Transcript of head coach Rex Ryan's news conference following Friday's midday practice at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center:
On if he's continuing to take an active role in the offense this season compared to last…
Yeah. I sat in there. I do the same thing I did. I don't know how active it is. This week, what I did is I had the offensive scripts and if I liked a play then I highlighted it. That way, I just give it to Schotty [Brian Schottenheimer]: "Well, I like this one." All that verbiage is a little too tough for me. I figure instead of "Act dance or this, this and this, I really like that one," there's no chance I can spit it out, so "Hey, see the one that's highlighted? I like that one." Now, what he does with it, I don't know.
On if he likes having a hands-on approach with the offense…
Yes. There are some things last week for instance, I really like this run and we ran it for 21 yards. I'm like, "We ran it one time. We can come back. Don't give the defense too much credit because trust me, I know the guy on the other side. You can run it again on him." [laughing] That's how I look at it. We are looking at those things. We did have a great meeting today. We've done that for quite a while.
On his perspective on the offense since he's so defensive-minded…
I've had to defend against a million offenses. Maybe not a million, but a bunch. I've seen some good things and some bad things, some things that give you trouble. Unfortunately, Baltimore, I felt great about it and we all saw what happened there. Really, I knew their defense inside and out, but it never worked out too well.
On the team's identity…
I thought last year we did establish an identity of what we wanted to establish. That was a team that was physical, a team that would play great defense and a team that can run the football. The fact that we played one game maybe not to our standards, but I believe we do have that identity now. When you come in to play us, you expect a team that plays with great defense, is going to play hard, is going to have outstanding special teams and guys that will really compete and get after it. I think that's probably the perception out there about us.
On the team's intangibles…
I just think we have guys that love to play. I'm sure there are a lot of teams that have guys that love to play, but that's something we stress over and over.
On Devin McCourty starting for New England…
No surprise. We loved him too. I think he went [two] picks in front of Kyle [Wilson], but both those guys were right next to each other. The kid was right down the road [at Rutgers]. We went and worked him out. Actually, Cleveland was working him out also when I was there. Really an outstanding young man and the guy really loves to play. I'm not talking about the type of player, but just the kind of passion he has, he reminds you of Darrelle [Revis], a guy that just eats it up and loves playing. Their coach told me had over 100 snaps in one game. He played a ton of snaps on defense and he played all the special teams. The kid is legit, there's no question about it. He's a great kid.
On if having a player like Wes Welker in the division influenced the decision to draft Wilson…
It's hard to saddle that on anybody, but Kyle does have man-coverage skills. I thought Kyle had the best man-cover skills in the draft, so that was good.
On how Wilson's skill sets matchup with Welker…
Well, he's got the great feet and change of direction. That's what you have to have going against Welker.
On Revis' injury update…
He did pretty good. He was still limited a little at practice, but he will be listed as probable for the game. Brodney Pool is still questionable for the game, but I feel good about him. Brodney did a lot of work today, more work today than he had done yesterday and the previous days, so I feel pretty good that he'll play. Calvin [Pace] was out.
On how Revis looked at practice…
I thought he looked pretty good. We never did a whole lot with him, but when he was out there he looked pretty good.
On if Revis will be listed as probable but will play…
Yes, probable, definite he'll play [laughter], one of those deals.
On if he has seen improvement from the offense this week, in particular Mark Sanchez…
I have. I was excited. The best day we had all week was today. We looked really sharp, so that's really encouraging. I remember this time last week, I talked about a little concern about our passing attack. It kind of panned out that way. I'm not big on lying. I just tell it the way it is. I think we had an outstanding practice today.
On if he feels better about the offense this week…
Yes, I do. I was confident going in. I was loved our running attack, our game plan, but just something seemed to be missing a little bit in the passing attack. I feel good about our passing attack this week.
On how Sanchez has looked this week…
He looks great. He's throwing the ball super, a great command of the offense. We were flying around today, so that was good.
On if he felt the offense was not dictating as much against Baltimore…
That's true. I think part of that was a double-edge sword. We actually won on first-down most of the time, but we weren't converting on third-downs. We couldn't get in a rhythm. The same thing on defense. We allowed too many conversions against our defense and that obviously is going to limit what your offense does — they're not on the field. It was kind of ugly and third down was just atrocious.
On how he feels heading into Sunday…
I feel great. I feel confident. [Thursday] was a sluggish practice, I thought. This one was just the opposite. We turned it up. We practiced indoors. We were moving around good.
On why he had practice indoors…
It wasn't necessarily all that rain that we had last night, although I thought about it. I just thought that I wanted to get it in indoors where the focus always seems to be a little better in there. For whatever reason, I just thought that it would be better that way. We took some plays off trying to get our feet back a little bit. I thought the guys did a real good job.
On if there was a big difference in Revis from yesterday to today…
No, I don't think so. I never saw him limping or anything else. When his hamstring was tight, you're not going to push him through it. It's like "Ooohh." Push my son through it or Jim Leonhard through it, but you're not going push Darrelle through it. That's kind of how I felt. Everybody will be treated fairly. They'll all be treated differently, but they'll all be treated fairly. That was something, as soon as we had that, and quite honestly, we'd back any player off with that kind of injury.
On if Revis' stiffness in his hamstring has anything to do with him not playing for a month…
It can't help. The guy played outstanding. We probably played him too many snaps. I think that was probably the biggest contributor to him tightening up. Like I said, I expect him to go and play great.
On if players that hold out are more prone to injury because they are in a different place with their bodies than other guys on the field…
They are unfortunately. That's it. That's kind of why I kept him on the left side. That was my thinking about putting him on the left side and not running him across because he hasn't had all that football conditioning. You can work out all you want, but there's that and playing football. I just wanted to take a little bit off of his plate. He tightened up a little and clearly he's got to be at his best to play against [Randy] Moss.
On Patriots S Patrick Chung's 16 tackles in Week 1…
Man, that's a lot of tackles. Clearly, you notice the kid and he is a great tackler. He's a hitter. Those two kids back there, those two young guys they got back there, both are tremendous young safeties. They fly around. They hit and they do all kind of things. I never realized he made that many plays. That's unheard of. Those are Ray Lewis-type numbers. He's impressive. There is no question, but obviously it shows you he's getting down in that box quick to help stop that run and hopefully we can take advantage of it.
