2009 Week 2 - Jets vs Patriots Photos
Transcripts of interviews from the Jets locker room following their 16-9 victory over the New England Patriots at the Meadowlands on Sunday:
HEAD COACH REX RYAN
Great team effort. It took everyone. We had to unload the bench. We had 10 DBs up for this game. We had to use every one of them. I thought they did an outstanding job. We had a couple of guys go down and then the next man stepped up and did a great job. You guys know the roster [laughing]. They did a great job.
The Patriots are a hell of a football team. I just thought we were the better team today. That's all we said the whole time. We believe that we are the better team today. We went out and showed it. I think our fans are huge in this victory. In fact, we are giving the gameball to our fans. It will go up in our trophy case. I thought they were the difference. Anytime you can hold [Tom] Brady to under 50 percent completions, that is saying a lot. I thought they had a young man [rookie WR Julian Edelman] step up and he did a great job. I was shocked when [Wes] Welker wasn't playing. We had texted back-and-forth talking noise to each other and I was a little shocked he never played today [smiling]. But I was thankful.
This was a great win. We're humbled by it. It was a great victory. The first victory at home this year for the Jets, my first victory at home. I never saw that crowd in the preseason. It was pretty intense out there, it was hard to communicate, but I thought our guys did a great job. It was loud and that is what I was talking about, make it miserable. I can't tell you the last time New England has been 0-for-3 in the red zone. That is a tremendous football team. It was a team effort and that is how we came around with the victory.
On the turnaround in the second half…
Our offense was struggling early, but then I thought we found our rhythm on the last drive in the first half. That was huge for us. We went in at halftime knowing that we could move the football. Our guys did a great job. We were struggling and just kept looking up saying, 'whew, we need a little break here on defense? To New England's credit, they were able to move the football, but they never got in the end zone. When you don't do that, that's going to come back and bite you.
On backing up all the talking this week…
Well, I don't know how much talking there was last week. Was there some? [laughter] The big deal is, we're a football team that should be respected. Sometimes we talk a little bit, but only because we have confidence in our football team. We believe it to be true that we are an outstanding football team. We have to go out and show it each week. I get to enjoy this one, but now we have Tennessee coming in. They only won 13 games last year [laughing]. I get to enjoy it for about a half hour.
On the pressure on Brady…
I'm sure somebody is going to talk about how we had no sacks. We have to improve that.
On not allowing a touchdown on defense in back-to-back weeks…
Yep, that's true. I guess so. It just seems like they scored, didn't it [laughing]. That's great. We think that we have an outstanding bunch. The depth was tested today. We said all along that we though we had great depth on this football team. We even said, :Hey, guys, let's take everybody on our roster. We're going to need everybody before the season is over.' We only had four D-linemen up for the game and the 10 DBs, and that's good that we had that. [Secondary coach] Dennis Thurman might have had to go out there with the injuries that we had.
We're proud of our group. This is a team. Some weeks we might have six or seven D-linemen out, but it's funny because these guys are more upset when they are down for the game. Everybody wants to play, but we are always going to do what is in the best interest of our football team. That is what we did today.
On what caused so much confusion for Brady…
Just our defense. This guy is the best in the business. You can't just line up and play traditional against him. You have to be multiple and give him different looks. He's a great student of the game and probably the best quarterback in the game with Peyton Manning. They're going to get our best shot and I thought we got their best shot. We were the better team today.
On electing to defer on the coin toss…
We did the same thing the week before. We like to defer and get our defense on the field.
On what statement this win sends to the league…
We're a good football team. That's the statement we made this week. That's the statement we made last week.
On the identity of the defense…
We're playing like Jets. That's it. Our whole football team is. It took everything we had to win this game. It was a great team effort. We talked about it all season — the defense will pick up the offense, the offense will pick up the defense, and the special teams will pick up both. I think you saw that during this game.
