Transcript of head coach Rex Ryan's news conference before Tuesday's afternoon practice at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center:
First off, you might notice there's a special guest here today, Bill Hughan, our strength coach. Bill, why don't you get up here and explain why you're here today.
Hughan: I am here today because I was the lowest scoring bowler at last week's staff outing with the team. I have two points to say about that. The first of which is that when I showed up I was three frames in already and one of my teammates, not calling anybody out, Patrick Turner, helped me out a little bit, which he did not. The second of which is that there are rumors swirling around the facility that I was actually not the lowest scoring bowler, but I am the newest member on staff, so you do the math on that one. In the words of George Costanza, "I'm going to leave on a high note." That's it.
Ryan: Thank you Bill, yes, I will go into great detail on that. He did bring it up that "Hey, man, I never even got to roll on three of my frames, somebody scored a two, a one." Sounds like a personal problem. You can't get out of it. Another one that was not quite as impressive even as Bill's 79 that he rolled was that MTV [Martin Tevaseu] had a 58. Now we had a thing that there would be a night meeting off, whichever side of the ball won the bowling tournament. So you select three of your best bowlers and all that kind of stuff. So it came down to it, the offense got beat by a pin. Literally one pin, the defense beat them. But we did say, whoever wins it. MTV had a 58, so that was the lowest total on defense. He has to go an offensive meeting. So he will be in the quarterbacks meeting later this week. So the defense will get off.
It was a great time. We have some guys that are ridiculous. Santonio Holmes, Bart Scott — Earl Anthony they would have given a run for his money. Fifty-eight might have been the lowest total that I've ever heard of. MTV is a better nose tackle than he is a bowler. But anyway, it was a lot of fun. I, of course, I think I was around 230 as far as you guys know. I rolled a 230.
On what he actually bowled at the team bowling outing…
About a 135 and a 128, I think. So that was really it. So we have this little guy [injury sheet]. All right, so Mark Brunell, his practice status is out with the right calf. Trevor Canfield is doing well but he's still out with the left knee. [Jeff] Cumberland, we will reevaluate him after individual. He has a little hamstring, left hamstring. Shonn Greene, right foot. We're going to monitor him but he will go through practice. Derrick Mason will be limited, left knee. Brandon Moore is going to be full-go. Courtney Smith, right ankle, we're going to monitor him. Obviously Rob Turner, out.
On defense Nick Bellore had a right calf injury. He played the whole game but we're going to reevaluate him after individual. Marcus Dixon will be limited, that's a left knee. Sione Pouha, left knee, limited. Bart Scott, left leg, limited. And Calvin Pace, left groin, monitor. So you guys have all that.
We did cut three players. I can give you their jersey numbers. Sixty-seven, [Jake] Duron. Forty, Brian Toal. I liked him, he was a good kid, but we let him go. Wilson Raynor or Raynor Wilson. Brian Daboll. He looked just like Brian Daboll. The long snapper. They all did a good job, and like we say, we'll see what happens to those young men, but they did a good job representing themselves. Unfortunately, you can't keep everybody and that's just part of it. All three of those guys did a good job for us.
On if Shonn Greene will play on Saturday…
Again, I think so. But we are going to monitor him. But I expect him to play.
On if Mark Brunell will be back for the season opener…
I think he will be but certainly he's out of practice today and things. But I would expect him back for the opener.
On if playing against the Giants makes this upcoming preseason game more meaningful…
It's a preseason game. The difference is that if we weren't playing each other in the regular season, then I think it would be because it's more bragging rights. These guys go eat at the same restaurants, same establishments and all that kind of stuff so you definitely want to win that one. But the fact that it's a preseason game and we're playing in a regular-season game, I don't think so.
On if facing the Giants front four will be a good test…
I haven't seen them. I know that they are pretty good at rushing the passer. I understand that. I think it's good. These guys are obviously a good football team. They run the football and they're pretty effective. They scored a ton of points. So it'll be great. It'll be a good test and things like that. So we'll see. And I know they're always stacked with pass rushers. They have a bunch of guys that can rush the passer. That's how they stack their team. So I guess that'll be a good test.
On if he is worried about the Jets pass rush…
No not really, we gave up probably the least amount of yards so far in preseason and points probably. We gave up a touchdown in that group. I'm shocked by that. In three quarters, giving up one score. I'll take that. Sacks are what they are. I think we had enough pressure the last two weeks. Again, I want to get wins, and if I'm going to do anything, I'd like to keep them off the scoreboard, would probably be the next one, but sacks may be down a little bit. I think the record in the NFL is by a Ryan, I think, coaching a defense, right? What was that? Like some crazy, 72 or 81, something like that, by the '84 Bears actually, it wasn't the '85 Bears. Figured I'd throw that out there.
