Transcript of Jets head coach Eric Mangini's news conference before Thursday's midday practice:
I thought yesterday we got off to a good start. I liked what we were doing in terms of the meetings, the walkthroughs and practice. I thought the focus was good overall, across the board.
A real emphasis this week on technique. Sometimes that can get away from you a little bit as you get later into the season. We've just been reemphasizing that and really basic things — hand placement, footwork and leverage. We've been doing tackling at least once a week during the course of the season, but it's always good to review those things and the angles.
There are a lot of different areas. It's good to go back and single out those things and focus on those things in addition to your preparation for the next team, in this case, Buffalo, to be able to almost go back to a training camp mentality and be able to see all of those things and work on those things as well. Also, communication is something we always work on and something we always talk about. It's good to refocus on that as well.
On simulating third-down situations in practice…
From an emotional perspective, it's hard to do. That's really in any situation during practice — red zone or sudden changes. It's hard to get that crowd reaction, to get the reaction to a turnover, one way or the other. What you do is you do the best you can to put the players in that same situation. Really what you want to have happen in the game is to be able to take the emotional element out of it and just focus on the play.
One thing we do on third down is a thing that Brian [Schottenheimer] brought over — you'll see the yellow line across the field, kind of like you see on the TV games. We have that and the sticks, the yard markers, based on wherever it is in relationship to the yellow line. The whole defense, regardless of where you are on the field, can see where the first down marker is. That's so important.
It's also important for the receivers sometimes, when we run a route that's going to break in, but it's going to break in at the sticks. It could be at 4, it could be at 6, it could be at 8. Sometimes it's hard to gauge that purely by the yard marker. That's the starting point, but the yellow line also reinforces whether your relationship to the sticks was good enough.
On Brad Smith's status…
There is improvement. In terms of doing something today, if he does anything at all it will be light stuff today. Really, it is the same process we have been doing.
On if Smith has a concussion…
Yes.
On if the hit on Smith should be penalized for helmet-to-helmet contact…
I don't know. Eric Smith was.
On Brad Smith being in a defenseless position when hit…
I don't know. To me, it's a judgment call just like the holding on the long kickoff return for a touchdown — judgment call. Jerricho [Cotchery] laying on the ball, then someone coming in and hitting him, the ball popping loose and it being ruled what it was ruled — purely a judgment call. There's nothing we can do about it, except try to teach up the best you can.
On Eric Smith's status…
He's had quite a bit of time off. He's been working into practice for quite some time now. He's getting even more reps this week. To say definitively right now that he will [play], I couldn't say that. I think that we've taken good steps this week. This is another good step, not being on the injury report.
On if the defense has been too reactionary…
I think defense is inherently reactionary in the sense that you don't know what personnel group they're going to put out there and you don't know what formation they're going to build. What you do defensively is there are several different things that you may do in one call based on formation.
If the receivers are split and you have a call, that play is one way. If they go to the same side, it's a slot formation, then something else happens. If it ends up being one back with a two-by-two set or one set, then something happens there. In terms of being able to pressure formations and things like that, I thought that we had some really good opportunities to do that and weren't able to really capitalize on them — different five-man pressures, different max pressures. Some of the pressures were built in based on the formation. We had a chance but didn't quite get it done.
On tweaking the practice schedule…
As it gets later in the season, you try to scale some things back as much as possible while still getting everything done that you need to get done. We've done that the last two years. It happened at different points during the season. Really, the practices overall have been scaled back I'd say substantially based on last year and the year before. This is just a scaling-back of a scaling-back [smiles.]
On if the scaled-back practice schedule will help keep players fresh…
I think it always helps. The real important thing for us to do is when you do scale back, it means less reps and less time, you have to be that much more efficient. You want to always be able to get the guys off their feet as quickly as possible which means you don't want to have to repeat plays. The less of that you're doing, the quicker it all goes as well.
On focusing on particular areas as a coaching staff…
I try to do that each week. The staff does that as well. After each game, we fill out a report while the information is fresh about things that we did well, did poorly, preparation errors and anything along those lines as part of Monday's meeting.
When we evaluate the game, we're also evaluating the week. During the week itself, as we meet as a staff, we try to solicit input from the coaches of anything that we think that we need to tweak. It could be the schedule — I'll give them the schedule and we'll discuss it: "Do you want to change something here, adjust something here, do you think we need to emphasis this more?"
It's a process of looking back at the previous week, at the start of the next week, and then while you're going through that current week, constantly getting the feedback from the staff and the players as to what can we adjust here, how can we improve either our efficiency or our process?
On a specific point of emphasis…
I think it's an ongoing evolution. We spent some time with one of the younger players today. I guess we really talked to the younger players about keeping a journal. It's not like one of those 'Dear Diaries' locked up with a key or anything [smiles], but as you go home at night being able to write down some things that you thought helped you in your preparation and draw on those things in the upcoming weeks. It's like current Eric talking to future Eric.
In the players' case, with the young guys, there's a lot of stuff that they're doing for the first time. As they do it, what worked well, what didn't work well? Then they could ideally build some sort of master checklist that you can look at in the morning: "OK, I really need to emphasize my feet, I need to secure my notes this way or write my notes out this way" or whatever it is specific to that player — hot tub, cold tub, massage, there's a laundry list of things.
