Transcript of head coach Eric Mangini's news conference with members of the New York Jets media before Saturday's afternoon training camp practice:
One piece of housekeeping: Leon Washington is being excused today for personal reasons.
In talking to the team this morning and looking at the first two practices yesterday, the one thing that stood out was that the overall execution of the plays for the most part was pretty good, as was the recall of the things we had done in the spring. There were some really positive things there. What I wasn't happy with were the things that happened prior to the play or at the end of the play. We had too many false starts, too many encroachment penalties, too many examples where the receiver was open and we either didn't get him the ball or the receiver was open and the ball was dropped, the defensive back came up and didn't execute the proper tackling technique to finish the play, or the runner didn't finish the play in terms of executing the defensive back coming at him at an angle. Things along those lines are what we need to improve upon.
As we go, the volume of information is going to increase. People are going to be more and more tired, and the focus and the finish needs to remain consistent. With all the good things we're doing during the time where the ball is snapped to the time when the ball is delivered, they really don't mean much if we either can't get the ball off because of one of those penalties or we can't complete the play with a catch, a throw, a tackle.
Today we'll be moving, working some more in a very similar progression to the spring. Moving into the red area, some two-minute work, things along those lines, so the pattern remains consistent. My goal there is that the players are hearing the information over time in the same pattern or a very similar pattern to the way they hear the information during each week of the regular season. That's the thought process there.
One guy that's stood out and had a really good off-season, who did a lot of work on his own, did a lot of good work in the weight room, in the program and on his own, in terms of extra things, whether it be nutrition, working with the coaches or working with Lomas Brown, was D'Brickashaw Ferguson. I've seen that work here early. It looks like that's paid off and I've been pleased with that, and it's only one day. You can see the things he really focused on playing out here as we put the pads on early.
On if Leon Washington missing today's practice has anything to do with him being sick Friday …
This is a personal issue, and I know you've got to follow up on it, but I'd really like to just leave it there.
On if there has been any word so far on Darrelle Revis …
We're moving along. Mike [Tannenbaum] has negotiated a lot of contracts. He's working to get it done as quickly as he can.
On Washington not being on the field for Friday's practice …
No, he wasn't on the field. That was personal as well, yes.
On the type of role he sees Washington having …
All that really depends. We had a lot of different roles for the different backs last year. It is a little bit of a different situation this year. Leon is not really limited to a third-down back. He's played for us on first and second down and done some good things there. He's a little bit of a different type of back than maybe your typical first- and second-down back, but that's good because it creates some problems for an opponent, and what I'll say is it'll change. It'll change each week, so it won't necessarily be something that's defined.
On if anything has changed with Pete Kendall …
No, status quo.
On how closely linked the success of Thomas Jones will be with Darian Barnes …
They've worked together in the past and it's always good to have a fullback-tailback relationship. With the running game and the multiple personnel groups, there are going to be a lot of people involved in that. Really, we've talked about that before. Everybody needs to execute their assignments, and there will be a lot of different guys working with Thomas at the point of attack on runs — tight ends and F's, the traditional fullback and our tight end F.
On the different skill set Barnes has compared to Stacy Tutt …
They've got different skills. Darian has done a lot of lead blocking. He's caught some balls out of the backfield and that's something that he continues to work on. Stacy has some flexibility to play in the backfield and play out of the backfield, so that's always nice, similar to a Richie Anderson type of mold. I see some parallels there.
On his thoughts dealing with all that's currently going on in the sports world …
I don't mean to live in a bubble, but really, my sports world has been here, and will be. So that's what I'm focused on.
On his reason for naming Chad Pennington the No. 1 quarterback in the spring and not having that same QB competition …
Going through the process last year and getting to know the different players and getting to know Chad and working with him throughout the season, he's really earned that spot. And just like any other person that's in one of those roles, there's always competition that's ongoing, and that's the way it is. But he did a lot of really, really good things last year, and I thought that that would be a good transition.
On the progression and development he's looking for from his rookies in the next few days ...
What you're looking for is something happening in a positive direction on a daily basis, and it's not always going to be a big jump. We want to see those incremental increases as opposed to a guy who maybe is doing something really well in the spring, now you transition him to camp, and that thing that you thought he had pretty well down, now it's moved back or it's regressed as new information has come in. That's one of the things that really defined Brad Smith last year. He was going to a new position, but every day there was something that got a little bit better, something that was built on, and you make a lot of progress that way.
