Transcript of Jets head coach Rex Ryan's news conference Tuesday afternoon at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center:
We'll start with Kris [Jenkins]. He's out for the year. It's the same knee that it was last year, his ACL. They told me what the particulars are, but I don't remember. I know he's out for the year. Obviously, that's going to be a huge blow for us. Again, we're about the team. I just feel really bad for Kris, a guy that rehabbed that injury, every day he worked at it. That's part of this business. Unfortunately, injuries happen in this league. There's a 100 percent injury rate in this league. It's one of the unfortunate things in this business. I just spoke to Kris. He's down, but I think he'll come through this. It's a big loss.
I watched the tape today. The effort was never questioned. There were a lot of positives, especially from the defensive side. Mike DeVito, Sione [Pouha] and Bryan Thomas all had outstanding games. The penalties were the ones that killed us. When you look at it, that's what hurt our defense. Teams are going to complete balls, but those penalties. I've got to get across to [Antonio] Cromartie that our style of play is we're going to be aggressive and we're going to play a lot of man coverage and his athleticism is where, if he gets his hands on the receiver, he can be a shutdown guy as well as anybody in this league. We've got to get him to play a little more physical at the line of scrimmage and trust his athleticism.
I think some of the things he got into problems with yesterday were that he's trying to grab because the guy separates when his athleticism is going [to allow him] to catch up to somebody. That's a thing were going to dial in and that's something I'm going to talk to Cro about. The kid's got phenomenal ability and I think he's going to be an outstanding player for us. You've just got to understand that this style of play, you've got to be aggressive at the line of scrimmage and get your hands on the receivers, reroute them and then let your athleticism take over.
Offensively, there was nothing. There was no rhythm. You've got to credit Baltimore. They did a great job in putting us in third-down situations and they got off the field, whether it was third-and-7, third-and-2, third-and-5, whatever. They were able to get off the field. We didn't do a good enough job on defense from our end of it in getting them off the field, whether it was penalties or a play they made. We have to look at it. This team we're going up against [New England], we've got to find a way. That team right there is going to score and we have to be able to score, obviously.
On if he got a sense of what Jenkins plans to do…
No. I think he's going to get away from it for a little bit and then he'll make a decision.
On if there is a date scheduled for Jenkins' surgery…
Not that I know of. I just talked to him five minutes ago.
On what Jenkins' injury means to the team…
We lost a heck of a football player. The thing is, we did overcome him last year. Our defense rallied around the guys that were out there. Sione, Mike DeVito were tremendous out there. It's about the unit. It's not just about the individual. No matter who's on your roster, you're going to need them at one time or another. We just have to step up. We've got to find a way to overcome it, just like we did last year.
On if he they will try to bring in a veteran defensive lineman…
We'll consider that for sure.
On what makes Jenkins special…
He's got a physical mismatch against anybody he plays against. There are not too many people walking the face of the earth that are like that. Just a big powerful man that's athletic. It's hard to block him one-on-one, impossible really. That's something we can overcome. We've got a lot of good players, Mike DeVito, Bo [Pouha]. There are some guys that can really play here, so we're fortunate.
On if he is concerned about the offense…
Yes, absolutely. I think we have the ability. I don't think there's any doubt. I know we have the ability, but we've got to find a way to convert on third down and keep drives alive. It was the perfect storm. That led to the defense getting off the field at the rate we normally get off the field at. There were a lot of third-down opportunities that Baltimore converted. When you're 1-of-11 on third down, really 1-of-12 when you put the fourth down in, you're not going to beat anybody. We've got to get better. We see the same thing on the practice field. We've got to be better. If that's dialing things back, we'll search for the right answers. I have confidence in our players, I have confidence in our coaching staff that we'll get it done.
On if the offense played conservatively…
I think it was the way the game was. We weren't just going to air it out. That's not who we are. We're better at runs and completions. We talk about it all the time. We're better at having the M.O. that Baltimore had on us. They had 55 when you combine rushing attempts. It doesn't matter that they weren't effective. They averaged 1.4 a carry. But they ran it and had completions, more so than we did, much more. That's not the M.O. that we want.
