Transcript of head coach Eric Mangini's conference call with reporters late Tuesday afternoon:
On the status of Kris Jenkins and Brett Favre…
They are both meeting for rehab today and we will see where we are at tomorrow.
On the production of the offense at San Diego…
I thought we were moving the ball effectively through the first half and then we had the turnover for a touchdown. Antonio Cromartie made an incredible play on Laveranues Coles. We had the fumble and moved the ball a little bit there on that drive.
That's what really was the case in the first half were some positive drives punctuated by the turnovers. Whenever you have that happen, it's not going to have a very good result.
On if he thought the play by Cromartie was pass interference...
It's tough. The crew was pretty consistent in how they called it throughout the whole course of the evening. It was a pretty amazing catch by Cromartie. It was tight coverage. Those calls can go either way. I did think that they were consistent throughout the whole thing and it was consistent for both sides. That's sometimes how it goes.
On how Favre did overall…
I thought that as we got going, especially in the second half, we were able to move the ball really effectively. In the first half, there were two I thought very good plays by San Diego. I know the ball was overthrown, but Eric Weddle made a nice play in terms of pulling that down.
I liked the things that we were doing. It's hard to overcome those turnovers and mistakes that you have on drives -- the fumble, two turnovers and one for a touchdown. It makes it difficult.
On if Favre's consecutive starts are in danger this week…
Honestly, he's going to come in for rehab today. We got back at 7:30, 8 this morning. He had some [rehab] at that point. There will be some more later today. Brett usually plays, and I would anticipate the same.
On if he has any more information on Jenkins' injury…
No, it's really the same situation and there were times last night where we thought Kris could come back in. It just didn't quite get to the point where we were ready to do that. He was close throughout the course of the game and so I'm hoping that with time and treatment that will move along well.
On Jenkins' presence on the field…
Kris definitely has a presence inside. It's hard when you lose a player like Kris. Some of those runs that they were able to hit on us, especially with [Darren] Sproles, were cutback runs that Jenkins really would not have been involved in. To a large degree, he would have been on the front side of those plays.
But that's not taking away anything from Kris and the things he might have been able to do. He has been excellent against the run and generating push in the pocket, so it is tough when you lose a guy like him. Your guys that are usually playing a certain percent of the game, that also spikes as well, so it changes the approach.
On whether Favre's status is due to him being a legendary tough guy or to knowing that it may not be that serious of an injury…
I think it's elements of both. I will definitely know more this evening. I would say elements of both are why I feel comfortable saying that.
On not seeming overly concerned about the prospect of Favre not playing…
No, it's just understanding him and I think that we have a good plan in place whenever guys get injured. I feel pretty comfortable with the process and I know that if there's any way that he can play, he'll definitely play.
On if Favre had an MRI today…
They go through a couple of different tests, each guy that gets banged up. I'm not sure on the exact process.
On P Ben Graham…
When I talked to you guys at the press conference after we let Graham go, we talked a lot about the conversation that he and I had, and we do have a long history together and I like him so much personally. And because I have a relationship, this was new ground for him and very different than his experience in the NFL.
We spent a lot of time talking about it. One of the things I said is that things change quickly. We could easily change back quickly and I didn't anticipate it changing back that quickly, but it did.
Ironically, he had gone to San Diego to work out with Darren Bennett, and he was in San Diego late in the week. He didn't even have to get on a flight. He was already there.
On the conversation with Graham about returning…
It went well and the conversation even initially went well. He's a pro, he's a gentleman and he's a friend. It's difficult, when you say it went well, it went well for a difficult conversation and you don't like to have that conversation with anybody.
But you do like to have the other conversation where you are able to deliver positive news. He had been out working out and preparing for whatever his next opportunity was. It just happened that we were his next opportunity and we were flying in later that afternoon.
On the punter situation…
We'll carry two for the short term and see where we are.
On Favre's understanding of the offense…
I think there's been progress each week. We threw the ball quite a bit last night. There's always going to be some times when you put the ball up in volume, you're going to have turnovers, and Favre's made a lot of great plays, sort of ad-lib type plays, and the receivers are getting more and more used to that, he's getting more and more used to the receivers, and as you go along and get the additional reps, that tends to naturally improve.
He's thrown the ball 90 times, completed 63 times. That's a pretty good completion percentage and there are going to be some times where unfortunately it ends up in the other side's hands.
On adding Favre…
Anytime you bring in somebody new, there's a transition. Favre had been in one system for a long time and the nice thing about that is that he had experienced a lot of different evolutions in that system and there is tremendous carryover between the different family trees. They may be called different things, but they're essentially the same.
We're pretty flexible in terms of adapting to new ideas, things that work, and we were able to incorporate a lot of those elements that he liked, as well as translate some of the things that we had into terms that he was more familiar with.
I really thought he moved the ball pretty effectively throughout the course of the evening in the air. There were the turnovers, but as I say, when you put the ball up in volume, you increase the odds of those things happening.
On the onsides kick in the second quarter…
In that situation I would definitely do it again, if it was the same situation. We had six players over there outside the numbers. They had one. We had two blockers for their one player and we didn't execute as well as we should have in terms of just sheer numbers.
It was a really good situation and Jay [Feely] does a nice job with those kicks. I thought the kick was excellent. The percentage of getting an onside kick that's a surprise on a side kick is significantly higher than not, and one of the things that we outlined going into the game is when we wanted to do it.
All of those things came together. The look was right. We felt good about the kick. It was the right time in the game in terms of momentum, and now you've got to go and execute it. But after looking at it on tape, I would do same thing again.
