Transcript of Jets head coach Eric Mangini's news conference before Thursday's midday practice:
The first thing I'd like to do is just express my personal condolences and the organization's condolences to Gene Upshaw's family. The contribution that he made as a player and then his work with the union has just been really incredible, just an incredible body of work. Our thoughts and prayers go out to them.
In terms of where we're at as a team and what we're doing with practice, we broke camp and today we're following the same schedule. We're working on the red area and working on cleaning up some things from two-minute, short yardage. It's the normal Friday procedure. It's a little bit different than a regular Friday, a little bit longer than a regular Friday, so there's still somewhat of a training camp mentality. In terms of the progression of the installation and work that we're doing, it's going to follow the standard routine.
On if the Giants game will serve as a good barometer for the offensive line…
They're very good. They cause a lot of problems. It's not just the front. I think that the front is one set of problems. They do a lot of stuff in terms of their zone-blitz packages. The types of zone blitz are not all just the post-safety zone blitzes. There's some split-safety Cover-2, there's some split-safety Cover-4.
There are multiple looks and ways that they pressure, and then when they just bring the four down guys, they can cause problems, too. There's going to be blocking their four and then blocking the different combinations from the secondary and linebackers that they're going to have to adjust to.
On the chemistry developing between Brett Favre and Jerricho Cotchery…
Brett is very natural at developing those relationships, just in the short time that I've seen him. There's really no bias. He's going to throw to the open guy. Jerricho has gotten a lot of balls. I think that Leon [Washington] has gotten quite a few on the checkdowns. I think Chansi [Stuckey] had quite a few the other day. It doesn't seem that it's going to gravitate towards one player. [Chris] Baker has gotten quite a few. [Dustin] Keller got the first touchdown.
I don't think it's just one person. I think he's just finding the open guy and getting it to him. Brad Smith got the long one yesterday, the first play of two-minute.
On how long Favre will play Saturday…
It's really going to depend on how many plays we have offensively and how long their first group is in. It's really hard to say at this point.
On if the first team will play into the third quarter…
I've seen it both ways. Sometimes we play them through the half and don't bring them out in third quarter. Sometimes we bring them out in the third quarter. I don't really have it set. This [year] is a little bit different.
On if he'd prefer to see a two-minute drill situation in the game…
Yes, you like to see all the different stuff come up -- red area, different third-downs, third-and-short, third-and-long, maybe some backed up where we're on our own 1, any of those core things. I don't really want to be on our own 1 [laughs]. You like all that stuff to come up, and the more stuff that comes up, the more stuff you can coach off of and the more stuff you can explain.
Again, you're trying to simulate it each day in practice and put it into context. It's totally different. That's why I love two-minute drives in practice so much. The time goes up and whatever happens after that, happens, which is so much more realistic.
Yesterday we hit the long ball, I forget how many yards that was for, then hit the double move to Jerricho. It looks pretty good. Then there's 1:15 left, two timeouts, we're on the 25. Then the defense holds for four downs. It was just a dramatic shift. You go from one mentality defensively to a totally different mentality defensively. Offensively, it all changes. We could have tried to script that, but it wouldn't have come out as good as what just happened.
On if he will play the starters in the last preseason game at Philadelphia if Eagles head coach Andy Reid doesn't play his starters...
You look at that to some degree, and sometimes that's a factor. Other times, it may be that you want to get a guy some more reps. We'll play different guys. You saw it even last week. Some guys came out after the half and they played primarily special teams. They weren't on offense and defense, just because they hadn't gotten enough reps on teams.
B.T. [Bryan Thomas] got some more reps on teams last week in the second half, just because I wanted to see what that was going to look like. It wasn't necessarily against their first group, but it's still picking up the different games they get on the punt team or running down on kickoff team, kickoff return and getting some of those looks. If you get a great opportunity to put a guy in a spot that you want to see him at, you might switch it around.
On if Favre will play in the last preseason game…
I haven't really thought about it. I think some of it is going to depend on Saturday and we'll see how that goes.
On if that was the first time Bryan Thomas has played special teams…
No, he's been on there the whole preseason, all camp.
On if Thomas played special teams before this year…
He was on PAT and field goal block.
On why he's folding Thomas into special teams…
All those guys have to play and they have to be backups. Vic [Hobson] had done some work on special teams — he's not here anymore. Then [Vernon] Gholston is working on special teams, [Calvin] Pace, David Harris and [Eric] Barton. Some of it is as a starter, some of it is as a backup. You're trying to spread it out between the guys that are going to play a lot of reps on defense and offense, but you still want them to have a role on teams so it just doesn't get unbalanced, where one guy has 30 plays on defense and another 40 plays somewhere else. You want to try to spread out as much as you can.
On DB Ron Girault…
He has had some opportunities late in the game, made a few plays, and he'll get some more opportunities. It's that time where, as you get those chances, if you just make a few plays, like with David Clowney, you start popping a little bit and then you get a few more. He has made some plays both on defense and on special teams, which is positive. That will get him some more opportunities.