On the team's offensive mentality…
Well, I think our mentality's never going to change, and that's going to be a physical football team, both offense, defense and special teams. So, that's always been our mentality. The ground and pound is something I would like to do. I look at it as, be able to run the football when that other team knows that you're going to run it. That's where you'd like to be.
On if there was a stretch last season where the team got away from Ground-and-Pound…
My memory is probably not as good as you guys, but I still think being able to run the football is how you win in this league. And protecting the quarterback. Those are some things that we always want to be effective at and efficient at.
On what he has seen from the run game so far…
Well, statistically it looks pretty good because the kid busted off a 70-yard run or something. But you'd like to be able to run the ball more efficiently especially on early downs. I'd say right now, we probably need to run the ball a little better. I was happy with the way we protected the quarterback this past week. I thought we did a much better job obviously than that first week. So hopefully we'll get back on track and be able to run the ball more efficiently.
On why it was so difficult in the run game..
Well, I mean you have to give the opponent some credit. They had some guys get off blocks and make tackles. Some plays that will work, like the long run that we had; it wasn't blocked really different than any other run that night, the kid just made a guy miss and then he went for 70 yards. So sometimes it can be a little misleading. But I'd like to be able to knock some guys off the ball a little bit more. It doesn't look like there was a whole lot there for whatever reason.
On how comfortable he feels with Greg McElroy as the backup quarterback while Brunell is out…
Well, he is the highest rated rookie quarterback. I saw that in one of you guys' articles. I have to give somebody some props out there. I don't know which one but I do feel good with the kid. He's smart, a Rhodes Scholar type. So we have nothing in common [joking]. He's good. I like him. We're not looking at another quarterback, we think Brunell is going to be fine.
On if the team will look for other offensive linemen…
I think we'll just continue with what we have. There's a possibility we'll be looking at other people's rosters. We always do that with Mike [Tannenbaum] and Scott Cohen. They're always looking to upgrade our football team anyway we can. I was happy with the way Vlad [Ducasse] played. I thought Vlad obviously had a bounce back game. He struggled against Houston, I thought he played pretty well this past week. I was encouraged by the way Vlad played.
On Rob Turner…
I think it looks like he's going to be out several weeks. So we're not going to put him on IR right now. That's not our plan. We'll see eventually how it goes because sometimes you get out of swelling and maybe in several weeks we'll have a better idea of his timetable for a return.
On Vernon Gholston's comments about Ryan prejudging him…
Maybe that's a possibility. I'm certainly not perfect. That could be accurate that I prejudged him. But trust me, when I came here, I was his coach. He was one of us. I became a Jet. Obviously I evaluated Vernon when he came out of college. I wasn't as high on him as maybe others were. But when I got here, we were all in. I wanted Vernon to be successful, and I'd still like him to be successful. I think he's a good kid. I don't care what he said about me. That's fine, but I think he's a fine young man and I wish him well.
On if he was surprised by Gholston's comments that he wasn't given a fair shot…
I don't agree with him on that. Trust me, my job is not just to make one player better and to feature one player. When I came here, I thought my job was to build the best defense we could possibly build. And I think when you look at it statistically, whether we were successful or not, it's hard to argue that we weren't successful in building this defense for the betterment of the New York Jets, not just one player. Now could there have been better defenses to call to make Vernon a better player or make him look like a better player? I'm sure there are. But for us, my concern was to make the New York Jets a better defense, not just one player.
On Brandon Moore returning to the lineup…
Well, I think Brandon is one of the best guards in football and I think he is the best right guard in football. The Giants have a good right guard also in that kid from Boston College. [Chris] Snee, I think is his name. So you probably have two of the best right guards in football going at it this week. But obviously that should help our running game, our passing game and everything else. Brandon is a tremendous player.
On Aaron Maybin and his sack against Cincinnati…
Well you look at him, coming out of Penn State, that's what everybody thought he was, a pass rusher. And that's what we're looking at him as. We don't need him to be an every-down player. So for us, he's going to stick on this team based on his pass rush. Clearly he's tied into the football. He gets off the ball well, he has natural lean to the quarterback, so his production, it's hard to argue. He was in there three snaps, he had a sack and a tackle, so that was probably pretty good.
On if Maybin has been working extra with the coaching staff…
I think he realizes our vision for him. He was just thrown in here. It's probably unrealistic to think he's going to get caught up and compete with Calvin and BT [Bryan Thomas]. That's not happening. So it's just that his role on our team would be that he would be a pass rush guy.