On the New England no-huddle offense…
We had that penalty, so I guess you can write that. We know that's their base offense. They go no-huddle all the time. We certainly were ready for it. I think our guys may have to work on sprinting a little bit.
On the first offensive play of the second half…
That was something that Schotty [OC Brian Schottenheimer] might have seen. It was great. Stay aggressive and be ourselves and just run our offense, and I think that's what we did. I thought the guys did a great job. I thought Sanchez, or "Sanch-ize," had a good game.
On how big the touchdown was…
Huge because now you take the lead on an excellent football team that really had controlled the game up until that point. That was a huge momentum boost for us.
On injuries…
We had [Donald] Strickland go down, and Lito [Sheppard] had a quad [injury]. Strickland had an ankle injury. [Kris] Jenkins got the wind knocked out of him. Those are the only ones I can remember right now.
On the play of Sanchez in the second half…
You have to give that team credit. They have a lot of outstanding football players on that side of the ball [defense]. Adalius Thomas, Vincent Wilfork — they have some great football players over there, and you have to give them credit. I think our guys hung in there, and at the end of the day, we played like Jets. That was good enough today.
New England did an outstanding job. I thought our guys did a great job making adjustments. Brian Schottenheimer and [Bill] Callahan and his bunch did a great job, our offensive line did a super job protecting the young man, and Mark made some throws.
On the New England Personnel…
That's the best quarterback and coach in the league. Again, I thought we had the best team today. We'll see when we play them there. That Welker kid is a heck of a receiver, but I think Calvin Pace is pretty good. We knew it was going to be a dogfight, and I think our fans might have been the difference today.
QB MARK SANCHEZ
On the slow offensive start…
I think more than anything that we just needed to relax and find our game, and as soon as we do we are going to get this thing started and rolling and that's what we did. It took until the second half, but what an amazing team win. It wasn't all the offense, it wasn't all the defense, it was all of us. Special teams put us in great positions. Jim Leonhard getting those yards at the end of the game on special teams. That was huge. Those are hidden yards. Coach Ryan makes a big deal about that.
Talking about the defense, a couple of guys just really stood out. Shaun Ellis coming back and putting pressure all over Tom Brady. Kris Jenkins, even when he came out of the game, we put someone else in and they were putting pressure on him. Darrelle Revis with a huge interception and Lito Sheppard diving and knocking balls away. This was an unbelievable effort by the entire team. Offensively, up front it was incredible. On that touchdown pass, I held the ball, I reset it, I reset it again, I patted it twice and then I ended up throwing it. That's amazing against a great defense. And then Dustin Keller coming up big like that, that's huge.
On the difference between the first and second halves…
I think we opened things up. We threw the ball a little more. It balanced out our attack, rushes and throws. That whole first half we were gaining tough yards on the ground and not converting like we had the week before on third down. But we came back and when we needed it we had a great push up front and made some conversions. Those two drives coming out of halftime were great for us. We really responded.
On looking at Jerricho Cotchery early in the second half…
That's the way it ended up, but a lot of other guys made big plays too. Keller over the middle on a big conversion, Leon Washington out of the backfield on what seemed like a third and forever. Any time you dump it down in a situation like that, that's hard for a rookie to do. It's hard for me to do. But as soon as I did it and he picked up the first down, I'm like dang, I've been hearing that forever and it finally worked. But it's hard to check the ball down like that, you want to throw it down the field, but he made a great play. But Jerricho, he's unbelievable.
And even with the mistakes that we did make, they didn't kill us. We still got points. The throw to Chansi Stuckey in the endzone, that's a gotta-have-it. That's pitch and catch. That's all me. Some people were saying that he might have stumbled out of the break, but I'm not buying it. That's a throw I have to make. I don't care if I'm a rookie or in seventh grade, I need to make that throw, especially against them. Thank God we have such a good defense, because that's what happens. If you don't execute on plays like that, they can come back to bite you. We are fortunate to have a great defense, but I have to make that throw and there are a couple of others that I want back. But it was a great game.
