Transcript of head coach Rex Ryan's news conference Monday afternoon at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center:
I know it was much more enjoyable for me to watch than obviously Cleveland with looking at 97 plays on offense. I think that's a first. Seventy-two runs plus completions, that's an all-time record that I've been around. It was a great combination. Our offense was able to stay out there, convert some third downs obviously. I thought our defense stepped up in the second half and played pretty good.
At the end of the day, I think it's remarkable that Cleveland pushed us into overtime. I thought we were in control of that game, but then as that game went on, you've got to give them all kinds of credit. Quite honestly, at the end without that fumble, who knows what would have happened in that game? The more you look at it, the more you realize, wow, we played really well against a good football team. That's basically what the tape showed.
On why the offense isn't scoring as many points in the first three quarters of games…
You've got to be able to score in the red zone. That's kind of been our Achilles' heel, with the penalties. It's the same thing we've been talking about. Now, obviously, it's much easier said than done, but we need to find a way to get that corrected. We've certainly had some opportunities in the red zone these last several weeks and we've just got to find a way to get it in there.
On injury updates for Mark Sanchez and Jerricho Cotchery…
Mark's beat up, swelling in a calf, but he's going to be just fine. Jerricho surprisingly is much better than I know I thought, I'm sure he thought and all of us thought. So we'll see how the week plays out, but I'm not going to say he's definitely out. That's certainly a possibility, but he is much better than we thought. Strain, pull, something. I don't know what he did, but when I saw him this morning, I was shocked that he was actually able to move around.
On Cotchery calling his injury a slight tear…
Yes, OK laughter]. Strain, tear. I think anytime you have a strain, that is a tear, I believe. I like the word "slight" there [smiling]. That's good.
On Matt Slauson's injury…
Slauson feels better today than he did this time last week. That's encouraging.
On if he will limit Sanchez in practice this week…
We'll see how he is. I think he's going to be OK. Being able to finish a game generally means that's a good sign that you can play the next week.
On if it's encouraging that Sanchez was able to run and scramble following his injury…
Yes. He did a great job moving around. Oh, yes absolutely, keep plays alive. That was tremendous. It shows that pocket presence that he has now. He's able to avoid the rush and slip and slide guys and still focus down the field. It's impressive. Another one, amazingly I reported that Eric Smith had a wrist. It's moved all the way down to his ankle now [laughter]. Wrist, go ahead and erase that and put ankle, but I think he's doing OK. We'll see how he feels.
On the nature of Sanchez's injury…
He's got swelling in a calf, I know that. He's pretty well beat up. I think if you had Shaun Rogers fall on you, no offense, Shaun, but that's a huge man. He's huge. I don't get easily impressed, but I thought it was only one guy per uniform. He's a load now. Still a great player.
On Sanchez's ability to avoid the rush…
I just think that it's that pocket presence. Most of your great quarterbacks have that. It's almost like they've got eyes at the back of their head. Clearly, our offensive line does a good job protecting him. That's an outstanding group. He's got a great feel for it. He can identify. Sometimes there are only three guys rushing him and he can feel that. Sometimes he knows there are four, five, it's a blitz. I better get rid of the football. He's becoming a real professional.
On if statistics and accuracy can be misleading in terms of how good of a quarterback Sanchez is becoming…
I always look at it this way, wins and losses. That's what it should be and that's the judge of a great quarterback, how many wins you have. Sometimes, you're going to have to force the issue. Sometimes, you don't want to force it. Sometimes you say, "Hey, I'm willing to take an incompletion here, avoid the sack. Sometimes I'll take the sack and avoid turning the ball over." That is the one position, to me, on the football field that is based on wins and losses. Right now I'd say he's pretty darn good.
On if Sanchez sees the field better during unsettled situations…
Sometimes, you've got to give the defense credit. They stop your initial routes. Our guys stay alive. You look at J-Co [Jerricho Cotchery]. He's bouncing around on one leg staying alive. He makes just an unbelievable catch. I don't know who had the picture, but it was just a great shot of him laid out like this catching that ball. It's impossible. I don't know how he did it. It's crazy, but man, you talk about playing like a Jet. It's just an amazing thing.
You look at Pittsburgh. [Ben] Roethlisberger for years, I had to face that. You've got him sacked and all of a sudden, he knocks somebody off, keeps his eyes down field and makes plays. Some rare guys have that kind of ability. Mark, what he's doing now is he's focusing down the field. He's feeling the rush but he's focusing down the field. It's impressive.
On if Sanchez showed ability to see down the field in college…
He did show that in college but he's picked up this game, the speed of this game. I think that's what you see in a lot of real good quarterbacks. It takes time. It's hard to teach, but Brian [Schottenheimer] and Matt Cavanaugh are doing a great job with him. He's just got a great feel for it now.
On if Dwight Lowery has a concussion…
I don't know if it's a concussion. I haven't heard yet but I watched the play. He got hit. I mean, he got hit. It was one of those things where, nothing cheap about it, just a great block by this kid, the big linebacker they've got. I think Lowery thought he was going to block somebody else and he ended up blocking him. He tattooed him. It was a shot. I don't think he's feeling too good right now. Hopefully, his head will clear up. As far as a concussion, I'm not sure about that.