On if Laveranues Coles will play Saturday…
I'm not sure. It's all measured steps. You don't want to have a setback this late in the process. We'll just see where it is. I couldn't say either way right now.
On if it's still up in the air…
Yes, and we do have a whole process in place in terms of bringing guys back. He has to get through those steps before it's back full-time in practice and then full-time in games.
On if Shaun Ellis will play Saturday…
I think he's getting closer. He's the same way. He got a little bit more action there yesterday, he'll try to get some more action today and see where it is. With all those guys, you just don't want to bring them back too soon and then an injury that could be a week or two turns into four, five, six or something like that.
On an opinion that Brad Smith has been a mediocre WR…
I disagree on his inability to make great catches. One of the things he's done since he's been here, he has made some ridiculous catches. There are some plays that you just can't believe. It's a transition. He's a bigger guy, so the way that he gets covered is a little bit different than a Chansi Stuckey would get covered. He has gotten some opportunities in the games last year. He'll get some this year. You always want to see the progress continue.
The nice thing about Brad is he's a multiple threat, where you saw last week we were able to run him on the reverse. That caused an issue. So you try to change the coverages a little bit by the different things that he can do.
On Dwight Lowery being from the West Coast and using visualization, like Jerry Rice…
If he's going to have Jerry Rice's career through visualization, sign me up [laughter]. I never lived on the West Coast. I guess I'm an East Coast guy. I think he fits in fine. The one thing I like about Dwight, it's all football all the time for him. Football and his iPod. I don't know what he's listening to, maybe it's like some new wave music or something [laughs]. Whatever it is, it's been good. I might have to get that iPod.
On if Lowery has a chance to play with the starters …
Yeah, I think he definitely has a chance. We've put him in with the ones in games and in practice. He's done a nice job. As long as he continues to do a nice job, it's definitely not a closed situation. What I like, too, with Dwight is, as a rookie now we've played him outside and we've played him inside at a couple different spots. There really hasn't been a lot of mental errors for throwing him all different places.
On if confusion at different positions is the biggest issue for rookies…
It's usually a huge issue with rookies. Things start to run together. It's hard for them to put it just in segments: "OK, this is third-down Cover-2 versus first- and second-down Cover-2" or "Now I'm inside versus outside." You want those guys to be able to play all the different spots and you can put them anywhere and match up.
On Lowery standing out in games and practice…
He's done it since high school. He had a bunch of picks in high school and a bunch of picks in college. He's had them here — that's good. You like it to be the equation where, if you throw on a corner and you throw it poorly, he's going to make you pay with a pick as opposed to just batting the ball down. Dwight has the ball skills to do that, very similar to Otis [Smith]. You could throw on him and you may hit it for 50 [yards] or he may pick it and take it back for 50.
On James Ihedigbo having an interception, then giving up a touchdown, vs. Washington…
For the defensive backs, they always have to secure the tackle first and then play the ball. When you get into a situation where it's blitz-man, and if you miss it there would be no chance of anybody else helping, it has to be that much more of an emphasis on playing the player, playing the ballcarrier or the receiver, as opposed to playing the ball.
Those are critical decisions. You miss that, it's a touchdown. I think there was 1:09 left at that point. Those are tough plays. He made a nice play on the interception in the red zone. He had gotten a lot of opportunities to work with the second group in the game, he has got a lot of opportunities on special teams, he'll keep getting opportunities and we'll just see where it falls over the next couple weeks.
On if he makes a decision about a player based on one play…
No. It's all the different plays. It's the play the week before, it's the play in the red zone, it's that play, and for him, a lot of the plays are special-teams-based. That's where he has to carve out the first niche.
On Hank Poteat playing safety in practice…
What you're trying to do, if you want to play base defense and not have to sub in an extra defensive back, is have the ability to play corners at safety. Then you can come down and play man-to-man on their three-wide-receiver sets and you're not losing something. Especially when the guy has trained as the "star," which is the inside position. That's who the safety is going to end up covering.
That always adds value. He has been doing that for years. I really like doing that, working him inside. He has worked the "money" position where you cover the tight end more, and that's a little bit different because of the run reads. David [Barrett] has worked a lot of different spots. It allows you to move some pieces around.
On if Brad Smith experienced information overload transitioning from QB to WR…
No. With Brad, it doesn't matter whether he's in the quarterback meeting room or not, he's going to know that stuff. That's how Brad is wired. I think it has real value when you understand the read progressions and how the route is going to unfold. It just gives you a different level of understanding.
He has worked at learning coverages, and all the receivers have worked at learning coverages. I think that, to me, is the next step. Now you understand why they're playing the coverage that they're playing, where the weakness is and where the voids are. You have a real shot to make some good decisions after the snap just because you know what they're trying to get done.
On if the number of plays Favre knows has doubled since the Washington game…
No, it hasn't doubled. The thing you can do by changing the formations, the looks, the shifts, the motions, even though it's 30 base plays, you can dress it up a lot of different ways. You could easily turn 30 into 90 just by how you get to the play. The concepts I wouldn't say have doubled. It's going to be incremental each week.
