Transcripts of interviews in the Jets' MetLife Stadium locker room following their 24-14 loss to the Eagles on Thursday night:
HEAD COACH REX RYAN
First off, tonight my message to the team was this was an unusual training camp for every team in the league and the fact that you never had the minicamps, and the challenge was really to the young players and I just told them how much I appreciated them. They did a great job. They studied like crazy and I thought for the most part they did a pretty good job.
This was a game that was really about the individual, not necessarily the team and obviously I hate losing but it really is an individual thing. There are a couple of spots open, practice squad spots open so that's what this camp was about. We had a couple of guys step up that hadn't had any snaps. One kid had four snaps that we picked up. Wilson had four snaps and he actually played pretty decent. You had the young guy from Central Michigan, 56 [Matt Berning], he was making plays all over the joint. We are going to take a long, long look at these guys.
I challenged the guys, the fact that a lot of them were coming off two days rest if you will, or two days off before we played the game, I thought it was good for us. It challenged us. You know I did tell Andy Reid, "If you play that good, you might just want to play your twos against us in the regular season." That's what I told him. Obviously, it was an abysmal performance collectively but I think individually there were some bright spots. So with that I will open it up.
On the depth of the team and potential concerns…
I don't think I have any concerns. We are always 2-2 in the preseason. Same old Jets I guess.
On the open roster spots and if anything tonight may have changed his mind…
I think we have to see the tape. I think we have a pretty good idea of what happened and what it looked like. We have to see who becomes available. Mike does a great job as does our pro scouting department of telling the guys if somebody becomes available. I am not saying we won't claim somebody because it seems like each year we have and we have improved our football team when we have done that. We will certainly look at it.
The effort, though, was great by a lot of guys out there. I was a little concerned with the way, it kind of reminded me of the Giants game last year when some of the guys were in there whether it was they played action on a snap two days ago or whatever it was. I would have liked to see us compete more in the back end. That's something I would have liked to have seen.
On the extent of Greg McElroy's injury…
You guys may know more about it, seriously, than I do right now. I know he is going to get it looked at and we should know more tomorrow about it.
On his concern regarding the quarterback situation with two injured…
[Mark] Brunell threw the ball today in warmups so I think that was good. He felt good. I feel pretty comfortable that Brunell will be back in that role any day.
On the progress of Vlad Ducasse and Kyle Wilson…
Vlad had three penalties today so that's what I know so that is clearly disappointing. Again, I hate to say it one way or the other, just going off what you guys saw and what I saw with three penalties , more than anything. I thought he had his moments. He struggled the first game and then he picked it up after that. In this one, maybe he took a step back, I am not sure. He did have a few penalties so obviously we have to get better there.
As far as Kyle Wilson, Kyle had a great training camp until this game. I would have liked to see him challenge more. He kind of had a blown coverage on the touchdown. That is really not Kyle's fault but it really looked like it was. I kind of let him off the hook there a little bit. He was one of the guys, I would have liked to see him get in a guy's face more but the touchdown was not his fault.
On if he look for another quarterback because of McElroy's injury…
I really think we have to wait and see what his injury looks like and not really deal with the what-ifs yet. Let's see what it looks and then we will take a look at our team's needs. Brunell told me even yesterday that without question he was ready to play and I was like, "You're not playing this game, no question."
On what LB Aaron Maybin showed him during the game…
I think when you jump into the stats he did have a sack and a half. We will watch the tape. I thought the other two, I thought [Garrett] McIntyre — or as I call him, "Oh Canada" — did pretty good also, so I think he is competing with him and Westerman. Those guys played well. Again, we will study the tape and the good thing about us is we will keep the best players. We've had five safeties before. We can feed five rushers. We can do all those things. Mike and I will do what we think is in the best interest of our team.
On the conditioning of the team despite no off season…
I thought our conditioning was good. I really did. I was proud of the way our guys came back. We had one guy that was overweight and he was overweight by two pounds so I think that speaks volumes about our football team and how serious they are about being a team that we think we can be. So I felt good about it.
[Isaiah] Trufant was waived by Philadelphia, we claimed him. Unfortunately, Philly never told him that we were going to pick him up so he flies all the way to Seattle then turns around and flies back out. He was cramping all over the place. I think he thinks it's like 3 o'clock right now. So that looked bad conditioning wise, but that was certainly understandable. That was today and he was out there playing. We picked him up and we played him. Drink plenty of water when you go cross-country on a flight.