On if there's pressure after Rex Ryan said Patriots have better coaching and QB…
There's no pressure when you play on a team like this. Look at the way we play, look at the way guys were excited playing for each other and our head coach, playing for the Jets organization and that logo and what it represents. This was an all-out team effort. That was how Coach Ryan wanted to come into this game. If people want us to be the underdog, that's fine. If they want us to be the favorite, that's fine too. Whatever you want.
On if this was a statement game…
I think it was important for us to set the bar high at home. We want to set a precedent for how to play at home. I want to thank the fans on an amazing outing. It was something else to hear how loud they were. They were the 12th man when we were on defense and it gave their offense fits, just look at the penalties they had. It was a statement for ourselves, really.
On if he knew that Stuckey was out of bounds in the end zone…
I had a pretty good idea. I sprinted off the field, telling them to hurry up and kick the field goal. So we had the unit run on pretty quick, but anyone could have seen it. I wanted to put it up and away, and Stuckey did a good job of getting his hands on it, but that was too tough to get both feet in.
On if he was surprised at the talking last week…
No. People were like, "What are you going to do since Kerry Rhodes said this?" but it's like "OK, this game is going to happen either way. What's going to happen is going to happen." We're going to come out and play smart and take care of the football and that's what we did. And our defense still hasn't given up a touchdown. This is fun. Whatever is said during the week, I probably won't be the one saying it. I'll be studying.
On if he feels like a rookie…
I don't know. I don't know what a rookie is supposed to feel like. I feel like this is an amazing team. I feel like these guys have confidence in me. I feel like I'm getting more and more comfortable with the game plan each passing week. The most important thing is understanding that we haven't arrived yet. We're not done by any means. We still have a long season to go and a very tough team coming in here next week. We're excited about that.
On watching the Patriots offense from the sidelines…
You could just see the timing disrupted a little bit. You could see a pass here or there, an important comeback route, maybe a timing route where Galloway is coming out of his break and the ball's not thrown yet, or it's thrown too early. It just didn't look quite right. You could tell because of our pressure, because of all the looks we gave them, and because our defense is just studs. I play against them every day and I know how hard it is. It's difficult. It feels like you're playing against twenty people. For us to play like that, I think we knew that's how we wanted to play. To get everyone on one page and disrupting the offense was important for us.
On the touchdown pass to Dustin Keller…
They respected Dustin underneath, he just made a heck of a move and everyone just kind of stayed near the front side of the goal line. That gave Dustin the opportunity to get to the endline. With a guy like that, you put it up and away and he'll do the rest. It's more of a great catch than a great throw. You're really just putting faith in Dustin on that one. It's either going out of bounds or Dustin is going to jump up and essentially intercept it.
On his emotions at halftime…
I felt like we might not have played quite as well as we wanted to in the time of possession. We didn't have many plays. I think we only had 20-something plays in the first half, and that's not the way it worked last week, so I didn't know exactly how to react. But all I knew was that when we get the ball, if we're not going to get many snaps, we need to make the most out of all the snaps we get. We need to come out of halftime and set the tempo and make a statement on offense and I felt like that's what we did.
On what the coaches said…
They basically just said to stay smart. Having no interceptions in a game like this is crucial. Whether that means checking it down or throwing it away or just giving guys a chance like on the one to Dustin, that's what it needed to be. This staff is pretty special. Always encouraging me no matter what, whether we are up or down, whether I throw a touchdown or pick, those guys are in your corner.
On his first Jets-Patriots rivalry game...
This is the kind of atmosphere you're used to maybe in college, and then it's 10 steps above. Like a UCLA-USC game or USC-Notre Dame game, as fun as they are and as much as I'll remember them, it's not even close. It's loud in here. It was so loud. And to see how happy these guys were, the entire offensive line just smiled after that first victory play. That was a special moment in that huddle. We'll cherish this win for a couple of hours and then we have to get ready for the Titans.
