Transcripts of selected interviews with Jets reporters before Tuesday's midday practice:
QB KELLEN CLEMENS
On Eric Mangini speaking highly of his last couple of practices…
Anytime you get positive reinforcement from the coach, it's encouraging. Like I said, you keep working and try to get better at this point.
On if he is affected by outside distractions…
The beautiful thing about training camp is you have very little contact with the outside world. I know that there has been some things written and some things said, but I just keep handling business and try to continue to improve.
On anything he would like to leave as a lasting impression if this is the last time he plays this year…
Obviously it's the last preseason game and you want to go out and have a good showing. You want to do that whether it's the first preseason game or the last. Obviously you want to leave a good taste not only in the fans' mouths, but your teammates and coaches as well.
On backing up Brett Favre…
I saw it last night on ESPN last night. It was something like 253 [consecutive starts]. Obviously, if you look at it historically, his backups haven't got a lot of time, which is a testament to how tough he is both mentally and physically. If things go well, I am not going to see the field too much more after Thursday night.
On Favre's backups developing into strong players…
You look at Matt Hasselbeck and Mark [Brunell]. When the trade all went down a couple of weeks ago, that was one of the things I looked at. I would love to play this year, but historically speaking it's not a bad thing to sit back and learn from this guy a little bit.
On why Favre's backups develop successfully…
It has only been a couple of weeks but he has a lot of football knowledge. He has been playing the game for so long. He has been in some different systems, played a lot of different defenses and played with some very good coaches, Steve Mariucci and Mike Holmgren, to name a couple. He has a lot of information that he can get, and fortunately he is very generous with it. We are all trying to soak in as much as we can.
RB THOMAS JONES
On how he prepares for the season…
We get really good work in practice against each other with 1-on-1's. This is my second year in this offense, so I am a lot more familiar with everything. We work really hard against each other in practice, so a lot of times the game reps don't matter once you get into the season.
On if he believes the looks against the Redskins and Giants will help the running game…
Yes, they have great defenses. The fast run defenses have some really good players and gave us an opportunity to get a head start on some things we are trying to do. Playing those two defenses were good for us in the running game.
On the running game…
We have only played in a couple of snaps here and there. We are still working and we have a lot of our core stuff in. We are very comfortable with what we have. We are comfortable working together and we are looking to building for the Miami game.
RB LEON WASHINGTON
On if it is a distraction moving from one facility to another before the opening game...
I don't think so. I think the organization did a really good job of transitioning us over there in a manner that gives us ample time to get ready to move. For the most part, most of the guys are over there already, so it's a chance to get everybody over there in the new facility.
On the new facility…
When I was at Florida State, I got there right in time for the new facilities. Now I am here and we are getting new facilities, so I am sure I am going to spend a lot of time in those new facilities.
On working on the running game against Philadelphia…
Being a running back, we definitely want to go out there and work on that. We are getting good practice in right now and we are working pretty hard with the offensive line. We are starting to jell and get things together. The more we work at it and the more we practice, the better we get. We understand this is a process.
On if he looks forward to playing in the last preseason game…
I look forward to playing football. I love to play football. I just look forward to going out there, playing the game to win, and that is one of things that Coach emphasizes to all of us during this week. We have to finish and that is important for everyone to believe in, to finish everything we do and also wanting to win the game.