On if he had just said that Maybin has made the team…
No. Shoot, I don't want to say that. I'm saying if he sticks on our team, that he will be a pass rusher. Now, all of a sudden, he won't even try out there [laughter]. You have to hang something over the kid's head. It was impressive, though. I did tell Pet [coordinator Mike Pettine], it's funny because you guys bring up the sacks and all that kind of stuff, which I'd love to get. I wish we were the 1984 Bears or 1985 Bears, any of the teams my dad used to coach, but we're giving up less yards than anybody in the league, so I think we're OK on defense. I did tell him Pet, there was about three minutes left to go, I told him, "Man, Pet, if we don't get a sack today, that's all we're going to hear about." Sure enough, there goes Maybin and I was like, "Oh, my goodness" [laughter]. That was it.
There was a coach in the league, to make a long story boring, we were playing Detroit one time and we were in Arizona. It was a classic pillow-fight game, two bad teams, but we end up winning the game on a fourth-down, last-second pass. The D-line coach for them comes up, he was as happy as can be. They had like eight sacks against us, yet we won the game, but he was as happy as can be. I was like, "Shoot, I'm happy we won. I don't care that you had eight sacks." I was coaching D-line of the other team. I think we might have had two or something. I was like, "Hey, we won." That's all I cared about.
On why he decided to start Martin Tevaseu in place of Sione Pouha against Cincinnati…
I appreciate you mentioning the young man's last name because there is no chance for me [joking]. He played really well. He is really coming. There is a guy that's going to be hard to push off this roster. He has that anchor. He's improved so much from last year. We love the guy. He would go down and run on all the kicks, all the scout teams, all that kind of stuff.
He is a great young man. He goes to work every day to try and get better and I think we see it. He actually got some pass rush. He had some push on the pocket. He did a great job in the run game. He's hard to move. I like the way he is. He's a great teammate, so I'm really impressed with him, the bowling, not so much [joking].
On if he hopes other teams will disrespect Burress and play single coverage on him…
That's fine by me. I guess we're disrespectful to other teams, too, because we play a lot of zero. I know the Giants do as well. I get his point. He takes it like, "Hey man, they can't be playing this coverage if I'm out here or Tone is out here or Mason is out here." That's the attitude you want, that kind of mentality that "Hey, this is a mistake that they're making." Obviously, the throw was great by Mark [Sanchez] and the adjustment on the football was incredible. That was great to see.
On if it hurts him that Gholston said he did not get a fair shot with the Jets and why Gholston was released…
Remember, I would've liked to have had Vernon back because I thought he was getting better. I really did. Do I think he's ever going to be Deacon Jones? No. I'm pretty comfortable with myself. Nobody likes to hear negative comments or whatever, but if that's how he feels, that's how he feels. I'm perfectly comfortable with myself. If there is a problem that somebody has or whatever, I'm not going to please everybody. That's not the position I'm in. I'm confused because I think I'm fair. I think I'm more than fair. I think I give plenty of opportunities, but if it wasn't viewed that way, then that's it. Again, I'm comfortable with being who I am.
On what he thinks would be a successful season for Tomlinson…
Just want to win and that's with every guy on this football team. For him, just being who he is, being a leader, being a great competitor, whatever role is asked of him, he's going to do great. I think he does a tremendous job in his pass protections and that's the first thing I talk about. He's a first-ballot Hall of Fame running back and I'm talking about his pass protection? That's how unselfish he is.
He's a great receiver of the football and he still can run with the football. Last year he had over 900 yards rushing and he averages 4.2 a carry. That was impressive and we had one more game to go. That's all I want from him, just continue to be who he is because he is a great teammate, a great leader and he is still a heck of a football player.
On if the condensed offseason makes the roster decisions tougher…
The worst part of being a coach is you have to let players go because of all these players, that eventually some guys you're going to have to cut, you see that everybody has a trait that you really like. "Here's a guy. This guy is a good run blocker. Maybe he's a little limited in his pass blocking. Man, you wish you had time to develop different things.' Again, that's just the way the business is. I don't think it's that big a difference.
I think, obviously, from a mental side, I think it would be huge for the rookies to try and catch up. I think, right now, they're all doing a great job mentally. I think the coaches are doing a great job teaching. You never want to cut a player based on mentally not just not getting it. You want to judge everything on his physical play, what he can do physically, and you can't be physical if you don't know what you're doing. I think our guys have done a good enough job teaching and everything else, that we can get a true evaluation of them.