WR JERRICHO COTCHERY
On the difference between the first and second half…
The Patriots came out with a great gameplan. We just had to figure out what they were doing. They did a great job in the first half of taking me away. Coach Schottenheimer said, "Be patient. We have stuff that we are going to dial up on with you." We got in at halftime and we corrected a lot of things that we were doing. We were able to make some plays in the second half.
On how he got open for the long reception…
There were a lot of things that we were doing that was taking away the outside route. We just wanted to go up and we expected them to take away something outside so we snuck in on them inside. It was a great call and a great throw by Mark [Sanchez]. From then on, we just kept them off balance.
On if the pass seemed to loosen up Mark Sanchez…
Anytime you make a play like that it gives you some momentum. It gives you a breath of fresh air and it allows you to function like you want to function as an offense. We needed a play like that at that given time.
On finally beating the Patriots at home…
It feels good. There was a lot of frustration that was built up, losing that many times at home. A lot of it got out this week when some of us talked before the game. It just felt good to be able to get a win today. Being able to sit back and protect our home turf. The fans rose to the occasion today. We wanted to give them something to cheer about. It was a great collective effort.
On what he was thinking when Tom Brady got the ball at the end of the game…
The game is over. With our defense, the way they played today. We put them in a bind the first half with guys coming in tired at halftime. They said, "we need you, just get us off the field for a little bit. We can go back out there and make it happen for you." We made those plays in the second half with the defense off the field. They continued to rise to the challenge. To be able to get another complete game this early in the year speaks volumes.
On the chemistry with Sanchez…
The chemistry with this guy is easy for us. We talk a lot throughout the week about things we are going to see throughout the game and different looks that we get in practice. We are just constantly communicating. He does that with everyone on the offense. He has been the leader that we need him to be. That is going to take us a long way.
On the statement he made today…
Whatever God has planned for me. He put me on this platform right now to be able to go out there and showcase the talent that he has blessed me with. I am just going to try and do that every time I am on the field. I'm going to get a lot of opportunities right now and I am just happy to be a part of this win today. We're going to continue doing it and it's going to be something special.
On if the receivers said anything to Sanchez after a rough start…
No. We know that he is going to bounce back from anything that will happen. The first half we moved kind of slow. We didn't have a lot of plays in the first half. We can't get used to doing that. We knew that he would be able to come out and make those plays necessary. The big games that he played in at [Southern California], that meant a lot. He has been in those pressure situations. He will respond well.
TE DUSTIN KELLER
On Mark Sanchez…
He did a great job. He didn't look like it was his second NFL game. He kept the game going for us and the fans were our 12th man on the field which helped us out a lot. He never got rattled after being sacked and held the team together. He is an accurate passer. He puts the ball where it needs to be and you can't get any better than that.
On the offense struggling in the first half…
We had some adjustment for the things we were doing offensively. What we were initially doing was not working out for us. At half time we adjusted and started off the second half running the ball which opened things up for play action. That's where we started to exploit their defense.
On the two scoring drives…
The key plays were Jerricho Cotchery running some of his post routes which moved the ball down the field to put us in a scoring position. I caught a pass in the end zone which put us ahead but our defense really sealed the deal in the end.
OT DAMIEN WOODY
On playing the Patriots today…
This was difficult. Those guys played a good ballgame. The defense hasn't given up a touchdown in two games.
On the poise of Mark Sanchez…
He just came out in the second half. Once he got that nice pass to Jerricho [Cotchery] I think that was like breaking the ice. He also threw a beautiful pass to Dustin [Keller] for a touchdown. Like I said Mark never lacks the confidence. He's gonna keep balling and if he makes a mistake, he's gonna come back. I'm glad he's on our team, and he's only gonna get better.
On what it was like being captain for the day…
It was good. It was really good against a team that I'm really familiar with, a team I used to play or. I'm just glad we got the win. It was a great effort all around.