Have that there in the morning, look at it, and then come back at night and be able to assess whether you did the things you set out to do and the things that you've established as your best practices.
On Brett Favre's comment that he expects to make the playoffs…
We talked yesterday, I'm completely confident in the team. I think that question yesterday was in relationship to the offense. I have complete confidence in the offense and the group of people. Everybody knows that at this time of year that either it's the end of the season or the playoffs are looming. That's not a secret.
In appreciating everybody's confidence and having confidence myself, you still need to circle back to what's important, which is the first game. That step can't be taken without taking the step that's in front of you.
On if Damien Woody's experience at different positions gives him an advantage…
I'm sure it does because not a lot of tackles can come back inside and play even guard or center. Damien was an excellent center when we were in New England. He was really outstanding — unique feet, rare strength, very stout, moved out to guard and moved out to tackle.
It's really a good indication of how versatile and athletic he is. For a guy his size, it's not easy to just move around those spots like he has. It takes a lot of work to move out to tackle, especially when your starting point was center. I think he's done an excellent job at that. He's incredibly athletic for his size and very strong.
On Woody's skill…
There aren't many things that he doesn't do well. He used to struggle with the shotgun snap [laughs], but thankfully he doesn't have to do that very much any more.
On if Favre lobbies for certain plays…
It's not set up in a way that you have to lobby. It's a very collaborative effort. It has been with Brett, it was with Chad [Pennington] and it was with Kellen [Clemens]. You want those guys to be part of the process because as much as you may like a play, if he doesn't, he's not going to run it very well.
You may say, "This is the read we have to go to," but inevitably he has the ball, he makes the decision. You want him to feel as comfortable with the read as possible. The plan goes out, he's able to have input on that, and then the receiver and all those guys can give input into the plan. It's not "This is what we're doing, this is the only thing we're doing." It's "Here's what we're thinking and here's why we're thinking it."
We're going to go out and work it and then as you get the give-and-take, back-and-forth, you eventually scale down what was a significant amount of plays to what you think the attack should be.
On if the input is still a work-in-progress or if there's a "Brett philosophy"…
We definitely have one. I don't know if it's a Brett philosophy. It's more of a Jets philosophy featuring Brett [laughter]. I think there has been a lot of consistency in the things we're doing. They're built a little bit different ways and they're tweaked each week. I like the direction that we've been able to take and the improvement that we've been able to make.
On if opponents can predict the Jets' passing game…
We do tweak things each week. It's not like there are 10 plays and we just run those 10 plays. There's a significant amount of plays and they're all built different ways with different personnel groups. That's ongoing. It is really specific to each opponent.
I think what we have to do is we have to execute better on third down. I don't know what our third-down conversion rate is over the last two games, but it's not very good — 4-for-22 or whatever it is. You can't get very many drives. If you can't get very many drives, you can't get very many points. That, to me, is an area that we need to be better at.
Some of those have been third-and-1's, some of those have been third-and-3's where we had great opportunities. It's not like of those 24 plays they've all been third-and-15, which is a very low-percentage conversion. We've had very manageable third downs.
On if defenses are playing the Jets more aggressively on third down…
It hasn't been a function of getting a significantly higher amount of pressure, it hasn't been skewed one way or the other coverage-wise, where we're getting all Cover-5 and Cover-5 is coming up week in and week out on third down, and that's the approach to stopping the third-down package. It hasn't been all pressure: "OK, we're going to heat them up." That's the best answer. If there's one thing that was trending like that, we would definitely counter it.
I think it's a lot more of us being able to do the things we're doing better. Some of them are drops. Some of them are throws that could have been done better. Some are protection breakdowns. If we take care of those things, the plays will work a lot differently.
On he talked to rookie TE Dustin Keller after his dropped pass…
I said a lot of things to Dustin after the game and on Monday. The rookie period is over. We've graduated. Their season is basically done in college football. You're a Jet, you've been here a long time, and, at this point that rookie stuff is over. When you play a significant amount, you have to perform at a consistent level.
That's not taking anything away from what he's done. I really do like the way that he has improved and the way that he works. There's no question about that. You have to be able to execute on those plays. He's made a ton of really good catches. The starting point with a play like that, the drop that he had, is looking it into the tuck. That goes back to technique. Sometimes you want to run before you catch it, but put your thumbs together, look the ball in and tuck it in, then turn and run.
On other topics he discussed with Keller…
I was just in a talkative mood on Monday [smiles]. I expressed a lot of my feelings on Monday. I didn't jot it all down. It was more flow of consciousness.
On what it says that Tony Richardson is approaching his 200th game…
It says that he's a pro. He understands how to take care of his body. He's extremely versatile. He's reliable. He's consistent. It's hard to do what Brett has done and it's hard to do what Tony has done. Even Ty [Law], what is this, his 14th or 15th year? The amount of wear-and-tear that goes into their bodies.
How many years has Tony been playing? Pro football, college football, high school football, pee-wee football — it's like a million games when you add it all up. All the things that you have to do to get ready for the football season and all of the things that you have to do to be able to go through a football season, it takes discipline. He has a ton of that. What I like about him is all of that is great, but he's just such a good person. It's good to see positive things happen to good people.
On his best getting-old joke…
I don't know [smiles]. I didn't go into the season with enough material. I didn't realize with Brett, Tony and now Ty, I'd need a ghostwriter.
