Transcripts of interviews with Jets head coach Rex Ryan and selected Jets players after Monday night's 24-23 loss to the Ravens at Baltimore:
HEAD COACH REX RYAN
On tonight's game...
First I have to credit Baltimore. We know the defense is tough. I think that was the difference in the game. It was the scores off the turnovers. That's hard to take. You've got to credit them, they did a great job. First one had great pressure by Ray [Lewis]. We ended up throwing the interception. Then in the second quarter, there was a mistake. I thought we had momentum on our side and right there in the regular season, we'll probably do something a little different than that. It is what it is. They ended up converting that for a touchdown and then I was really proud of the way our team responded.
Last week I talked about that third group. They went in there, stunk up the joint. But I was proud of the way they played [tonight]. Very competitive. We get the turnover off of special teams. I think our special teams outplayed them and that's tough to do because they have an excellent special teams group but I was proud of the way we responded. And I know David Clowney, I told our team if we had left him in there in the fourth quarter, we would have gotten another one. He's doing really well.
And you know, I'm proud of our football team. I'm proud of the way we responded. I went for two there. I felt good. We had momentum. If this was a regular-season game, we probably would have just tied it up and then taken our chances in overtime. But for preseason I wanted to try to go for two and I thought they were up to the challenge.
I tip my hat to Baltimore. They're a well-coached team. I recognize that with the Ravens. We're right there with them. [John] Harbaugh told me, "You should have won the game. We got those two breaks." But they made their breaks. We're not there yet but we're closing in on them.
On choosing a starting quarterback between Mark Sanchez and Kellen Clemens...
We'll evaluate it. We'll look at the tape. All the things we've seen through training camp as of right now, this moment, I'm not ready to make that decision yet at this time. I will let you know when we are.
On QB Mark Sanchez's play...
I think the one error when you have Ray Lewis unblocked in your face — probably not a good thing. But I was proud of the way he responded. I know he had that muff on the handoff where he fumbled it, ended up grabbing the ball and got dinged on that play. It was a good thing because he ended up coming back and had the poise to throw a touchdown pass afterwards.
I will say this, Leon Washington is pretty darn good. Wow. Whoo!. And Thomas [Jones]. We ran the ball for 85 yards in the first half against a team that doesn't happen to very often so I was really proud. I thought we played physically. You know, we were physical with them, so that was a good thing.
So again, I like the way Mark responded. Everybody makes mistakes and that was a key one, obviously. I thought he responded pretty well. It ain't going to be perfect so sometimes you have these type of nights. You've got to give credit where credit is due and most of that goes to their defense. We knew that it was going to be tough sledding but I think our guys responded pretty well.
On selecting a starting quarterback...
Guys, I wasn't going to announce it one way or the other. Let's go back. We'll have a staff meeting. We'll see where we're at, and if there's a decision to be made, then we'll make it. Did I expect Mark Sanchez or Kellen Clemens to go out here and light it up against this defense? No. I knew it would be tough. I don't know if it would get tougher than what you just saw, against that defense or our own defense or against Pittsburgh's defense. There are some good defenses but I think those are probably the top ones.
On if he was happy with his defense's performance...
Not initially, no. I'm not going to go there much. I'm just going to say sometimes, believe what you want to believe. Sometimes you play certain things and sometimes you don't. You can ask Baltimore what I mean by that. I like the way we responded. We gave up a couple of deep balls. I thought our run defense was much better. They certainly couldn't do much worse than it was last week on that 77-yarder, but this defense is where I thought it would be right now.
You know, we'll see. We got two decent players [Darrelle Revis and Kris Jenkins] that we'll add to the mix pretty soon and I think this defense will be right where I predict it will be, added right at the top of this league.
On what it was like emotionally for him playing in Baltimore again...
No problem. I got a new home. So it's good to see a lot of guys, friendly faces, people that I recognize. It's great, but my home is in New York/New Jersey and my football team's in green and white.
On his knowing that Washington was a very good player...
Yeah, but he's even better than I thought. This guy is — whoo! — he's a little stud. I knew he was tough but that defense, that doesn't happen to them, I don't care preseason, regular season. He's special.
On LB Bart Scott also returning to Baltimore...
I just didn't want him to get into a fight. That was the main thing because Bart loves it. Sometimes I just know that he does want to hit somebody so hard and all that kind of jazz. But I'm just kidding. He loves competing with those guys. We respect those guys obviously. It was a preseason game but we knew it was going to have a different feel to it. There's no question about it. And it did, it certainly did on the sideline. We were aware of how guys responded. It was definitely not going our way early, to say the least, but we changed the tide of it, we turned the tide of it and then unfortunately we made another mistake at halftime. You can't make that mistake.
On any injuries from the game...
