Transcript of Jets head coach Rex Ryan's news conference following Thursday's midday practice:
Injury stuff so we can knock this out — [Kris] Jenkins, Sione [Pouha] and Wallace Wright. Wallace, hamstring. Sione, ankle. Kris, back. They were limited today in practice, not too limited but limited. The guys that practiced full: Clemens with an elbow, Shonn Greene, rib, [Mike] DeVito, hamstring, Bryan Thomas, ankle, and [Jamaal] Westerman, quad. They all practiced full. That's it for that list. I would make a comment, but I'd better not.
Anyway, ready to roll. Good practice today. It looked like we were dialing in a little better on both sides of the ball. Our game plans are tightening up. That's always a good thing. I think our guys were confident. Again, like I always say, "The proof is in the pudding." I'm excited about the improvements we made in a day. I think we're right on target so we'll see.
On Darrelle Revis defending Randy Moss…
I'm looking forward to it as a fan of football. I'm definitely looking forward to that. Better Revis than me, that's for sure. Randy Moss is obviously a great player, great talent and sometimes as big as he is when he's covered, he's still open. It's a scary thing. A guy with that kind of size, speed and competitiveness is a lethal combination. But Revis, I think, will be up to the task. He's as good as there is in this league so we'll see how that plays out.
On his reaction to Kerry Rhodes' comments about wanting to embarrass the Patriots…
Remember when I said everything won't always line up [laughter]? That's fine. I think they just want to win. Our franchise has been embarrassed, eight straight losses at home. You'll have to ask Kerry if that's what he meant, but that's probably where that tone was coming from.
On speaking his mind…
This is who I am every day. I wake up with a belief that I believe in this organization from the top down, from our owner, Woody Johnson and Mike Tannenbaum and everybody on down. I think it's a great organization. We've got great players and coaches so I'm confident. Maybe that comes out in my personality.
On David Harris…
It's hard to have a conversation with him ... nah! [laughter] He's really not that quiet, but I guess compared to Bart, anybody seems quiet. I think it's great. I know all of the guys in the locker room respect David Harris. He's a good guy. He has a lot of fun out there. He's always got a smile on his face, with one exception – the obvious Jim Leonhard hit on him [laughter]. He's just a great guy. I think the guys enjoy his personality. It is a little different than some of the other guys, but he's true to himself. Everyday he's the same. He loves this game. He's passionate about it and he just happens to be a great football player too.
On the assumption that he likes players that have similar personalities to his…
Not unless they're a nose tackle, do I like them in that mold. No, I'm just kidding. You don't have to have a loud guy. I like guys who are competitive, guys that are passionate. Some of them run their mouths a lot, have outgoing personalities. Some guys are more to themselves. That's fine. I just love guys that are passionate and are good people, believe in each other, are positive thinkers and David is certainly that guy. He's definitely one of those guys.
On Harris being named AFC Defensive Player of the Week…
It's fine with me. I hope it happens every week. Those things are going to come. We have a lot of talented players so hopefully we'll get a lot of those rewards. I think David definitely deserved it. He had 12 tackles and he made some hits that made a difference in the game. I think he had a sack. But David is a fine player and I'm sure he's going to win that award several times. It was good to see. The thing is, you can be the AFC Defensive Player of the Week, but you can't be the team's defensive player of the week. So if you get that award, immediately we take your game ball from you. That's what we did.
On his mindset in the past when a rookie quarterback was the opponent…
I would feel confident against any rookie quarterback. It really depends on who it is, I guess. I always felt that you had an advantage going against a rookie quarterback. Really what it is, they haven't seen you. You think you can rattle them. You think you can confuse them and run traps against them. I'm sure [Bill] Belichick is going to try and do that.
On if after seeing Joe Flacco and Matt Ryan, his mindset of rookie quarterbacks has changed…
Not really just to tell you the truth [laughing]. Eli [Manning] is a great quarterback and he had the 0.0 quarterback rating. That was probably a long day for him. We faced Peyton Manning when he was a rookie and he had I think it was a 30.0 rating or not even that. I think our system will just like Belichick's where it's probably easier to face another system than it is that.
