The New York Jets are not going to look past Sunday. With a win over the Cleveland Browns, the Green & White would move to 5-3 in addition to owning a three-game winning streak heading into the bye. This is a big game for the Jets as they look to improve their road record to 3-1.
"It sounds a lot better than 4-4 and it would be great for all of us to go into the bye week, so all the more reason not to look ahead and get ready for the game," said middle linebacker Jonathan Vilma, a defensive co-captain.
Read below for complete transcripts from inside the Jets locker room
On why Cleveland only has one win…
They're a very explosive team, the ball just hasn't bounced their way so far in the season. They're a good team, they can score points and they have all the tools to do it.
On staying focused in a situation where the Jets are expected to win…
I think those games are the ones you have to be more focused for; you just have to go compete and play your game. This is the NFL, there is no easy week. They're 1-5, but like I said, they played some close games and if the ball bounced a couple different ways, they could be 5-1. We just have to go out there with the mindset that we're going to play hard, execute the defense and try to get a win.
New York Jets' WR Laveranues Coles, 10.25
On what to attribute his and Chad Pennington's success together to…
I think it's just something you can't really put a finger on. It's something we developed over the years from the time we walked in here together. Maybe it's destiny that we were meant to be here together. It's one of things where two guys are on the same page and understand each other. We have an open line of communication and, whenever you have two guys that can talk about anything on and off the field, it makes for a great relationship and that's what we have.
On him and Pennington foreseeing each other's moves…
Yeah, that's the way our relationship is. We pretty much think on the same page and when certain things happen, I can look at him and just smile and he'll say "good job" or he'll just nod at me. I don't know how to explain it, but it is what it is. We enjoy working with each other and we have bonded.
On when he knew Pennington would be back after his injury…
Right when he got hurt. I knew he would be back, there was no doubt in my mind. Just knowing the guy that he is, the way that he works and the competitor that he is, I knew he was going to come back. I never had any doubt in my mind.
On not overlooking Cleveland…
If you look at their defense on film, it's very much underrated. The numbers can fool you, if you watch the team and study what they've done, the reason the numbers have piled up against them is because their defense has been on the field quite a bit. Any time, at this level, you have an offense that's out there for a number of plays, something is going to happen. They have a very competitive defense, they're front seven are excellent, and their secondary is solid also. The numbers can confuse you, if you watch them play, they don't look like they're 1-5. They could very easily be 5-1.
On being overconfident…
How could we be overconfident? No one picked us to do anything this year, we're probably still going to be underdogs going into the game. You can be overconfident playing against anybody.
On getting to 5-3 and sailing through the bye…
There's no sailing in this league. There are 16 games to play, there's never any sailing and you always want to win every game. There are no particular games, you have 16 games to play and each one is very important. At this point, we just need to focus on playing Cleveland, not worry about the bye week or anything like that and just play football.
On having fun…
It's great. Any time you go out with nothing to lose and people didn't expect you to win anyway, then you do win, they can't say anything except, "you're lucky or something great happened for you." It's easy on us; before the season started, someone came in and told us our receiving corps was in the bottom five of the league. I said, 'well that's good because at least if we go out there and don't do anything, no one expected us to anyway.' When we go out and do okay, it makes it look like we've done a lot, but we're just doing our jobs around here.
On finally having a running game make its way forward…
I think we always had a running game, the numbers just weren't there. We were taking what teams gave us – a lot of opportunities in the passing game – and we were making plays down the field. Sometimes teams gave us the run, they would play cover-2, so we wouldn't get behind them and we took advantage of it. Our offensive line and our running backs took advantage of everything.
New York Jets' S Kerry Rhodes, 10.25
On dealing with a team that's 1-5…
We're not looking at it that way. They've played a lot of good teams this year and they've been in the game. They had chances to win against big-name teams, so we're looking at it that way, that they're a good team.
On being 4-3 when not much was expected…
It feels good for right now. We're winning now and people are starting to look at us, but it doesn't matter what they think anyway, we're just trying to get another win and focus on Cleveland right now.
On 5-3 sounding better than 4-4…
It will sound better, but we have to handle business first and Cleveland is a worthy opponent.
