Transcript of head coach Rex Ryan's news conference following Thursday's midday practice at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center:
Injury report. Three new guys. Limited was Santonio Holmes, knee, but he also had a little quad today, and then Eric Smith turned an ankle, so he missed a couple of plays at the end of practice, so they were limited. Joe McKnight kind of dislocated a finger. He did not miss any time. He will be new to the injury report, but he did practice full. David Harris did not practice today. He feels better. We were on the turf, so I didn't want to put him out there. I still think he'll play.
Logan Payne and Robert Turner were out. And then all these guys practiced full: Plaxico Burress, ankle, Brunell, calf, Marquice Cole, ankle, John Conner, ankle, [Jeff] Cumberland, hamstring, [Marcus] Dixon, knee, Wayne Hunter, knee, Derrick Mason, knee, Sione Pouha, knee-ankle. OK, so that's about it. Not really concerned with the new guys on the injury report as far as being able to play in the game. I'm anticipating all of them will play in the game.
On why he is confident that Harris will play…
Well, obviously he knows the system and all that. It's not that I looked at him. The trainers feel confident that he can [play]. He'll be just fine, so I'd expect him to be out at practice, probably
On if Harris has a broken toe…
No, not that I know of.
On if Harris would have done some work today if they practiced on the grass…
I think he would have done more today, I think so. But it's funny because, well, what do you do, it's raining, you don't want a guy to slip, pull a groin or something like that, so you make that decision. And then my decision to go inside was based on the fact that there's the weather report I get for Sunday is that it's going to be about 72 degrees, no chance of rain, 6-mile-per-hour wind. If there was going to be rain for the game, we would have just stayed out there and practiced.
On if Santonio Holmes got hurt in practice yesterday or if it happened during the game…
No, I think something today. We just took him out a few plays. He's going to be fine.
On why Patrick Turner was promoted to the active roster…
I think he's earned that, and we did so much three wides last week. He's a similar body type to Plax, we'll be able to do that, and he contributes on special teams.
On if he promoted Turner because other teams may have been interested…
No, that wasn't the reason.
On working out linebackers on Tuesday, including a former Patriot…
We were trying to pick his brain [laughter]. No, any time there's good players out there, we will try to make sure our board is set the right way, the way we feel, that if we need to pull somebody up, see where they're at. But [Tully] Banta-Cain did punch Weeks in the face, so that was interesting, on a drill. So [Jeff] Weeks got a big old fat lip and things like that. He mumbled, "Is that all you've got?" I think, to him afterwards. But Weeks took a shot, so that was good.
On which drill ended up with Weeks getting punched…
Just doing boxing [laughter]. No, we work our guys out differently, I think, than other teams. But he was just doing some pass sets on him, and then when he came back, he swung to get a hand over him and hit him right in the mouth.
On reflecting on his decision to rehire Mike Westhoff…
That was the easiest decision of all time. I mean, obviously he's got a great reputation. His reputation precedes him. But I talked to him for 15 minutes and literally I guess it was for a half hour, but I would have hired him after two minutes. I mean, it was just he's got such great passion for it, and you can just tell he loves coaching. He cares about the players. He's tough, he's hard on them, but man, he cares about them. The more I know him now, the conversation never would have taken place, it would have just been "Here's the contract," you know? But we did the courtesy interview and literally I knew in two minutes, I knew this guy was awesome.
On if he's worried that Westhoff may leave the team one day…
Can't do that. Can't do that. We franchised him. They can't do that.
On if the issues in the secondary had to do with technique or communication…
No, shoot, we're feeling good, man. We had a great practice today. We feel good. We had, I think, two mistakes today. In the game there was like seven glaring ones. We had two in the practice, fixed them on the spot. We've been together for so long that this you can't assume that you have it down. You've still got to dial in. But the fact that we have been together this long, the correction should go like this. Whether that was attributed to us making those mistakes from really the first true game, fatigue, whatever it was, I'm not sure, but I mean, it shouldn't happen with this football team.
On if he takes solace in the fact that the Cowboys are so talented…
They definitely have some talent there, there's no question about that. You've got to give them credit. I mean, they made some plays.
On the run game struggling after one game…
Well, and now you get this team coming in here that held Chris Johnson to 2.8 or 2.4 a carry or something like that. We'll see. We know it's going to be tough sledding this week.
On what his opinion was when Sanchez decided to pass when a run was called initially…
Well, if he completed them, I was OK with it [laughter], and when he didn't, I was like, oh. Because that last one we were going to run the football, the last play, to set up the field goal, and he saw the 1-on-1 coverage on the backside, and at the time he dropped back, I'm like, "Go for it, pitch it out to Plax, let's see what happens," and he kind of threw a flat ball.
You know, he's got playmaking ability now, he's got playmakers on the outside, and sometimes when you see him it makes sense to do that. My first year when I was here, it's like just run it and we'll figure it out later. But I have confidence that Mark will get us into a good play. But also, you know, we know we can run the football, and we need to stay with it, and I think I think this week is going to be a great challenge for us obviously. These guys gear themselves to stop the run, so we'll see what happens.
On what he was thinking when Sanchez passed the ball on third down before Nick Folk's field goal..
You know, right when he drops back, after you get over the fact of what are we doing, and then you're like, catch it, catch it, one of those deals. But it was similar to what we had in Indy when we made the play to Braylon. It was a similar situation. We came up with the play and it made the field goal much easier, so if he would have hit it, it would have been the greatest thing going.
