Transcript of Jets offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer's news conference Sunday afternoon:
On Mike Tannenbaum joking that he was in Mike's office a lot to lobby for players…
I'll tell you what, I should probably go up there more often, I guess. I've always felt [confident about] the process that's been in place, with going to Mike and Rex [Ryan] and Joey Clinkscales. I used to tease them about it, but they've done a great job.
On the selection of offensive players with the first two picks…
We feel very good about the guys we got. Obviously Mark [Sanchez] was a guy that we targeted, felt good about. The fact that Mike was aggressive and moved up to get him showed that we felt good about his ability to come in here and compete for the starting job. And then obviously Shonn [Greene] is a guy that gives us some depth at the halfback position, which is a good thing.
On if trading so many picks may limit the team's ability to address other needs…
No, I don't think so. I think we felt so good about those two players that we had to pay the price to go up and get them. When you get into the later rounds, some of the picks you're getting are just projections, so we feel good about adding these two guys to the football team. They add to the quality of players we already have.
On the possibility of addressing needs through free agency…
I think obviously we'll sign some free agents. But the guys we have, Brad Smith, David Clowney, those guys had a good minicamp and it's time for those guys to step up. Brad has been here a couple of years now and he's definitely got the ability and someone needs to jump up and grab that spot.
On what impressed him most about Sanchez…
Personality. Leadership. He uses the term "gym rat" and he really does have that mentality. I know he's been doing all this stuff with you guys but every few seconds I get with him he wants to talk about football, which is a good thing. You see the passion and you see the fact that he wants to be good. He loves the game, he follows the game and that's exciting. You want that from any position.
On speaking with Kellen Clemens…
I spoke with Kellen yesterday after the selection was made. He had just come in as the selection was made and we had a great talk. I won't share exactly what was said, but I have a great relationship with Kellen, which shouldn't change. He had a really good minicamp and I told him it's his job to continue to build on the job he did in minicamp and we'll watch these guys compete. It'll be a fun competition to watch.
On what he saw watching video of Sanchez…
The one thing that jumped off with me was the accuracy. He's got terrific accuracy. When we talk in terms of accuracy and ball placement, accuracy would just be the ability to throw the ball where a guy can catch it. But ball placement is when it's thrown to a specific spot, where if a defender is sitting on the shoulder you throw it to the opposite shoulder. That was very good — we felt that was top notch.
Footwork is very good. Playing in that pro-style system at USC, he's been well-coached. He's got a good feel for it. As a matter of fact, his high school coach, Bob Johnson, is one of the quarterback "gurus," if you will. He's got a big camp out in Southern California called the Elite 11. So he's been working, training his footwork for a long time and that was good as well.
On if Sanchez's success was due to his Southern Cal teammates…
I think the one thing we always try to do with quarterbacks — it's not easy to do — is try to put our hands on them. Meaning we try to always go out and spend time with them. We put them through a standardized quarterback workout.
Did he play with good players? Absolutely. Did that make for his success? No. Does it help? Sure. But we always try to use the same formula and that's to watch all the games we can and then go out and do a formalized workout, standardized workout with them and put them in positions that they're not used to being in. They use some of our terminology, some of our footwork and we see how they respond to that.
Having been able to do that for the last couple of years here, and even going back to San Diego, you get a real good perspective on what the guy's capable of doing and how coachable he is and things like that.
On specifically targeting Sanchez…
I think you always have to be guarded a little bit because you never know, but again we felt really good about Mark. I have to say it was one of the most unusual of circumstances to be in for a workout — I've never done a workout at the league meetings before. There was a dinner the night before and I was the only assistant coach there. I felt a little out of place, but under the circumstances the workout was really good, the visit was really good, and so we felt good about it.
On Sanchez's arm strength…
Somebody told me he used the term "deceptively strong" or something like that. I don't have a concern with it. Again, I can compare it to some of the guys I've been around, with Philip [Rivers] and Drew [Brees] and he's got plenty of arm strength to be successful in this league, this level, and so I have no concerns about that at all.
On what Shonn Greene brings to the table…
I think, obviously, you look at the production, playing in a good conference and what he was able to produce. I think he rushed for over 100 yards in all 13 games. He's a big guy, which is good. As Rex calls it, the pound-and-ground or ground-and-pound that he was talking about. But he does have some quickness, some sudden change of direction to make people miss, and the 20 touchdowns he put up, I think, is impressive at any level. So again, he's another guy to the stable of backs we're kind of developing here.