On if he's concerned that Nick Folk missed three field goals…
Well, the short kick does because those are ones where it's like we've got to have that one. It's a little more than an extra point. We've got to make every one of those. The other two that he missed, the 48 and 47, with the wind in his face, kicking on that field, that condition, that's not easy. You're probably going to miss one of those two kicks on an average day. He kind of had a slightly below average day, missed both of them. He kicked the last one good. He just missed it. I know that field is hard to kick on. You look at Pittsburgh, that's another one. There were two good kickers and both of them missed on that field. That natural grass with that sand base underneath it, it was tough.
On if Browns Stadium has a loose field…
Yes, it's kind of loose. It's hard to explain. The grass was kind of thick and it's almost sandy on the bottom. He was sliding. He would step with the plant foot and slide. Again, no excuses, but am I overly concerned about it? No. I think if it would have come down to it, someone had stopped Santonio, we would have trotted him right out there and he would have won the game for us.
On if there was any fallout with brother Rob and the Ryan family…
No. Quite honestly, he's not returning calls [laughter]. I was going to call him to bust his chops. He's probably still breaking down that film with the 97 plays against them. I don't think he was in the mood to hear that. It's always a special thing going up against your brother. You always hate to see him lose because each week after our game, the first question I'll ask is, "How did Cleveland do?" Not how New England did, not how Miami did. I always ask about Cleveland. I never had to ask this week, but I was happy with the outcome.
On who his dad was rooting for…
Oh, without question, we know, once a Jet, always a Jet. Maybe he'll say he wasn't, but I just think he was. I know my mom was. There's no doubt about that fact. She has a tough time covering it up. I think, without question, she was definitely cheering for the Jets.
On Drew Coleman and Kyle Wilson…
I thought both of them played really well. I thought Kyle played well. With Drew, we kind of had a miscommunication with that pick route, we were going to play a different coverage concept, but it never got communicated real well. Drew stayed with the play and ended up making a super play on Chansi [Stuckey], just a super play. [Antonio] Cromartie thought he was going to scoop and score. It's a good thing he approached the ball that way because one of the Brown guys was flying to the ball and was going to dive and pick it up. He had just knocked it forward enough where he can land on it. It was really a great play. It really changed the game around for us.
On players saying they were inspired by Cotchery's diving catch…
It was just amazing. We always have "Play like a Jet" videos, whether win, lose or draw — it was almost draw. Each Monday we'll show "Playing like a Jet." In fact, I showed you guys last year in a preseason game. That's the kind of video we would show our guys. Just showing what my vision for this football team is and "Playing like a Jet" and what it means to me. There were several plays, but there were two without question that you'd show over and over. If I had to take 10 plays from a year, there were two that definitely showed it.
The obvious one is the Jerricho catch because I don't think I've ever seen that in all the years I've been coaching. I know I've never seen it. It was just an amazing effort. The man is hurt. He is hurt and he is injured and yet "I'm going to stay alive. All right Mark, go ahead, fire it." Then he lays out and makes an unbelievable catch. He already gave his body up for the team and then to layout like that, to make that kind of play, it's absolutely ridiculous. I don't know how many guys, in this whole league, can make that play or would even attempt that play. I think we have some of them on our team. It was amazing.
The other one was Tony Richardson. We're running a reverse, he gets a great block on the linebacker and allows us to get around the corner. He doesn't stop there. He goes and sprints past Brad [Smith]. Granted it wasn't a footrace because Brad was being tackled. He goes down the field and gets another block on a safety. It was just like "That's what I'm talking about." That's playing like a Jet. It's unselfish. Clearly the guy cares about his team as much as he cares about himself. That's what those two plays in particular showed, especially Jerricho's.
On if Browns CB Joe Haden should have knocked down Sanchez's pass instead of intercepting it…
That's easy to say in hindsight. I've also been around guys that will pick the ball off and run it for a touchdown. I think [the Ravens] played Philly and Cleveland one time and Ed Reed went 108 with one and 107 with one. I've seen Chris McAlister do that to the Jets many years ago. Sometimes, you can and it's all well and good, but the kid's trying to make a play. He made a great play by intercepting the football. It just so happened that Braylon made a great play in getting him to the ground. Had he knocked it down, yes that would have been a smart play.
On the last play of the Jacksonville/Houston game where a Houston defender knocked the ball to a Jacksonville player…
Knock the ball down. Don't knock it forward. Wow, that one would have been a tough one to lose.
On how he plans to address the penalties…
We'll stay with it. I think we'll stay the course. We have to make sure that we know the situation. A couple of them were on Mark that ended up being called on somebody else like getting the ball going on a quick count when we had motion with it. Clearly, the Dustin one was kind of unfortunate. The guy played a great game, but he did have that one penalty. The holding call on Brandon Moore, that Shaun Rogers is a big man. Some of those calls get called. We're not trying to make light of it. We're going to try to get better.
I know the attention at practice was much better. We just have to take it over to the game. We really do. It started in practice. We had four and then three] and then one for the week, which is probably the lowest we've had. Our officials do a great job out here at practice. I guess when you have the owner doing pushups and the entire organization, that focus ought to be better. We'll see how it goes. I believe in this system. I think it will work.
On if Bart Scott hit Colt McCoy's helmet…
I don't know if he hit his helmet. It never really looked like he did, but we need to lower our target. Any time you hit a quarterback now, you aren't going to hit his legs, but you have to lower your target. It really should be more from his waist to where he is carrying the football. That should be our target.
On people calling the Jets a lucky team…
I hope we're lucky all the way to the Super Bowl because we'll take it. You can make breaks, but it's funny because the good teams are always the lucky teams. I always hope we keep that trend going.
