. We were probably the right team to have this because that's how we want to present ourselves anyway. This is who we are. Some people are going to like us and some people are not. At the end of the day we want to paint an accurate picture of who we are.
By the time the show is over, I think it's going to be great. You're going to see a lot of the characters we have in our organization and you're going to see how we take care of ourselves. I'm hoping that comes out. We have anything for our players to be successful. That's what we do.
On if he watched Hard Knocks with anyone else…
I was the only guy. I watched it by myself. Then once the show was over, I went to bed. At 11:30 p.m. Kris Jenkins came in and said, "Hey Rex, you in there? What? You sleeping? What are you doing?" He just came by to talk to me. So I was like, "Yeah, Kris, next time I'll lock my door." He's funny. The guys know I'm in there and I don't do anything. I don't have a social life [laughter].
On Danny Woodhead…
Danny Woodhead is always live. Last year at training camp, the third group was awful so we said we were going to tackle. Danny was the running back and we would say "Woodhead is live." We always say that now. Last year he had 160 yards against Philly — that was impressive. Everything we ask him to do, he goes full speed. You know exactly what you're going to get and that is literally everything he has. He blocks punts, he runs down. Last year we asked him to be Wes Walker for the day so you put him in a slot. The answer is always yes from him. He's a guy that you really want to be successful because he puts so much into it.