On if the Patriots are going to put pressure on Mark Sanchez…
Well I don't know, probably. There might be some, but don't forget you've got that offensive line in front of him. That offensive line is an outstanding group. As good a group as there is in this league. You got a couple great running backs. You got an excellent receiving tight end. You've got good wide outs on the outside so as challenging as it is for Mark and our offense, it's going to be challenging for their defense as well.
On if Shonn Greene will play Sunday…
We'll see. Last week he wasn't up and that was my decision. When you look at it now, I wish we would have because we had 40-some rushing attempts. It would have been good to get him in there. get him a few snaps. We just thought it was important to have an extra defensive lineman up so we'll see how that goes.
On how he would describe his blitz packages…
Just multiple, I guess. It's multiple. It's fun. Everybody has an opportunity to make plays. It's not set up just for one guy to make plays. You set your defense up so everybody gets a shot. That's basically how we try to approach every week. You try to put pressure on the entire offense not just the quarterback, but the offensive line, the receivers, the backs and they say it all the time. But they have to work. Mentally if you can get somebody, just one guy to be hesitant, then that's an advantage to the defense.
So we always want to be on the attack mode. I don't even care it it's a three-man rush or an all out blitz. We're always trying to be coming forward, to be playing off the balls of our feet, not our heels. Sometimes if you can make your opponent maybe think they're getting something and give them something else, it's hard to be really aggressive. Hopefully they're catching more than attacking.
On how many blitzes he has on his defense…
We've got a few, there's no doubt. Some of the things that you might consider a blitz, we might think is a coverage. There's some things that are going to look like blitzes that are actually coverage. Sometimes when I get the list [of blitzes] from the league, it is actually not very accurate. I think it's more that we give you the illusion of pressure sometimes. Hopefully it looks like a blitz and it's actually coverage.
On if he ever draws up blitzes "in the dirt" during games...
Sometimes you look at what you have. "Let me see what we have left." Last year we were playing Tennessee and I said "well, we have a tight end, we'll play him at end. We are down to one corner and three safeties" so you're just mixing and matching. "Alright, we're going to run this pressure and this coverage." Sometimes it happens. Not everyone is up for a game, unfortunately. So you do have to scheme it a little bit. If I see how you're protecting, I'll alter some of our blitzes and our pass rush.
On if Tom Brady looked rusty on Monday…
No. I know he had some dropped balls, he threw some in there that they dropped. If they didn't drop those what did he throw? 45 completions. And I think he threw 39, or something like that. I think it might have been the most that he's completed in any game. If not, it should have been. He looked like Tom Brady back there, unfortunately. He looked tall to me. You have to push that pocket. You have to collapse that pocket. You have to put pressure on him. I don't think there was a whole lot of pressure on him. He got sacked once and he got hit a few times. I never thought he flinched one bit. He recognized coverage, he was poised like he always is. Hopefully it's not that easy for him.
On where the measuring stick is in the Patriots game…
On the scoreboard. If we beat them, this is the number one rated team. If we beat them, I don't know where they'll rank us, 28 or something [laughing]. I don't know. We'll see. I know where we're going. It's just when we get there. I think we're a good football team. If there is a measuring thing, I'm not sure about that. That may be for somebody else. The fans, other people, will judge us differently whether we win or lose. I feel good about our football team. We're going against a good football team. We'll find out. They're going to get everything we have. That's a promise. I expect we'll get everything they have. We'll see who the better team is. I am hoping it is us.
On what he is excited about with this game…
I think I am most excited about our fans. This will be the first home game. We had the two preseasons but this is the first opportunity I get to witness our fans in a regular season situation. I'm definitely looking forward to it. I hope they're not booing the heck out of us [laughing], but I don't anticipate that. They'll support us, support our team, get behind us and understand this is a 60 minute game. Be there right to the end supporting us. Hopefully we'll come out on top.