On talking to any of his old teammates…
Oh yeah, it was cordial out there. Like I said, I'm just glad to be on the winning side of the game.
DE SHAUN ELLIS
On the defense…
We put as much pressure on the quarterback as we could. Everybody knew the game plan — we just practiced hard. The same thing that we saw in practice came true in the game.
On beating the Patriots…
It was nice. It was a major win for us. Anytime you can get a win in your division against a team like that everyone has a real feeling of confidence. For us to come out and do anything in the capacity that we did, it was great. They've beaten us the last eight times here. With the new coaches and the new players, it was great.
On feeling pressure to get the win…
No, there was no pressure. Kerry [Rhodes] made a statement and we stood behind him, we had his back. We just went out there and played ball. You win the game between the lines and we did that. I think he had a monster game, too.
On if New England quarterback Tom Brady was rusty or if it was because of defensive pressure…
We don't know. We just tried to make him feel uncomfortable and tried to be in his face as much as possible. We had him throwing off his back foot a lot. It was a great team effort today — all three phases of the team.
On if Brady looked frustrated…
Yes, he looked frustrated. I could see it in his eyes. His eyes were wide open. I looked in his eyes a few times. He was trying to figure out where everyone was coming from.
On aggressiveness of this defense compared to years past…
In the past, it was aggressive and semi-laid back. In the past, in the second half, we would have been more laid back. With Rex, we are more like, "get it!" We were just going to keep coming out there with that game plan, keep coming out there and working, and not [going] to sit back one bit. We put as much pressure as possible. In the Patriots' Buffalo game last week, they made plays down the stretch, but we were not going to let that happen to us.
On the fans…
They were great. They were loud. I actually felt the ground vibrating. That was the big boost, the 12th man we need every single game. We're trying to start a new culture in this stadium and every game we get that, good things are going to happen.
On how loud the fans were…
To me, it reminded me of the playoff game we had against the Colts a couple of years ago. They were pretty loud then, too.
CB DARRELLE REVIS
On the defense not allowing an offensive touchdown this year…
It's great for us on defense. That's a statement not just to us, but to the league that every week we're going to come out here and try and get a shut out.
On the win today…
This is a tough conference game. We knew New England was going to come in here strong. They have Brady back and we were going to put the pressure on him and try to shut them out on third downs.
On his interception…
It was man-on-man coverage. Randy [Moss] released outside and when I went deep, the ball was there.
On the coverage against Moss…
I just tried to be physical with him on the line. You can't let him get vertical. He will tear you apart if you don't put hands on him. I tried to be physical. I used a bit of a finesse game with him at the line to just try and mess with him with a fake jam, not to jam, then jam. You can't give credit just to me. It was the entire defense. The defensive line did a great job. The secondary as a whole, DB Ahmad Carroll and CB Drew Coleman did a great job. So you have to tip your hats off to those guys, too.
On WR Wes Welker being inactive this game…
I know he's a big part of their offense and they were hurting from that. Number 11 [WR Julian Edelman] was another Wes Welker out there. He made a lot of plays and we tried to treat him like another Wes Welker type-of-guy when he came in. He caught a couple deep out there.
On what it means for the defense not to have allowed a touchdown this year…
It means we're great — we're great as a defense. We knew that Brady was going to sling that ball left and right. We know that Wes Welker didn't play but we tried to focus on Tom Brady to put a lot of pressure on him and confused him.
On speaking with Moss…
No, I didn't see him after the game. We didn't talk during the game — no trash-talking out there.
On watching video of how other teams have covered Moss…
I don't watch film on other corners. I just watch film of the receivers I'm going to cover. I know I can play good at corner so I go out there and study him myself. It's not like I'm unfamiliar with Randy Moss — I played against him for the past two years. I know him and he's familiar with me as well.
On covering Moss any differently today…
I just covered him. If he went to the bathroom, I went too. I covered him anyway I could. When he went to the sidelines, when our offense was on, and he sat down — I sat right across from him wherever he was sitting on the bench.
