Transcript of head coach Rex Ryan's news conference following Friday's midday practice at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center:
Limited in practice, but they did participate: Shaun Ellis, knee, Wayne Hunter, shin, Nick Mangold, shoulder, Darrelle Revis, hamstring, [Jamaal] Westerman, ankle, and we're adding Brandon Moore, hamstring. He's played in [93] games in a row. He'll play. That's just him. It doesn't matter about his hamstring. No, I'm just kidding. He's fine, I hope. Full guys were John Conner, neck, [Calvin] Pace, foot, Jason Taylor, elbow. Brandon did have that hamstring.
On how close the injured players are to playing on Monday night…
I think everybody, with the exception of Westerman, should play. Westerman's the one I would still have questions on.
On if he has any doubts that Revis will play…
There's some doubt on whether he'll play. The doctors and trainers feel good, but until the player says, "Hey, look I'm ready to go," especially if you're a corner, that's important. We'll never put a guy out there that doesn't think he's ready to come back, without question.
On if Revis has been running in practice…
Yes. He's moved around pretty good. I think he has. You'll have to ask him. I feel pretty confident he'll play. I hope he does.
On how Revis will be used if he plays…
If he's ready to play, he's ready to play and you just let him out there to do his thing.
On if the decision to play is ultimately Revis' decision…
Yes. The doctors and trainers think he's alright, but until the young man says he's ready to go, I don't think he's back yet. Until he says that's he's ready to go, there is that doubt. He knows his body better than anybody, better than the doctors and better than the trainers. He knows what he's feeling back there.
On if Revis has said he is ready to play…
He hasn't told me that he's 100 percent in yet.
On if Drew Coleman will play at nickel if Revis plays…
We'll probably start that way. Kyle [Wilson]'s going to play, but we'll start that way.
On if Wilson will benefit from taking a step back…
Maybe so. How much you learn from that, I'm not sure. I think you learn more when you're out there playing. We're in the win business, so whatever we thinks is in our best interests to win, that's what we're going to do. I think the young man is going to be back in there soon. Right now I think Drew is probably playing a little better than he is.
On reports that Brett Favre has tendonitis in his throwing elbow…
I would think that you'd try to hit him as much as possible [smiling], so that's not going to change. With him, you know he's going to be fine. OK, he can't throw it at 100 miles an hour, he can just throw at 95. I'll believe it when I see it. That's probably just a little precautionary thing. He was throwing it good the last time I saw him.
On what Mike Pettine brings to the coaching staff…
Not much [laughter]. I just want to say that because I don't want him going. You know we're probably going to lose Schotty [Brian Schottenheimer]. I don't want to lose Pettine. I'm not even going to talk about Mike Pettine. He's a problem, let's put it that way. For any organization, he's a major problem [laughter].
In my opinion, he's the brightest young defensive coordinator in the league. He's been that kind of guy for me for years. One day, we'll definitely lose him. And you know what? He'll deserve it. After we win a Super Bowl, you can have him. We will lose him at one point, without question. He has head coaching aspirations, I'm sure. If he doesn't, he should have them. He's got that kind of talent. He's much smarter than I am. I can tell you that much. He's a guy that has always been my right-hand guy. It won't be long. He won't be here that long. He should rent instead of buy.
On if the team is the strongest it's been all season…
I think so. If we get Darrelle back, Calvin Pace back and Santonio Holmes back, I think right there, and we get Wayne Hunter back, that makes us stronger. Are we at our best right now? We'll find out. I think we're playing the best team. Two of three weeks, we're playing Green Bay and Minnesota, two of the top ones. We don't play New Orleans, but this is going to be a huge challenge for us. It's a great test because there are no weaknesses with this team, none whatsoever. I say it's a championship-caliber game. There's no easy opponent when you're facing that kind of time.
On how his and Mark Sanchez's sophomore seasons are going….
Sanchez is much better than me. He really is doing a great job. He's got a great grasp of our system. He's been doing a great job leadership wise. I just think his game is really at the top. With me, I'm shrinking a little bit, so that's been good. I think I still have a long way to go to catch up to some of the guys in this league.
On how he feels physically…
I feel good. I started doing this stuff that Sal [Alosi, strength and conditioning coach] has me doing and it's killing me. I'm down 70 [pounds] since I started. I know, go ahead and say it, it's a deck chair off the Titanic [laughter]. We know it. It is pretty funny. It's not funny, but when guys are morbidly obese, the doctor was selling the procedure to me, but he said, "If you diet and exercise, out of 50 people who diet and exercise, only one will be able to keep it off and with this thing here, you don't have a choice because you can't eat anything." I would recommend it for anybody morbidly obese. It's a life-changing thing. Who cares about your appearance? Some people do. If you're single, you probably care about it a lot more than I do. My wife, I think she likes me bigger. I don't know why she married me, to be honest with you. It certainly had nothing to do with looks and I wasn't making any money at the time.
