Interviews in the Jets' Ralph Wilson Stadium locker room after their 17-14 loss to the Bills today:
HEAD COACH ERIC MANGINI
Obviously we're all very disappointed. We had an opportunity to get a field goal at the end [of the half], but we weren't able to execute that. There are a lot of things that have to be better. I told them that the answers are not outside the room, they're inside the room. It's going to come as a function of everybody analyzing the things they can individually do better.
On whether Chad Pennington was trying to throw the ball away on his last INT ...
That's exactly what he was trying to do. We were looking for a quick 5 yards, no penalty, and obviously not a negative play. He tried to sail it out of bounds and I think it just got away from him a little bit.
On if the Jets had a lack of urgency in this game ...
I don't see it as lacking a sense of urgency. I see it as us needing to execute a little bit better. And that's collective. I don't think it's a lack of work. I think Buffalo did an excellent job. I thought they played well under a difficult situation. I give them a ton of credit.
On Bills QB Trent Edwards ...
This is someone they felt very good about. I think nine out of the first 12 [plays] were passes, so they obviously have a lot of confidence in him, and he rewarded their confidence. He did some good things. I said going into the week that he was a guy very highly regarded by the Bills and got great recognition from Bill Walsh. This was the first opportunity he had to get in there with a week's worth of practice and he did a really nice job of managing the game.
On the Jets' pass rush ...
We had a couple of turnovers and a couple of sacks. You're always trying to get as much pass rush as you can, but there's also things they can do with some very dangerous players. If you show max pressure, they throw the quick screen there. When Roscoe Parrish has the ball in his hands, he's extremely dangerous.
On whether the Jets got away from their running game ...
We were looking for those opportunities and they did a nice job of stacking people in the box. They were looking to stop the run, on their part, and it did open up some things in the passing game. That's what we looked at when we made the decision to run or pass.
On his team's 1-3 record ...
Our focus is just going to be the next game. That's the only thing we can control. We can't look at it in terms of 1-and-3 or whatever the situation is. The only thing we have control over is the next game and the way we prepare for that game and the way we execute.
WR JERRICHO COTCHERY
On the game ...
It was all of the things Coach Mangini talked about this week, like taking care of our business, but we didn't get the outcome we wanted to get. We had a lot of mistakes and a lot of penalties, a lot of uncharacteristic things for us.
On the Bills secondary ...
First and foremost Buffalo doesn't believe in giving up the deep ball. They played their secondary back far today. At times they sat on a lot of routes and we were able to get open in most cases.
LB JONATHAN VILMA
On the Buffalo touchdown on fourth-and-goal at the Jets 1 ...
They'd been running hard all day and we thought they might try to run the ball again.
On the loss ...
It's very tough, especially in the AFC East. With New England in our division, it's going to be tough to come back.
On if he was surprised by how well rookie QB Trent Edwards played ...
No, I wasn't surprised. We tried to get him out of the pocket a couple of times, and he did a good job making plays. They were running their game plan, we did a good job stopping the run, and we figured they'd open it up with the pass. They did well hitting their passes on third down and moving the chains.
S KERRY RHODES
On how the game ...
The chance for us to win was there, but we just didn't make it happen.
On Trent Edwards ...
He came out throwing right away and got them in a nice rhythm. He performed well today. He's got a strong arm and he's pretty accurate, especially up close and personal in a live game.
RB THOMAS JONES
On the Jets' offense ...
That's not my call, it's the offensive coordinator and the coaches. I just do what I'm asked to do as far as being the running back on this team. I'm not sure as far as being conservative. That's something you might want to ask the offensive coaches about.
On going away from the running game ...
I don't call the plays, I just run whatever is called. They have reasons for everything they do and every call they make. I'm just one of 11 guys out on the field.
On the game plan ...
I wasn't sure exactly how the game was going to go. There is a lot that dictates how our game plan goes. Sometimes the game doesn't go the way you would expect it to, but that's football.
On the Jets' record ...
It's more disappointing than anything, the fact that we're 1-3. The games we've lost, we've made mistakes and had penalties and were not taking advantage of our opportunities. That's the most disappointing thing.
DE SHAUN ELLIS
On some of the issues with the defense ...