On how Thomas Jones affects Pennington's play-action fakes …
Yeah, I think any time you have an effective running game that play action has so much more pull. The other thing that you get is the type of defenses they play are very different in the sense of you're probably going to have to bring an extra person, one of the safeties, down in the box, which means you have more than one coverage on the perimeter. So an effective running game helps the exterior guys because it changes from a two-deep shell to maybe a three-deep shell.
On if having a less effective running game changed last year's offense …
I thought that in terms of the approach it was exactly the same. Different defensive approaches were a little bit different where they may have felt they didn't have to commit that extra player at all times, and that's really why you want to be able to establish the run, to force them to commit to it. Now you have a situation with Jerricho [Cotchery] outside. It's more of an isolated coverage as opposed to a rolled-up situation.
On if Pennington's interceptions resulted from him not having a running threat …
I don't know if that was it. I wouldn't say that's a direct correlation. I think when you're learning a new system and this being a heavy no-huddle system, a heavy shifting and motioning system, all those things were new to Chad in the sense that he may have done all those things in different spots but not all of them together and at one time with new terminology. I'm sure part of it was that transition — learning the reads, the receivers learning the reads, routes — and some of it was just a function of you throw a ball and the receiver bats it up. There were a few of those, too.
On how much better he feels Pennington will be in the second year of the system …
I think we're looking for everybody to get better in terms of the passing game, and with Chad he's like Brad, or Brad is like Chad, however you want to look at it. They're always adding information and not losing the previous information.
On where he feels Jonathan Vilma is in his development …
He's been excellent, and we've put in quite a bit more here early on in camp than last year. Jon is able to see it and then also add some of the nuances that we had. His recall is outstanding, and then the disguise element creeps more and more into it as you get more and more comfortable, and he's instrumental in getting that lined up. It's been good.
On the difference between linebackers in 3-4 and 4-3 schemes in terms of skills sets …
I've seen a lot of different linebacker types playing the system over the years and they've all played at a good level. It's not that there's only one way to necessarily play it. It develops and you figure out the best way for you to get those jobs done. Tedy Bruschi played it very differently than Ted Johnson did, than Roman Phifer did, than Junior Seau does. Each guy, it's the same system, it's the same responsibilities, but each guy caters it to the things they do well.
On if it's easier going into a season knowing who his running back and quarterback are …
I think it's always positive to have that information and to be able to really target the plays that you want to target for those guys. But when you don't have that set, there's some good things that get done the other way because you find out a lot about the people that you have. Being able to target plays is a positive.
On if he looks at last year's QB situation and thinks it was tough …
No, not at all, because I think last year was very different. All the information was new to all the players. So for Chad, whether he got Subway or whether he got Dagger, whichever play, he needed to work on both of those, and it was beneficial for him to be able to work through all those different areas.
On having all the reps evened out across the board …
What we do is we keep track of every guy's reps every day and every drill so we can collectively look at it and make sure we're giving each player an opportunity to show what they can do. We may have to adjust day in and day out to balance those things off. It's also good for us to keep track of how much work they're getting, to monitor the physical toll on their bodies and things like that. So we keep very careful track of that and make sure that it's a balanced, fair competition for everybody. At the end of the day, we know we've done the research through practice to get the best team.
On if all positions split up work that way …
It may come in different days, but at the end we're trying to get to a balance so when we make the final decision it's not, 'OK, this guy had a zillion reps and this guy had a few and in his few reps he did really well. What would have happened if the value had increased?' So you're trying to evaluate like with like.
On what kind of role he expects for Chansi Stuckey …
The first thing he's got to do is make the team. The second thing he's got to do is he's got to carve out a role for himself. There's a lot of really good receivers, he's in a very competitive group, and he's got to figure out a way and a role to help us win week in and week out. That's what he's doing and what we're trying to find out as well. So there's a lot of work ahead for him.
On when he made the decision to make Brad Smith a quarterback …
I've been thinking about it for a long time, and in looking at it, last year we gave him a lot of different roles and he did well with all those different roles, whether it was special teams, he played some running back, he's played some receiver, he played some quarterback, and I liked where he was going with all those things. Now putting him in the quarterback mix, he'll get that learning really from the center out and understand the whole concept of the offense on every play, which now will increase our flexibility if we want to play him 10 plays or whatever we'd like to do. It's not a specific play that week. He knows the offense.
On if he sees using Smith similar to the way the Steelers used Kordell Stewart …
He'll definitely have a group of plays every week. He's such a change-of-pace player that other teams are going to have to prepare because you're not limited to saying Brad has to get five plays in a row. Now, at any given point you can say, 'Brad, go in and run this play.' Now he's worked at that position, he understands it. It's not like you've had to specifically rep it 10 times that week to run it. It's just part of what he does.