On what Alosi is making him do…
I don't know. It's some machine in there [the weightroom]. It might as well be cross-country skiing. Since we're playing Minnesota, I figured I'd go for it. I'm messing the machine up. I'm putting too much resistance on it. It's killing me.
On how much stress he has…
In this profession, there's probably a little more stress than most. I'm around such competent people that it's probably a lot less than other people in this role. I think the other thing is we have good people. Let them do their thing and try to stay out of the way is my approach.
On if Calvin Pace is likely to play Monday…
Yes.
On how Pace has looked in practice…
He looks good. He's got the pink shoes on, which is the only thing that's a negative [smiling]. He looks good, though, he really does. He's moving around great. Last week I thought he was skipping a little bit, which meant that he never had confidence in his feet completely. I don't see that at all right now. He's taken every single rep.
On how much the team is looking forward to playing on Monday Night Football...
It'll be huge, but we haven't played worth a darn on Monday Night. You go back to last year when we got beat by Miami, this year we get beat by Baltimore, we got beat in the preseason on Monday Night. We're changing things up a little bit. Our schedule is changing up a little. We've got to find the formula to win on Monday night. Now normally, you're playing a good football team, that probably has something to do with it, but we really do need to find a way to win.
Playing in front of our fans after being away for two weeks is going to be a huge boost. Monday Night Football is great. The whole country sees you, but I think the biggest thing is the fact we're playing a home game in front of our fans.
On what specifically he changed with the schedule…
I changed when we had practice, the days off and all that kind I stuff. I'm just searching for the right formula.
On if Santonio Holmes' suspension has changed his attitude and affected him…
I'm sure it has. You took away the thing that he loves dearly and that's playing football. He's a stubborn guy, a hard-headed guy at times, but he's a beautiful person. It's just that sometimes you won't admit everything, the things that change you. He's just a tough guy and he's got everything he's got because of himself. He's worked his tail off off the field, he's worked on the field. He's a very prideful person. I'm sure he has learned some things from this.
On why his team embraces the spotlight…
We don't have anything to hide. We know we're not lined up perfect. These guys can tell you that. "Rex, you said this, everybody else said this." "Oops. I'm more leaning this way." [laughing] We're playing football. We're coaching football. We know it's a multimillion-dollar business, but it's still a game and we're not doing heart surgery. We don't have anything to hide. We have the best facilities in football. We take care of our players, in my opinion, better than anybody else. We have the support staff around our players in this organization that's top of the line. We have great people in our locker room, so what do we have to be afraid of or ashamed of? Go ahead and show it off. I think that's who we are.
One thing we want to do is, I wanted every coach in the National Football League to want to come coach for the Jets, I wanted every player in the National Football League to want to play for the Jets. That makes your job a lot easier when you get that kind of reputation throughout this league and I think we're starting to get that reputation.
On if he fears a backlash…
No, we don't fear anything.
On if he would participate on "Hard Knocks" again next season if asked…
I'd have to check with Woody [Johnson] on that [laughter]. Probably not because it killed me on my snacking. That just killed me. I would say no. Just kidding.
On if Chauncey Washington's and Brian Jackson's abilities were exposed more on Hard Knocks, which left the Jets vulnerable to lose them…
It could be. We'll really never know that, but the films are out there. The films don't lie. Everybody is going to look at them. They're not going to base anything off a TV show, what they see. They're going to look at the film. The film doesn't lie. Those guys are good players. Chauncey did a great job on tape. That's why they're taking him, not because of how he was on Hard Knocks, in my opinion. The guys do way too much work to do that. Every scouting department in this league will rank all those players and if you went upstairs and saw our board, you would have every player. If we lost a player, we go to this player and it's ranked like this.
On Danny Woodhead's performance with the Patriots…
He's doing great. The fact of what happened is they lost Kevin Faulk. He was a huge part of their offense and unfortunately he was lost for the season, but Danny can come in in that kind of role. He's a good runner with the football and a good receiver, so I think he's doing well for them. You always love when guys are successful when they leave. You just hate to see it be in your own division. As much as I like Woodhead, I wish he wouldn't be so successful in New England.