But in that situation he probably should have just ... it's hard to say because when you've got Plax out there, I had guys stand up today. I say, "Just put your hands up." Then I say, "OK, Plax, you stand behind and you put your hands up," and he'd be like this much. I say, "That's what I'm talking about." Just give the guy a chance. Put some air under the ball, give him a chance.
On if he has an idea of how he will use LaDainian Tomlinson going into a game…
No, I look at it this way: We know he can play. I mean, the guy last year almost rushed for 1,000 yards, would have if we would have played him in that last game, and played great in the playoffs. The guy is a first-ballot Hall of Famer. He might have lost some speed since he was younger, but he's still got the skill. He's got great hands, great vision. He can still move. He's a guy that I think when it's all said and done, when his career is over and he's in the Hall of Fame and all that, he'll come back and win a "Dancing with the Stars" contest.
On what jumped out about how Bart Scott played Sunday…
Just how physical he was. I mean, we know when Bart is going, he's popping people and he's knocking people back. That's what I saw, because he's about as physical as it gets in this entire league for linebackers. I'm always happy to have him on our side.
On how a good pass-catching tight end presents a challenge to the defense…
Right. Well, most teams when you have a good pass catching tight end which you hope they're not as good on the outside because a lot of times what you'll do is play quarter coverage. In other words, you can hit the guy underneath and still have protection on top.
In some cases, though, the ones that really present the most problems to you are the ones that have talent on the outside as well that you can't just play quarters coverage. That's what we have here with Dustin Keller and you have Santonio and Plax and Mason and all those guys outside, it's hard to play quarters coverage. But there's different ways of doing things to make up for it.
On Marcedes Lewis…
He's faster, about the same size. They're both giants. He's faster. He definitely presents a problem.
On what exactly is Harris' toe issue…
I can't tell you exactly. I mean, we think he's going to be fine. I don't think it's a turf toe I don't believe it's a turf toe, because I asked the same thing, and they're like, no. I think he might have a tendon. I don't know.
On Harris' injury…
Well, he's got a tendon that's hurting, I think.
On if he asked Harris which toe was hurt…
Yeah, I don't know. Who knows? But you know how we don't think it's not broke, we don't think it's broke, we don't think it's a turf toe. That's why I don't think it's that big a deal. At least that's been told to me.
On what he has seen from the additions on the Jaguars defense…
Man, it seemed like they all made plays. Roth had a sack, some Coleman kid had a sack, forced fumble, a couple tackles for a loss. You had D-Lo [Dwight Lowery], he ended up closing out a game with an interception. All their new guys, the linebackers, they all did a nice job last week.
On how the crowd at last week's game compares to the opening game of last season…
Man, that thing was about as loud as it gets. I really think it contributed to our victory. I believe the edge, because it was loud from the start of the game to the end of the game. When we blocked that punt, it was like not only does that kill you, you know, if you have a punt blocked on your team, but the way the crowd was into it, immediately the players got into it, they feed off of that crowd, and I thought without question our home field advantage, chalk one up for our fans when that came. It was amazing.
On if he is concerned that somebody brought a weapon into MetLife Stadium…
I can just say this: I know everybody in the stadium works as hard as they can, you know, to make sure that people are safe. Really that's all I'm going to say on it.
On if Isaiah Trufant is a special teams player or if he could be more than that…
No, I can see him contributing as a nickel and dime type guy. He's not an ideal fit as an outside corner. But looking at the teams that we have to stop with those inside receivers, slot receivers, running backs, you look at Woodhead, some guys that can run, you know, Ray Rice, all those type of guys that are receivers, running backs. He's a tough kid, too. You can put him in there, you've got to combine toughness, quickness and speed, and I think he's got all those attributes.
On his thoughts about Luke McCown and how far he will go back to dig information up on him…
Just really went back this year to watch him. It wasn't like we were going back and looking at other tapes. But you know, I obviously watched all the snaps this year from him. Had a good game against Tennessee. He outplayed Hasselbeck. He never turned the ball over, was accurate with the football, and he can run a little bit. You know, he looked decent.
On if he has any theories about why offenses would be ahead of defenses in the NFL right now…
No, not really. I mean, I think it's just the game has changed a little bit. People are spreading people out more, and you're going to give up more yards. If somebody is just concerned with yards, they'll throw it every snap. If you're concerned with wins, you might want to run it some. But that's it. Because when you look at the average per rush, if you're a good rushing team, you're going to average four yards a carry. If you're a good passing team, it's about six yards a pass. So I mean, you can get yards. But the main thing is to get the wins.
Sometimes a guy can throw for 400 yards and still lose. But if you rush for 200, there's only one time that's ever happened where somebody lost, I think, rushing for 322 yards or whatever we did that game. Remember? But you're not losing that game if you can run the ball for that.
On how much he is going to change calls because of Lowery and Coleman…
Well, our calls definitely won't change. But you know, our hand signals, stuff like that, we can change some of those things. But having our our defense is what it is. You can see it on tape if you want. If they want to watch it, they can see it on tape.
On if the idea of newly acquired players giving away secrets about their former teams is overblown…
I think so. You know, unless you're a quarterback or something. I think sometimes the quarterbacks get the whole picture more so. But yeah, if that was the case, everybody every week would be picking up a defensive tackle, you know, whatever it is. But we picked up Andrew [Sendejo] because we think he's got a chance, so he's on our practice squad now. But if it's a little gamesmanship and it makes you think for a minute or hesitate for a minute, then maybe it's a good thing.
