Transcript of Jets head coach Eric Mangini's news conference before Friday's midday practice:
This weekend is going to be the 40th anniversary celebration of our Super Bowl championship team. We'll have 36 players back. Don Maynard and Joe Namath will be here. It's really an incredible story and an incredible football story. They were a 17½-point underdog. I'm sure they're happy they didn't buy into expectations or the line at that point. It will be fun to see those guys and to celebrate that part of our history. We recognized the Titans' [by wearing the] uniforms and this is another very important part of our history. We're looking forward to that.
On if WR David Clowney will be active against the Chiefs…
He's in the discussion, but nothing is finalized.
On if WR Laveranues Coles will be active against the Chiefs…
If he is medically cleared, then he will play.
On if Coles is seeing a doctor to be cleared to play…
We continue the testing and evaluation. We have our standard testing that we do and then we have other specialists that we use to confirm those tests.
On if Coles will be tested today by the doctors…
It will happen today. Assuming that there are no setbacks, we can move forward.
On if he is comfortable with Dr. Elliot Pellman…
He is one of our doctors. Kenneth Montgomery is one of our doctors. The protocol that we put in place, the best practices that we've established are not just specific to those two doctors. We've researched [concussions] extensively. We've looked at a lot of different teams. This is the format that we came up with. I am completely comfortable with where we are in terms of our process, procedure and emphasis on safety. We've done a lot of work on this and have a good plan in place.
On if he is put in a bad spot because Coles was put back in the Oakland game after suffering a concussion…
When you go through the process and you're medically cleared, that's when you're allowed to be put back in the game.
On how a player receives medical clearance after sustaining a concussion…
There is a process in place. I couldn't give you all the specific details. That's not really my background. As is the case with any injury, once [a player] is cleared to play, then they're allowed to play. I have nothing to do with that. The coaches have nothing to do with that. It's strictly a medical decision based on their expertise and experience. That's where the decision should lie, with the doctors and not with the coaches and staff. It's about [the player's] safety first, and they make those decisions based on their experience and background.
On TE Bubba Franks' injury…
He is rehabbing his injury. We'll just see how it goes.
On if Franks will play against the Chiefs…
It's like any of the other injuries. We'll see when we get closer to the game time and make a decision.
On if there are players on Friday that he knows will not play on Sunday…
It depends. [Mike] Nugent, we know he isn't going to play, so we list him accordingly and anyone else that we're not 100 percent sure on we list based on what our expectation is and based on where they are at that point in the week when we make our injury distinction.
On Franks playing against the Chiefs…
There is a possibility, but you have to see what happens here through Sunday.
On if Friday's injury report will reflect Coles' examination…
Yes.
On if he is concerned about the number of injuries on the team…
Every team, at this point, has a substantial amount of injuries. It's going to continue throughout the course of the season. We've played in preseason games, regular season games and training camp practices. There has been a lot of wear-and-tear on these guys up to this point. We see it every injury report, or guys being placed on IR. It's happening quite a bit around the league.
On if he looks at how other teams in other sports handle concussions…
I don't drive the medical research in terms of those things. I leave that to the guys who know a lot more than I do about that. Any team that we have relationships with, that does open up opportunities for exchange of ideas. Some of it's medically, some of it's scouting, some of it's other personnel issues. We definitely try to not just stay within our sport, but look at other sports.
In terms of recovery, we looked at a lot of different things. We looked at biking, triathlons, we looked overseas. We talked to people in Australia. We've had visitors here this year from Australia in rugby and football. We had a soccer team from London. There is a lot of different exchange of ideas. It's important to not just focus on our sport, but all sports. Not just sports in the U.S., but throughout athletics, anywhere that we can improve the team.
On Nugent's injury…
He has a leg injury.
On what specifically is Nugent's injury…
I don't talk about the specifics of injuries.
On if he considers the game against Kansas City a must-win game…
We treat all the same. We treated the game last week the same as the games before. Next week will be exactly the same. Each one is important. Each one has to be approached in the same fashion. It has to be consistent. There are a lot of things that we work on week-to-week that are specific to that opponent, but also are very specific to us. Getting into the highs and lows of it, it's such a long season. What I've found historically, the most productive way of doing it, is to take that same measured approach.
On WR Brad Smith…
He's done a really good job. Each year he gets a little bit better at the receiver position. He's played a lot of different roles for us. He can do a lot of different things for us. The nice thing about where Brad is now is, in the past we used him in specific packages. It was an alert to the opponent that something different, unique could be coming.
Now Brad has developed into a player that can play every down. You can use some things that are unique to his skill set, but not give the same alert to your opponents because he can go in and play in the regular offense as well.
He's done a really good job in practice. He's gotten more and more comfortable with the receiver position. I really like the versatility it gives us there.
On Smith as a traditional wide receiver…
That's what we're working for, but settling into that role. It's not necessarily that he can only do certain things if he plays receiver, but his ability to do all the things that we're asking the receivers to do and our ability to utilize the unique things Brad can do.
On if there is something specific that Smith has improved on this season…
It's not one specific thing. I don't think he had just one area that he could improve. With young players they are going to get better with all the different elements, with reps, time and experience. It was a pretty radical transition for him, going from quarterback to receiver. There are a lot of things that we work on specific to that position.
There is not one glaring thing with Brad that he can't do against off coverage or press coverage. It's just continuing growth, similar to Jerricho [Cotchery]'s development. Jerricho started as a core teams guy. He got better and better each year. He had some opportunities and he eventually emerged as a starting receiver. It's not uncommon for those guys to carve out a role on teams or carve out a niche and as they go to each game and get the experience, they eventually emerge as a starter.
On balancing the offense between rushing and passing on a game-by-game basis…
Being game-plan-specific, sometimes it's not going to be balanced because there is one area that you really want to attack. You may throw 50 times in a game.
We did that against Minnesota a couple of years ago. They were one of the best run defenses in the league and we really weren't going to be that productive in the running game, but they had some things that you could take advantage of in the passing game, so it was a heavy emphasis on that. As you pushed it in that direction, later in the game we were able to run the ball that much more effectively because they had to adjust to what we were doing to slow down the attack. The balance came in the sense that once you're able to take them out of their strength, then you're able to attack in that area.
On the missing piece of the offense…
One of the main things that we have to do a much better job with is turnovers. When you turn the ball over in the red zone — understand, too, that it was the turnover on third-and-8 that we originally had third-and-3. That play call was different on third-and-3 than third-and-8.
Those types of penalties, turnovers or mental errors, minimizing those each game is going to go a long way to taking drives from three points or no points to seven points. It happens all the time where you get a turnover in that gray area, 30-, 35-yard line, or in the red area. Those are scoring plays and those are points.
