Transcript of Jets QB Mark Sanchez's informal news conference following Friday's morning training camp practice:
On being excited for practice knowing LaDainian Tomlinson is in the backfield…
It's pretty special. He's somebody who takes so much pressure off you. One, because he can run the ball really well. Two, he'll get out in protection so quick and provide you an outlet. If everything breaks down, you want to know where L.T. is going to be. He's so good, he'll remind you of it, to check down where he's going to be as soon as you break the huddle. It's the last thing you hear, the last thing you think of, so you know that's your contingency plan if anything breaks down. "Boom, where's L.T.? OK, he's on a drag. Bam, I got him."
And then blocking, he's one of the best. He's yelling stuff at the line. Talking to those guys, he's like an extra lineman. It's unbelievable how sharp he is and well-versed in protection. It's pretty nice.
On growing up watching Tomlinson play…
I'm trying not to be starstruck. I remember when he first was in the building and I came out of the shower with my towel and walked into the locker room like everything's cool, and then I see him. I'm like, "Oh my God! OK, be cool. Should I call him LaDainian, L.T., because there's an L.T. on the East Coast already. I don't know." But I just tried to play it cool. Hopefully, he didn't see me being a nerd or anything like that [laughing].
On if he has experience playing with running backs who can also be checkdown receivers...
We did it a little bit at USC, but not as much as we have to at this level. There are times when things are just covered. Something happens and things are covered and faster and you miss sometimes. "It's a little late. I don't want to throw it down the field now. OK, where's my back?" A lot of me [last year] was fighting that and trying to force things downfield. Now, when you have a luxury like L.T., sometimes it helps. Even if it's going to be tight downfield, why take the risk? Let's get an easy one underneath and let him break a tackle, get 12 yards. It's just as good as throwing it 12 yards.
On if Brian Schottenheimer's code words are helping him in practice…
Absolutely. Seeing the defense, just using two words for odds and evens. Giving him a hard time about it, but "expand" and "constrict" whatever the defense is doing. We're trying to do it now. When we see them expand, I'm yelling to Schotty], during the play, "expand expand" and I'm throwing it to L.T. and I smile. We're having a good time with it. It's true. You have to be able to do that to eliminate. Sometimes, when the defense gets out like that, it trumps your entire read. You just get it to L.T. right away, Shonn Greene, Danny Woodhead, Joe McKnight, all these guys that can make plays for you. Get it underneath quick.
On if he feels he can show his personality more this year since he is not a rookie...
I could do it last year. Maybe I wasn't as comfortable last year, scrambling. With this kind of team, with our head coach, you be yourself. There's no acting. It's just having fun playing ball. When it's time to be serious and learn and study and work, then we're in our meetings and we got it. Then when we come out on the field, we're going in playing a little kid's game. That's really what it is. We'll never forget that, playing with Rex.
On what he looks to accomplish in the Green & White Scrimmage…
High completion percentage, hopefully a couple of touchdowns, some good drives, sustaining a couple of drives, eliminate turnovers, presnap penalties. Those are some things that come to mind right away. But I'm sure we'll have some goals as an offense, trying to score some points, get the kicking game involved, kick a couple of field goals. Then, I think most importantly, just eliminate presnap penalties and turnovers and sustain our drives.
On how excited he is to play a full year with Braylon Edwards…
It's so nice. Just to this point, we have grown so much together. Now he's the one talking about routes to me instead of me only talking to him. Now that he has the system down, he's giving me little tags here and there with man and zone, things that we couldn't do last year because, one, I was still new, I was trying to figure it out, and he was trying to figure it out because he was new, coming in midway during the season. It's so much nicer and so much more comfortable. I'm thrilled to have him. He's an unbelievable player. You just have to get him some touches. Him, Santonio [Holmes], you name it. All those guys need to touch the ball, so it will be fun.
On if he hates the "sophomore slump" label…
It's part of the game. It's common for a lot of quarterbacks. It's a challenge. I mean, I don't hate it, I don't try and block it out. I'll embrace it and want to hear it. "All right, Sophomore Slump, I've got you, Sophomore Slump." We'll see. That's just my attitude. That's directly from Rex, that's me being a competitor and trying to have a little swagger about this position. As a quarterback, you have to be tough and mentally tough. When somebody says that, it's like, "All right, I got you."