On if he sees a difference with the conditioning this year as opposed to last year…
No. I think we are in pretty good shape. I really do. And again, I think it was certainly unusual. We are team that generally has 100% participation in our off season program so we always think that's an advantage to us. But our guys, they took it upon themselves and they came back in shape.
On defensive coordinator Mike Pettine being on the sideline…
That's a one-time shot. We got lit up for 380 yards. There is no way he is going to be on the sideline after that performance. That was something we wanted to do. We wanted to try it. Again, part of our strength is we have the same battery if you will with Mike [Devlin] up top, Pettine up top, myself, Dennis Thurman down there, and then of course we have Carrier and Bob Sutton so it did kind of seem weird out there having Pettine over here. I can say this, he was in the white the whole game, that or on the field.
We just tried to change it up a little bit. We let other guys call the defense today. We just tried to do it. Plus he is from the Philly area so I think he was trying to get a little face time [joking].
On if Mark Sanchez called any plays this game…
I think he did but I don't think he is bragging about it since we had a total of 123 yards today so I don't think he is going to brag about it if he did. I know he was working with Greg trying to get ready for the game. It was really about the individuals tonight. I am excited to see the tape and see who stood out. I have got an idea on a couple guys but you know, we will see.
On if he wanted to see more from Bilal Powell and Joe McKnight…
We ran for a whopping 1.5 a carry so that's awful. I mean, what are you going to say? There never seemed like any holes and we never ran through anything so it was a bad day obviously so we will look at it. I am sure the league is going to think we can't run the football now. We will find out who is right. Maybe they are right.
QB GREG McELROY
On if he injured his thumb by hitting another player's helmet…
I did, yeah, my second to last play. I looked at my hand, it didn't look right. I had the same thing happen in the Senior Bowl, where I hit the helmet, and ended up in a fracture of my second metacarpal. This was different, it was the thumb area. We're going to get it looked at tomorrow. Hopefully, the recovery will be quick. Hey, you know what? You've got to be optimistic about it. At this point right now, there are just not a lot of answers to be said.
On if he had a preliminary X-ray…
I did. I did have an X-ray, it didn't reveal much, a little bit here and there. The bones in there are just so small, it's just so hard to tell. An MRI in the morning will probably give me some more answers. We have a fantastic staff here that's going to be working with me. I'm just very, very lucky to have those guys at my disposal. They're excellent resources and I'm sure that they will have me back on the field as soon as I'm ready.
On how frustrating it was to get injured after having a strong preseason…
It's just so frustrating. It's just one of those things, we play a sport, in this game, injuries are part of it. You never want to get too down, because it can happen to anybody. I've been fortunate enough to stay healthy throughout my career. At Alabama, I was able to make 27 straight starts. It seems like it's catching up with me a little bit. Like I said earlier, I've got the right people in my corner. I'm thankful that the Jets will have back on the field as soon as humanly possible.
QB DREW WILLY
On getting more playing time than he thought he might…
Anytime you get a chance to get out there and compete, that's what I love to do. If you want to be great at something you have to go out there and compete for a job. Obviously I never wanted to see Greg get hurt, we've become really close and it's too bad. I think I made some throws here and there and I'm just trying to get better each and every day and look at the film tomorrow and see what I could have done better because I'm sure there's a lot of things I could have done better.
On the touchdown pass to Scotty McKnight…
It was just kind of that the safety was in the middle of the field, they pressed Scotty there in the slot and I knew he was going to be one-on-one down the seam there so I just tried to put it on his back shoulder. We work together a lot in practice so that was great to see. He made a terrific catch and the protection was great there.
On if he could have asked for a better first throw…
I don't think so. Anytime you can throw a touchdown on your first throw, that's a great thing. I enjoyed it and I'm just happy to get out there and get a chance.
CB KYLE WILSON
On what he took from his first year into his second year…
Just using my experience from last year. Just doing everything I can to build from that.
On if there was enough pass rush to give the secondary a chance to make plays…
I can't really talk about the front, I just know what we do as far as my job and the back half of the defense. I'm pretty sure as long as we communicate and are in position we'll always be there to make plays.
On if the team is ready for opening day against the Cowboys…
We're getting ready. By Sept. 11 we'll be ready.