On why Shonn Greene didn't get any carries after his second fumble…
I haven't had a chance to talk to Brian [Schottenheimer] or Anthony [Lynn] on that yet. I actually just got through the film. We'll see. Shonn Greene is a huge part of what we do and who we are.
On how Darrelle Revis looked…
I thought he looked outstanding. It was my decision to keep on the defensive left side because I thought we could save some running for him going back and forth. I wanted to take that away from him because he only had the week of practice. I just wanted to put him on the left and we put Cro on the right. Hindsight being what it is, we probably should have matched him on [Anquan] Boldin. At the time, I felt it would be better for Darrelle that we just keep him in one spot where he wouldn't have to travel. We did that last year in some games. We'd have a right corner and left corner. Obviously, the day that Boldin had, it's probably easy to go back and question that.
On being able to match Revis with Randy Moss in this week's game with only two weeks of practice…
He's the only guy in the league that you can do that with. That's why we're so fortunate that we have this guy. He's a great player and we just need to get better away from him, and we will. Cromartie made an interception and I don't know how many guys are going to make that play. The guy's got great ability and I think he'll be great from here on out.
On if Revis will be matched against Moss this week…
Yeah, you can go ahead and put that in there [laughter].
On if he saw enough from Revis that he doesn't worry about him matching up against a specific receiver…
He got through the game pretty good. He is in shape. The football shape part of it I worried about. That's why I just wanted to leave him in one spot. I think we've got to.
On Revis' block during Cromartie's interception return…
It was an amazing block because the guy was closing quick. For him to be able to get that kind of block, that was a big-time hit, no question.
On Matt Slauson's performance…
Everybody's going to point to the sack he gave up against Haloti [Ngata] in the one-on-one matchup he had there. Clearly, Haloti beat him. Other than that, I thought Matt played well. I did. I thought he was physical. That's a good group you're going up against, Haloti Ngata, Kelly Gregg, Trevor Pryce, that's about as tough as it gets. I thought he held up well with the one exception.
On if he was encouraged by LaDainian Tomlinson's performance…
That's what he looks like in practice. It's amazing. If you look like that on the practice field, you look like that in the game. He was in to it. If we all played to his level and coached to his level of play, we would have won the game.
On Mark Sanchez's performance…
The big throw that got called back, that was a killing blow to us because it would have put us down there. It was a great throw, a perfect throw. He has some other throws that were definitely catchable that hurt us as well. The fact is we went in there, we weren't turning the ball over. That was it. He never turned the ball over. I thought he did a good job of managing that, but we're going to have to throw the ball down the field more.
On if Sanchez checked down or if the plays were designed to be short passes…
There were some checkdowns. He ended up going through the read and checking the ball down because that was the thing that was available.
On if by saying Sanchez needs to throw the ball down the field more he is telling Brian Schottenheimer to take more shots or Sanchez to be more aggressive…
Maybe a combination, but maybe our style. I'll be responsible. We just need to take advantage of some of the things that we have. Braylon Edwards is a great matchup for us against any corner in the league. He's got great size, speed. J-Co [Jerricho Cotchery] is the same way. Both of them are big guys that we've got to loosen some people up a little. We ran the ball effectively. It just seemed like, as soon as we got started going a little bit, we wouldn't convert on third down. Drive stoppers kill you. We've just got to do a much better job on third down.
On Tomlinson and Greene…
Both those guys are the centerpiece, LaDainian and Shonn. We've said that. Both of them have big roles in this offense. In one game, will one guy carry it more than the other? Absolutely. When we're going, you love to see these guys get at least 15 carries a piece. That's what you would like to see. We weren't even close to that number yesterday. I think we had 20 rushing attempts.