They threw the ball a little bit more than we expected. We came in here expecting them to run the ball 30-plus times, but they came out throwing, hitting us with some little short passes and deep outs, things like that. Bottom line is we just didn't get the job done. This is a game we should have won to put us at 2-and-2 and we just didn't get the job done.
On it being tough for DEs to get sacks in a 3-4 defense ...
It's tough but it's our job. We have to do it. We have to get pressure. Their offensive line did a great job blocking. They kept guys in to max-protect. I felt like we got good pressure at times but it just wasn't consistent.
On being 1-3 ...
Coming into the season we wanted to start out fast and be 4-and-zero at this point but that didn't happen. We got ourselves in a little bit of a hole right now so we are going to keep practicing with the same approach and just try to get better every week. It's still a long season so we just have to regroup and get ready for the Giants and get that win.
On things they could have done to make a rookie QB feel less comfortable ...
There are a lot of things we could have done. I can't pinpoint one thing or another. Bottom line is they won and we didn't. It's a tough loss for us. Anytime you lose against a divisional opponent, it's pretty hard. We just have to bounce back, regroup and get ready for next week.
On the play of Trent Edwards ...
He did a great job. He threw the ball to the open guy. Guys were getting open and he was getting it to them. He did a great job. They gave him an offense he was comfortable in and he executed.
On Edwards being better than they expected him to be ...
He had flashes. He played good against New England when he came in. He drove down the field and scored. We knew he was a talented quarterback, we just didn't think he would do this to us but he did and it's something we have to work on.
On how disappointed the defense is overall ...
We are still a work in progress. Teams are attacking us in different ways. They are just executing their plays and we're not doing a good job stopping them. As far as today, I think we played well against the run. There were times he did get out but overall I thought we shut the run down. We've just got to work on the passing.
On the loss falling more on Ellis because he is a defensive captain ...
Yeah, it does. I take great pride in trying to get this thing turned around. We will get this turned around and start playing football. It's still a long season and we've got opportunities that are coming up this week that we have to take advantage of. We just need to get back on a roll and get back to playing Jets football.
QB CHAD PENNINGTON
On the Bills' defensive game plan ...
Well, they are a bend-but-don't-break defense, that's their mentality, and they're trying to stay on top of all the deep vertical routes and make us gain our yards the hard way. And they also did a good job in the running game. They were very effective in stopping our run.
On whether the first interception he threw was a miscommunication ...
Yes, that's what it was. Then the DB did a good job of reading the footwork I had and he set down and I was just trying to push it outside and he ended up going outside because I saw him set and try to push it outside where you couldn't get it and he ended up catching it.
On the Bills' injury-depleted secondary still stopping the passing game ...
Yeah, it's disappointing when you lose. I feel like we had a good game plan going in and we knew what we needed to do to win. Anytime you play this defense, you make it difficult upon yourself when you don't get a lead. They are very good when they get a lead because they can do the things they like to do best, which is pass-rush, play back, play soft zone and don't give up any big plays, and that's what they were doing.
On being 1-3 ...
Well, it's very difficult. You certainly don't imagine yourself starting off like this, but this is the position we're in and the answer lies within our own locker room. We've got to do a really good job this week looking at the tape and correcting our mistakes and moving on. In this league there are no gimme wins and wins that come easy. You have to earn everything you get so we have to learn from this as a team and move on.
WR LAVERANUES COLES
On how the game plan changed during the game ...
I don't know. That's something I have to take a look at on film, see what we are doing right and then with our sense of urgency in the game, kind of catch up with that in the beginning and go from there.
On the number of penalties and mistakes ...
Anytime you have a number of penalties, you have to attribute that to a lack of concentration, so I guess that's what I'd attribute it to. It's something we have to address, of course I mean individually. There's a lot of individual matchups that are played amongst a team game and each person has to look themselves in the face and see if they did exactly what they could to let the ballclub win the game. We didn't win, so it's going start with myself and look at the film tomorrow and hopefully the guys can do the same.
On the words of Coach Mangini ...
I mean, again, it's about us, it starts with us. We had a lot of mistakes that were very uncharacteristic of our ballclub, so anytime you have that it's not good especially when you play out of character for a lot of guys. I don't think each guy made multiple mistakes. It just was here and there each guy taking turns making a mistake. Anytime you have that, you're an away team playing a team on an emotional high the way the Bills were, you're running into a little bit of a disaster.