On relishing good plays after a game…
You have to have a short memory every week. I go up against the top wide receiver in the game each week. As a secondary it's our job to forget victories and focus on the next game.
On how coverage changed without Welker in the lineup…
That was our game plan even if Wes Welker was in the game or not. I was going to be covering Randy Moss the entire game. We were going to let our nickel guy handle Wes Welker. I was drained after the game. It was man-to-man coverage every time. We know that we have to hold up out there in the secondary. We put a lot of pressure on Brady and we knew the ball was going to come out quick. That's what we tried to pressure him to do. I was trying to press at the line. We knew Brady was going to try and throw a couple fade balls out there and I caught one in the first quarter.
On individual recognition around the league now that he's making big plays…
It really doesn't matter. I just go out there and do my job and do things right.
LB BART SCOTT
On the game…
We have a tremendous respect for our opponent. They have a great team and we just wanted to battle. The whole thing leading up to this week was we were just confident. We believed in each other. We understand the work we went through and we are honest with each other. It was a great win. The game plan was to be accurate and put a lot of 1-on-1 battles, and guys had to win.
We have a lot of confidence and this was a total team win. We knew the task was high. We were prepared for the challenge. We have belief in the guys next to us. In Baltimore, we believed we were the better unit. It starts off as individual units, offense and defense. We believe we matched up great. We had a tremendous game plan, a tremendous scheme and we went out and executed. It's all about execution. We ran the same plays and they knew what we were doing. It's all about who can execute, who can make the plays.
On the defense…
We have tremendous athletes that are able to play different positions to cause confusion on the offensive blocking scheme. We had Donald Strickland go down, Drew Coleman came in and we have tremendous belief in him as well. We are going to hold the fort down and continue to get better. We have tremendous depth and chemistry. We are just fighting and scraping. It wasn't just one guy, everybody stepped up and made plays.
The defense was back on its heels and we got off the snaps early in the game. The offense came out in the third quarter and got the job done. It really helped us out and got our legs back so we can finish strong in the fourth quarter. We are still holding it down playing without our premier play maker Calvin Pace. When Calvin comes back, we'll have another added man to the depth of the defense and keep the ball rolling.
On the Patriots' first lost to the Jets at the Meadowlands since 2000…
This is a new beginning. I don't pay attention to the past. The past is the past. It's a new day, It's a new team. It's not the same old Jets people are used to. When you come in here, you have to fight and battle for every yard. Not one or two yards. If you get down to the goal line, you are not in the end zone until you are actually in the end zone.
On the last play of the game…
I know they were expecting the Tom Brady comeback. We knew it was going to come down to us. We wanted it no other way. We didn't want the offense to run the time out on the clock. We put the team on our back and put it in the defense's hands and closed the show.
On next week's game…
We have tremendous confidences and belief in our coaching staff to have us prepared and understand the game plan. We look forward to getting better. We have another tough opponent coming in here next week and we'll be up for the task. Every week is going to be tough in the NFL. Each team presents a different problem. We have to prepare for the challenge because we are built for this. We are built for any game plan.
S KERRY RHODES
On his performance individually today…
I played my part, I did my job. I thought I played a good game today. It wasn't about me it was about the whole defense, and the way we played a good game today.
On Rex Ryan being a defensive-minded coach…
He's done a good job. That's his reputation. He got it from his father. We know he's gonna give us the stuff we need to get after the quarterback.
On holding the Patriots without a touchdown…
I don't know, we did a good job on defense today. Even when they had drives and sustained a couple of drives, as a defense, we always say it's not the end till it ends. They got down there a couple of times and we held them to three points, and if we hold the Patriots to three points then we are doing a good job.
On not allowing a touchdown in two games…
I said a long time ago we are good. I said we were going be the number one defense and I thank everyone here who laughed at me, but we are trying to prove that every day.