On if Sanchez might be worried too much about not turning the ball over…
Maybe so and I'll take responsibility for that because going into that game, I said how they feed off of turnovers. If you give them a turnover ... The way the game was going, I really felt in that first half in particular, that we really controlled the game even though, how many first downs did we have? It just seemed like we controlled it. We got the turnovers. We made some plays. You can be more aggressive. Maybe that's the answer, but as soon as he throws three interceptions, we're going to be wondering what the heck is going on here. I think against that specific opponent, knowing how they feed off of turnovers, that maybe I did drill it in his head a little too much.
On if the offense was hampered by the fact there were only three true wide receivers and if that is something they might address this week…
Yes. We may look at that as well.
On if the team will look to bring Laveranues Coles back…
That could be a guy that we'll consider.
On if he's looking for maturity from Greene after he left immediately following the game last night...
Guys want to get out. Obviously, we all felt it. I think the biggest disappointment is we let ourselves down, but we also felt like we really let our fans down. It was electric in that stadium. The fact that they stayed with our team the whole way was the thing that was blowing me away. They were so into it and knowing we had a chance to win at the end. They stayed. We weren't giving them a whole lot to cheer about, but yet they stayed there with us. That was the thing that was so frustrating for me and I'm sure our players felt the same way. We say we're a transparent organization. We should feel like that. If he feels that wasn't the appropriate time for him to talk, then so be it. Again, I prefer that our guys would talk.
On why Braylon Edwards hasn't had a breakout game…
I think he did the first Monday night game when we played Miami. We've got to get back to him. You've got to give him an opportunity. We've got to throw the ball to him.
On if there were any other injuries from the game…
We had some bumps and bruises, but nothing, to my knowledge right now. I haven't seen the injury report, but nothing I think would be significant.
On if the team's performance was a wakeup call…
Maybe. I don't think we're giving enough credit to the opponent. The opponent had a lot to do with the fact that we struggled. That was a good football team. We've got to get that first win. We wanted it. The effort was there, obviously. We played hard. It just never happened for us. You lose by one point to a good football team, that happens. As far as a wakeup call, I don't know about that. A wakeup call maybe in the fact that there were way too many penalties. I think that hampered us from winning as well. That needs to be addressed and that needs to be the wakeup call as well.
On what he wants to see from his team tomorrow…
Just energy. We've got to go, come out ready to work, hard hats on, ready to work. Let's go. We've got to get this game behind us, move forward and come out with that kind of passion and energy that we expect around here.
On his reaction to the incident on Saturday and subsequent NFL investigation…
Again, I think everyone knows me well enough. We want to have an environment here where everyone is comfortable. I don't know all the specifics of what is going on. The NFL is here, I can tell you that. They are here investigating. We're open. Whoever the NFL wants to talk to, I'm not sure who it is, but we'll let that play out. We're here to cooperate.
On if the NFL has talked to him…
No. I told them, I volunteered to talk to them.
On if he had verbal contact with the reporter on Saturday…
No, just in here [media room].
On if he had verbal contact with the reporter in the locker room…
No.
On what his understanding is of the contact his players had with the reporter…
I'm not going to get into that. I really don't know exactly what took place. If anything, I'm finding out as well. I was trying to get ready for a game. This came up and I wasn't in the locker room. I don't know how to answer that.
On if the league is talking to players today…
I believe so.
On if players are coming in today if the NFL wants to talk to them…
Right.
On how he feels women should be treated in relation to men…
Everybody should be comfortable. That to me is who we are. We're an open team, probably as open as anybody. We try to provide access to all our players, to all our coaches. I think every reporter should be comfortable. That's the way it is. It's a workplace for every reporter here, as well as the players, for all of us here.
On if sensitivity training could be the next step for the team…
That's something that we're going to look into as an organization. We're going to look into bringing people in that maybe will help us provide that kind of environment. We're certainly open to that.
On if he expects a fine from the league at some point…
Like I said, I don't know. I can't say one way or the other. I don't even know.