On what has gone wrong for Cleveland…
I have no idea, you have to ask them. They look good to us on film and like you said, they have a lot of weapons on offense, so we have to come out and play.
On this being a dangerous game…
Definitely. Any game is dangerous, but this game is the next game, so it's the most dangerous for us.
On what he has noticed that was different in the fourth quarter…
That's a tough question for me, I have no idea. It's tough for us though, it's been like that for the last couple of games. We've still been able to win, but it made it a little tough, so we're trying to get that figured out right now and we're going to work on it.
New York Jet's RB Leon Washington, 10.25
On the excitement of a running game coming together…
It's critical. In the National Football League, you have to be able to run the ball in order to win. It's been great, we're improving our offense and our running game, but at the same time we still have a lot of errors we need to work on and a lot of areas we need to improve.
On how important the offensive line is to the run…
They're very important. They're everything, 100 percent everything. They did a great job last week and over the last few weeks, of blocking up front and protecting our quarterback and also, in the run game. We just remain optimistic about it and keep improving in practice and hopefully we'll get better and better as the season goes on.
On having fun…
Football is fun. If it wasn't fun I wouldn't be doing it. I'm a rookie, I'm a young guy, so there is still a lot I haven't seen yet and I wasn't here last year, I got to come in with what's going on this year, but as an offense and as a team we're getting better so, it's a good time.
On the importance of not overlooking Cleveland…
Coach emphasizes not to be content with our approach and not to be satisfied; we can always improve on it. We're a young team, we have a long way to go and we still have a lot of areas to improve on. We want to approach each week the way we've been doing the last seven weeks and prepare for Cleveland the same way.
On enjoying his success from last week…
I enjoyed it, my family enjoyed it, my friends enjoyed it and most of all, my teammates enjoyed it. It's just one of those things as a young guy and especially me as a rookie, going out there, getting on the field and helping my team win is one of the biggest personal achievements I could receive from it.
On a quiet confidence…
It goes along with what Coach Mangini has been saying all along, if we go out there and just execute the game plan that the coaches give us and be professional about our approach and take care of business on and off the field with practices and the game, we'll be successful. It's one of those things that, whatever you do in life, if you execute the game plan, you'll be able to be successful and that's what we've been doing the last few weeks in a row. We're not going to get too big-headed about the situation though, we're still going to remain humble in our approach and do the things that we need to do to give us the best chance of winning.
New York Jet's WR Jerricho Cotchery, 10.25
On a familiar defense…
They work on the same stuff over in New England, but we're just going to go out and execute our game plan. If we do that, I think we'll be fine.
On the confidence of this team…
I think we're confident even with the losses, we went down to Jacksonville and got handled pretty well, but I think we're still confident. We just let that go and moved on. We're just consistently working each week and trying to get things accomplished around here. Everyone is buying into Coach Mangini's plan and just taking the same approach each week. I think that's helped out a lot.
On achieving more than expected…
Any time you have a team that isn't expected to do much, then they start off pretty well, a lot of people are going to consider that great, but we're just trying to work hard each week and keep heading in the same direction.
On the running game…
The running game has helped out a lot in the last few weeks. We have a lot of guys on our offense that can make plays. Leon Washington and Kevan Barlow have done a great job of running the ball the past couple weeks and I think it's going to help us out in the future.
New York Jets' LB Jonathan Vilma, 10.25
On what to think about the Cleveland Browns…
They've had a lot of close games, they played a lot of good opponents. For us, it's another game similar to Detroit and if we let the media get in our heads, they're going to beat us. We definitely have to take the right approach and get ready for them.
On how much better 5-3 sounds than 4-4…
It sounds a lot better than 4-4 and it would be great for all of us to go into the bye week, so all the more reason not to look ahead and get ready for the game.
On the team's confidence…
The biggest thing I see within our team is that no one is too high on the highs right now. We won a couple games that we expected to and it's great for us when we expect things like that of ourselves. Now, we have to get ready for the game.
On how to prepare for a team with a new offensive coordinator…
What we do, is focus on the tendencies they had prior to the coaches leaving. They still have the same players and there are only so many different things they can run. We'll practice that and adjust to anything that happens.
New York Jets' LB Eric Barton, 10.25