On general beliefs regarding the development of rookie quarterbacks…
I don't think you put them into a box. I don't think you limit them. I think you just let them compete. There are some people in San Diego who thought that if Philip Rivers didn't hold out that he would have beaten out Drew [Brees] a couple of years back. Again, you can't put guys into a specific category like that. You just let them go and compete and the best guy is going to play.
On Clemens' improvement during minicamp…
The first thing that jumped out was comfort level, his command in the huddle. I talk a lot about intangibles because the physical stuff shows itself. He was very comfortable. He and I talked when the season ended, when Brett [Favre] retired, actually, and he's been very focused and motivated. He wants this job in the worst way and he has been committed. He's been in the office almost every day. We've had some quarterback school stuff and he's been doing a great job.
That transferred over into a very productive minicamp. He did a really good job. He threw the ball well, threw with anticipation. He threw a couple of interceptions the last day and those were the only hiccups. On one, he really couldn't see the guy and left it inside. I'm pleased to see his work ethic. He's really committed himself and up to this point he's done a really good job.
On thoughts about taking a more balanced offensive approach…
We'll do whatever. The personnel dictates it a little bit. We have a philosophy and a belief here. I think that with the offensive line we've built and the stable of backs, it's going to be something we would love to do here. My main thing is that I love to be balanced. That's what I'm going to say to you guys so that the word gets out on the street.
I'm very comfortable with where we are in the running game. Once we recover and get through rookie minicamp next week, we'll go back and maybe adjust a few things, but really the philosophy isn't going to change. We'll do whatever it takes to win: run, throw, and obviously the weather and conditions come into play a little bit with that, the opponent comes into play a little bit with that. We feel like each week we'll put together a good plan that gives the players the best chance to be successful.
On thoughts about simplifying the playbook for Sanchez…
Again, one of the things we really like about Mark is that he's really smart. He has such a strong background of offensive football. He's been throwing the ball at Mission Viejo, where he went to high school. They threw it all over the place. I don't know that and I wouldn't think that just because I think he's such a smart guy, but again that will play itself out as we get going and get further down the road.
From the time I've spent with him, I feel he should be able to handle whatever we throw at him and again it will be good because he has to try to catch up to guys like Kellen and some of the guys who have been here the three years [with me]. He has a way to go to catch up, but again he's talking to me about that stuff and not about doing the things he obviously has to do with the media. He's excited and ready to go.
On how much of the playbook Sanchez received in preparation for his workout with the Jets…
Actually we've done this all three years we've been here. What you do is send him a couple of runs. I think we sent him maybe three or four runs, five protections, and three routes for each protection, plus the formations.
We don't put anything in the book that you would be concerned about getting out, but it's enough to really have to spend quite a bit of time on it. If they don't spend time on it, it will be quite obvious and he obviously did a good job as did the other guys that we looked at. Most guys look at it as a job interview and they step up and accept the challenge and he was no different than that.
On how much experience Sanchez had calling plays from the line of scrimmage…
He did quite a bit. They wristbanded everything out there for him. They call it the "kill" package [at USC] and so he did it quite a bit out of a one-back set.
On what separated Sanchez from Josh Freeman…
I think it's just personal fit. Again, we like Josh. I think the first thing that jumped off the board that we loved was Mark's accuracy, his production. We felt very strongly about Josh as well. It's just more of a personal feeling.
On his interaction with Ryan, who has more of a defensive mentality…
He came into a quarterback meeting a few weeks ago when we were having quarterback school. We were in there talking about fundamental footwork. He sat down and we were talking about a couple of things and after about 10 minutes he said, "OK, guys, I'm going to check on the defense."
He's great to work for, he really is. The thing that I'm excited about is obviously working against this type of defense. His background, it's an aggressive and pressuring defense. It gives you a great resource that I'm excited about using. He can't coach up the quarterbacks necessarily, but he has a lot of really good insight and things that give defenses problems and that's invaluable.
On Sanchez's mechanics and areas of improvement…
There's really not that many things. One thing he does is play a little bit small, he plays a little bit shorter in the pocket, so we're going to try to get him to stand up a little bit. But he really is advanced for a guy who has 16 starts, yet people want to question it. There's really not that many things there to address.
On Sanchez's release point being an issue…
It's not an issue. Sometimes people like to talk about that when [quarterbacks] are not 6'5", but again I haven't seen it being a big issue.