Shonn Greene, on that real nice play he made when Kellen chucked the ball down to him, he got hit in the ribs. Nothing broken but tender, so I think that's it. And Jay Feely, we were kicking off, doing some things onside-kicking and he kind of tweaked a groin, which left him at home. Other than that, we came out OK.
CB MARQUICE COLE
On the game...
It was a hard-fought game. We stayed in it and came back. We fought hard. We kept competing, that's the main thing. We kept competing. We got down early and we didn't' want to lay down. Just because the ones went out, the twos and threes had to show that they had some fight, so we went in and tried to win the game.
On the difference between the first half and second half...
We came out a little slow, but we picked it up. We started playing hard and we picked it up and we started making plays.
On his game...
I played OK. I gave up the deep ball, but you live and you learn. More experience will help me out with that. There's different ways to play the ball, and I was playing his hands instead of looking back for the ball. I played OK. Not too bad.
CB DWIGHT LOWERY
On the Jets' play...
As far as teamwise, I think in the first half we started slow. We picked up momentum toward the end of the second quarter, then we threw the interception and our momentum got stalled a little bit. We came out in the second half, we got a turnover to start the second half, and we started making some good plays offensively and defensively. It's a testament that as a team, we didn't quit on the situation we were in.
On the Ravens' offense...
I was surprised how much they threw the ball, but that's good for us in the secondary. It challenges us a bit. It shows us where we are as a secondary, and the things that we need to improve on, and the communication, and to make sure that everybody lines up in correct spots, and things of that nature. Because this defense, we're still learning it. I feel like we did well as a defense, as a team tonight.
On head coach Rex Ryan...
It's great with all his knowledge, and just the way he approaches the game. I never had a coach who I felt like was a player as well. When he talks to us as a team, or as a defense, you feel like he's one of the guys as well. I think as a coach, when you're able to do that, it allows us to become closer. Because if the head guy is incorporating himself like he's just a guy, then it makes everybody feel comfortable.
LB BART SCOTT
On coming back to M&T Bank Stadium...
It was good. It was good to see a lot of my friends again. I have nothing but happy feelings about here. I wish those guys well. Great game, but really it's a preseason game, which keeps it in perspective. We've got a lot of good learning tape. It's not really so much about the opponent right now. It's about learning and getting better as a unit.
On how he feels about Rex Ryan being the head coach rather than only leading the defense...
I love it. He was always the head coach. He was head coach of that football team last year, whether you guys know it or not. He kept that team together. The defense leads that team over there, and he controls the defense.
On the comparison of the Jets' defense to the Ravens' defense...
That's a loaded question. That's a great defense over there, and we're striving to be a great defense over here.
On how he feels about his defense's play vs. the Ravens...
It was great. I think we held them down in the run. We gave them one big bomb, but you can't spot a team like that 14 points.
QB ERIK AINGE
On the offense's play...
I thought we did a lot of good things. We made some big plays. We also shot ourselves in the foot some, some self-inflicted wounds. We'll need to clean that up. I thought we did a good job. We were real physical, and we ran the ball well.
On the two-point conversion attempt...
We went out there and called timeout, tried to see what they were going to do. We thought we saw a matchup that we could exploit, and they ran a good blitz. When you spread people out, that's the risk you take. They ran a good blitz and they got some pressure on me and they played good coverage. Sometimes the defense wins. There are secondary receivers, but the guy was free and I wouldn't have had time to get to anybody else.
On the Ravens' defense...
I thought they did a good job. It's a lot of the same stuff that we see every day at practice. I thought that they did a good job. They played good, too, and made some big plays on defense. They played a good game.
WR DAVID CLOWNEY
On the Jets' offensive play...
We still have a lot of things to work on. It's tough when you fall behind like we did. It seemed like every time we got some momentum, we would get a penalty or we would shoot ourselves in the foot. We need to stay focused on every play.
On the Jets' second-half comeback...
That was definitely a very good building block for us. In the second half, the twos and threes are out on the field. Playing like that in the second half lets you know how good your depth is. They say that you're only as strong as your weakest link so that's a good sign for us.
WR JERRICHO COTCHERY
On the Jets' slow start...
We really struggled early in the game and we can't do that. We need to come out ready to play and give our defense a chance to establish some momentum. We can't give the other team easy points like that.
On the quarterback competition...
I think it would be good to get it resolved and the sooner the better. But that's not up to me. Once we figure out who our quarterback is going to be, we need to get to work together and establish some chemistry. Until then, we just need to keep working as an offense. Whoever it is, we need to get together and play ball. I know we have the potential to be really good as an offense. We just need to jell.
TE DUSTIN KELLER
On the Jets' second-half comeback...
We bounced back really well and a lot of credit goes to the guys who played well in the second half. We were down by 14 points at halftime and came back and only lost by one point.
On his blocking technique...
Rex wants us to be physical and we want to run the ball. This game gave me a good chance to work on my blocking.
