Brent Ratliff scrambling for the Utes
Transcript of head coach Eric Mangini's news conference with members of the New York Jets media after Saturday's afternoon practice on the first day of the team's rookie minicamp:
How's everybody doing? Just like to wish everybody a happy Mother's Day. Talked to Jules [Julie Mangini] this morning. She's in Philly at her sister's house with the boys and they were swimming yesterday. It seemed a little cold to be swimming today. Her mom, Lynn, and especially my mother, Nancy Mangini, we spoke this morning. Outside of the normal Mother's Day appreciation and the love and all of the things that she's given the whole family over the years, she's in her late 30s, about 39 [laugh], and she's graduating from college this month. It's a big deal. I'm proud of her.
Today, talking to the team after practice, we had to get back to the core values and stress that again: the communication, the focus, the finish and the trust. The most apparent thing is just how much communication affects the total operation, and those times where we do communicate very effectively, most plays go well. The times where we don't, they go the way you'd expect; and how important that is, because it's more important that we're all wrong together than half right and half wrong.
The focus part, it's from meeting to meeting, it's from bag drills to the individual drills, the special teams to 7-on-7 and team. You can't focus on what happened earlier in the meeting or what's going to happen. You've got to focus on the task at hand in order to be successful individually and in order for us to be successful collectively.
The finish part, that gets harder and harder as the days go on and as the day that we're in goes on, because you're that much more tired, you've got that much more information, but it's incredibly important that we finish successfully and see things through and trust. Trust is something that's earned. You have to be trustworthy and then you have to know that your teammates are trustworthy and do your job first. So that trust and knowing that everybody is counting on the fact that we'll do our jobs, and we'll get that done, nobody's trying to compensate for somebody else because that just opens up holes that you can't fix.
We talked about that, and I'm looking forward to another solid practice here this afternoon. I'd say the guys are swimming. But that's just the nature of where we are. So with that I'll open it up to questions.
On what he looks for this weekend ...
It's a combination of things. I really like these days with the tryout guys because you do get a much fuller picture of what they are. Being able to spend time with them in the classroom, having them go home at night and study and see what they come back and retain; seeing how much they can bring from the classroom to the field, it's so different from when you have a workout, especially during the season where you have a limited amount of time to view them athletically.
Now you have your history on them, but to see where they are athletically at that point, spend some time in the classroom, those decisions, they just cannot be as comprehensive and you're relying a lot more on the research and a limited exposure. So I really like this environment for a tryout with some of the guys who haven't played this sport before, you're looking at traits and things that could be developed. And the guys who are transitioning from college, how they are making that transition and how they are dealing with all of the things that are happening and how quickly they are becoming New York Jets, because really, what they have done in college doesn't matter anymore. It doesn't matter once you enter the room. Now it's all about what you do as a New York Jet.
On whether you get the full picture of Darrelle Revis in one minicamp ...
Not completely. Leon [Washington] in this camp last year wasn't exactly tearing it up. But what you liked about him was his persistence. All of the characteristics that we had seen in him, that's what he kept applying and that's why he kept making strides. With Darrelle it's the same thing, and with all of these guys it's the same thing. There's such a volume of information coming in. You're looking to continue to make progress. He's just very enthusiastic about everything, about the learning, about the learning in the classroom, the learning on the field. He tries to soak it all up and he asks a lot of good questions, and to me that's extremely important. It shows initiative and it's positive.
On whether he's seen improvement from Saturday to Sunday ...
The improvement is not always as apparent as it would be in other camps. We had three guys fall over the bags yesterday. Nobody fell over them today. That's improvement. And that seems silly but we had talked about that last year after the OTAs and even with the veteran guys going through the new drills, they are training their bodies to go through them and getting used to what the coaching points are, so sometimes it's not always the big picture. It's all of the little things that are getting better daily, which then feeds into the big picture.
On the message you leave the tryout players with at the end of camp ...
First of all, I thank them because they are all working extremely hard and I appreciate that effort, and I appreciate the fact that they did the things they did during the camp. And you may have different messages for different people depending on where they are in terms of giving them some really positive feedback and constructive feedback on things they can work on, and you try to encourage them to keep pursuing this goal. I know that Jay Fiedler at one point, an NFL coach told him to get on with his life's work, and he didn't let the dream die and he played a lot of good football. I think these guys, if this is their passion and their dream, they should pursue it and we'll try to give them as much feedback as we can to help them with that.
On what he saw in Jesse Pellot-Rosa ...
It was not just the basketball. It was who he was: a walk-on who became really productive as a player. He had 14 points against Duke [for VCU in the 2007 NCAA Basketball Tournament]. You like the fact that he was able to go there, establish a position, contribute outside of the athleticism, and he's got a great personality. His enthusiasm in practice is infectious and he runs all day. And when he makes a mistake, he's trying, he's trying hard to correct it, but he's moving on and trying to go forward. He doesn't let it get him down.