On the end-of-practice pass to Brad Smith and "fight" with Jason Taylor…
Jason caught me out of nowhere with those moves. I had no help from the guys on offense, I think they were tired from the two-minute drill. The last play to Brad was great, it was something we worked on all last year and I never got it. It finally worked today, so I was sprinting down the field all excited like a little kid. We got our little pooch punt in today. It was a good practice, good day and we'll knock it out in the afternoon, compete against the defense and see what happens.
On if he's trying to match Edwards' beard…
No. Heck no. My patchy beard has got nothing on him.
On his thoughts on practicing the two-minute drill…
We've been doing well. That's about focusing in the meeting room and being able to communicate, especially when it gets loud and in heated situations, two-minute and no-huddle. Guys have to signal and relay information and I'm telling the line and the backs and giving a quick signal or a quick gesture to one of the receivers and it's Braylon now instead of just J-Co [Jerricho Cotchery], it's Santonio already relaying the signal, "All right, we got this," and he's giving the signal to another receiver.
It's like, man, these guys are doing it on their own, this is perfect, it's exactly what we want. We've been executing that stuff really well. It's good to see, especially this early in camp. We just have to keep that up, keep repeating it so when we get in the game it's second nature.
On the left guards…
Both guys [Vladimir Ducasse and Matt Slauson] are competing like crazy. They both have great ability and they both have shown that they can play in spurts. We are going to need one of those guys to be consistent. The most consistent guy will probably be the starter. Whoever that is, I know they're both doing a great job so far, but it's still early and we've got plenty of time to decide that. It's going to be second or third preseason game before they nail down the starter. Even when they do, that backup guy has to be ready to go in, ready to support the starters. It's going to be a heated competition. I'm excited for both of them and to see what happens.
On anything that he is doing to help out the guards…
I would never mess with their calls or try and tell them stuff to do. I think the only thing I've talked to both of them about, especially Vlad right now, is trying to get the cadence down. He's got so much going through his head and Slauson has the advantage of being here for a year. But he's got so much going through his head that when he gets up to the line of scrimmage he'll forget the snap count. So I tell him his job, every time he gets into the huddle with me, it's to remind me of the snap count when I say it. Right after I say it and we break the huddle, you tell me. Just one extra time.
It's little things that T-Rich [Tony Richardson] used to do with me, reminding me of situation — red zone, goal line and backed up — that I'm doing with Vlad. A guy like Slauson has done this so much now that he's got that advantage. It's good they're both competing well and I'm excited for them.
On his experience with Joe Namath on Thursday…
It was cool for me, really special to see someone so revered in this game take time out of his day to come and sit with us and talk to us. But then to see the coaches and their reaction, it's unbelievable, seeing Coach [Bill] Callahan be like, "Wow, that's Joe Namath." I just look at him and think, "Man, I want that." That's what keeps you studying extra at night, that's what keeps you watching extra film.
He told us a story about Bear Bryant. He said when he was at Alabama the day before a game, Coach Bryant went up to him and heard the team yelling so he takes the quarterback for a walk and he says, "OK, Joe, you got the gameplan down?" and he says, "Yes, sir, I think so." Bear Bryant stopped and said, "What? You think so?" He said, "Boy, the hay is already in the barn. C'mon now! There's no more thinking!" He just went off on him. He said he ripped him up pretty good and from then on Joe knew you don't think anymore the day before the game, the day of the game.
You have to know. At this position you have to know. Even if you don't know, you have to know, you have to fake it. You have to know. So it was great. It's all about poise, about attitude. It was so cool to see that. Coach [Matt] Cavanaugh has the nerve to ask him, "Hey, you got after it a little bit off the field, too, what was that all about?" and Joe said, "Yeah, it was really fun. It was all fun on the field, but off the field it was really hard work." [laughter] We started dying laughing in our meeting. It was great just to see him around, how sharp he is and that ring there looks good. It was good to see him.