On the time spent evaluating the tryout players ...
We talk about each of the players as a staff and with not just the staff, but Jo-Jo [Wooden], Terry [Bradway], Joey [Clinkscales]. You'll see some scouts out there at practice, getting feedback on the different things, and then they look at the roster as a whole where you may need to add depth for training camp, those types of things. Really, it's 1-for-1 at this point. So even though there are guys currently signed, if someone else does better, we'll make that decision, and someone with a contract moves on and someone else gets that contract. So they would all be 1-for-1's.
On how quickly a tryout player might sign ...
We've done it both ways. Remember, Nick Hartigan last year came to this camp and we didn't sign him at that point but we did bring him back for part of training camp, so it varies. It's gone a lot of different ways.
On whether there is a Vince Papale in this group ...
Vince would have a very comfortable home here. We showed the movie "Invincible" last year and got to talk to him a little bit, and hopefully he'll come out and visit. I don't think he's ready to go right now but if there's a future Vince, we're open to it. It's the land of opportunity here.
On why Revis played some left corner during drills ...
What I like to do is move people around the whole time so that you don't get pigeonholed early in one spot because you have to, game-by-game, maybe match up with a receiver or by game plan if you're rolling the coverage a certain way. Especially in the secondary: "This morning you're playing left and right, and the safeties are left and right, it's not strong and free, it's just left and right. This afternoon, we're switching, and we've done it where we've switched it period by period, OK; 7-on-7, you guys are here, and now we're flopping and now we're flopping." So they have to learn the whole concept of the defense.
On what impressed him about Revis ...
Some of the edge speed that he showed in the kickoff return drill that we did yesterday and even the tackling drills, some of those plays that he's made, you can see the change of direction and then the burst. The other thing that you notice is, he's got a very physical way about him in terms of how he places his hands on people, which is always positive.
On whether Revis has played any safety yet ...
No, not yet, and at some point I'm sure we'll get to that but not at this point. We'll just try to get him left and right for now, a base there. With those conversions from cornerback to safety, you really have to get a good, solid base and a good understanding of the whole system, show that you have that, and then you start flopping back and forth.
On whether he thought of Revis as a safety ...
No, he would be a corner. What I was thinking more is situationally if you wanted to play against "11" personnel and have the flexibility to go in and not have a split safety defense or play man-to-man and you wanted him or any specific guy to match up against their slot player, then it's nice to be able to have the flexibility of not always being in man-to-man when we have a three-corner defense in that you can play both shells.
On evaluating Cole Konrad and Tommy Rowlands ...
The evaluation of what you're looking for in terms of progress is a little bit different. What I like about these guys is they are in a completely foreign environment, but yet they are not fazed by it. They are going to go out and compete like crazy because that's how they are wired and that's a great characteristic. I don't want to give anybody an edge going into the [World Championships, which both will participate in]. I think they are pretty comparable.
On the tryout players ...
They have all shown different things at different points. We were talking yesterday about the whole flash deal, and there has been some of that, but it's really looking at the body of work. You don't want to get too excited about one play, so you try to be as consistent in terms of not getting too excited one way or the other and looking at the whole deal. You know how excitable I can get.
On David Harris ...
He's showing some things in those tackling drills and those punt return drills and even as he's getting a better feel for how the runs are, how they hit, how the blocking scheme works, you can see some of the positive traits that he showed in college. That goes back to what we were just talking about. It's not just his raw ability, but seeing that ability translate into understanding how the run is going to hit, how it's blocked and that overall ability put into the context of an actual drill or a play.
On the new coaches ...
There definitely are some things we always have to work out, but I'd say that's true with all of us each day. It's different from last year where everybody was new. Now they can ask some questions of Bob [Sutton] or Brian [Schottenheimer] or somebody else in terms of how are we going to do this, where is the drill going to be, what's the tempo. It's actually been a lot smoother than last year. I really liked the things they've been doing, not just this weekend but overall. I think they bring a great level of enthusiasm, knowledge of the game, an ability to relate to the players, and they are getting to know the players who are here more and more each day.
On Jacob Bender ...
We had him in here for the day, so I got to spend more time with him individually than I probably spend with him now. But the things we anticipated, we're seeing that, and he's another guy who's been making a transition to a much different place in terms of where he was in college. You wouldn't look at the classroom or the tape and ever get the impression that [he was from a small school], where there was some concern about where he came from on his part.
On Leonard Peters ...
Leonard, when I was watching tape of Hawaii, there was a lot of big hits and he's involved with them. I got to meet him personally when we were out there, really liked him when we met, and did some more work on him. The most impressive thing about him was in sitting down with the other players, how they constantly reference back to him, his qualities and what he meant to that team. That was probably what moved me most in terms of him as a person, is how many other people were talking about him, because he's a very humble guy by nature. He didn't try to sell me at all when we met, but his teammates were so genuine in their compliments to him.
