Transcript of Jets head coach Rex Ryan's news conference following Wednesday's midday practice:
The guys that never practiced today: Jerricho [Cotchery], that hamstring, Shaun Ellis has a bruised knee, Brad Smith with the quad and Damien Woody with the foot. [Donald] Strickland and Lito Sheppard both practiced today, but they were limited. Other guys that fully participated but are on the list: Larry Izzo with a hamstring, [Jim] Leonhard with a knee, and Kerry Rhodes and Wallace Wright with a knee. All those guys are fine. They fully participated.
We've moved on, so I'm excited about this opportunity to get back, play in front of our fans and try to right the ship a little bit. We had a couple of bumps in the road. Again, the way we're going to respond is the only way we know how: That's by working, pulling together and get back to what got us there in the first place. That's the enthusiasm, the passion and playing with the emotion that we really demand from each other. That's it. I'm through with the other deal. We'll talk about Miami when we play Miami in a couple of weeks. Right now we're focused solely on playing the Bills and getting better as a football team.
On if the practice tempo was better today…
Yes, without a question. Again, I think when I said our scout teams were horrible, what I meant was it was really a Friday practice where I just thought that they're going through the motions like we're brother-in-lawing each other. Nobody gets better that way. We had one guy that I can say was practicing at the tempo that I really appreciate and that's [Matt] Kroul, so we'll give him my parking spot. He may have it for a while because the guy practices his tail off. He's going to get better that way and the guy going against him is going to get better that way.
That's all we want from all of the practice guys, from the starters, or the back-ups that are on the show teams. Again, it's hardly a cop out. I think people misunderstood me. I just don't like the tempo. I don't ever want the offense or the defense to slow down. Never slow down to protect a scout team player. You do just the opposite. You speed up and go full speed. That'll be a way that we'll get it done. We'll be more familiar with how our guy's going to play things. We won't have two guys in the same gap. We'll be more sound. That's what we're looking for.
On Mark Sanchez's performance against Miami…
I thought he had a hell of a game. I'm more worried about this week's game. That thing is in the past. We're moving on. I can't wait. I've got a smile on my face. Ready to go. Let's move on. I hate being negative. I hate being around negative people. It's time to move on. I know it was an embarrassment, but it's done. There's nothing we can do about it right now. Trust me, if we could I would have changed it, but we're moving on.
We've got a tough task in front of us. I don't care what their record is. That team is a tough team. I admire the way they play. They get after it. They're a sound, fundamental team and they play hard. They play with a lot of passion. Any time you've got an offense with T.O. [Terrell Owens], Lee Evans, Marshawn Lynch, [Fred] Jackson and all those guys, that's a talented football team. They're going to explode one day. I just don't want them to explode on us.
On if he's concerned that his harsh criticism of the defense might have a lingering effect on the team…
No, it's blunt-force trauma. We accept that. We always say, 'You've got to have skin like an armadillo.' We all know that's not skin, but so what. We all know what it means. That's what you have to have. Same thing on me, on the coaches, on each other. That's just the reality of it. We never played well. Done. End of conversation. That's in the past. We're focusing on the future. Do I think we have a lot of ability? Can we play a lot better than that? Yes. We went the first four games giving up three touchdowns, but we did that in the fourth quarter alone. That's it. It is what it is. There's no way in heck I would've ever thought that would happen. I never knew it. That's never happened to me before in my life.
Again, that's over with. I think the challenge in front of us is — we've got to get better as football team, whatever that means. Whether it's running the football, protecting the quarterback, catching the pass, finding a way to get extra yards somewhere, special teams, defense. Whatever it is, we've got to find a way to get better. We haven't been good enough the last two weeks.
On if he is concerned about Jerricho Cotchery's hamstring…
Yes, I'm concerned with it. I thought he made it through the game OK. You guys knew more about it than I did after the game where I guess it bothered him. This guy is a tough guy. He wants to play. We'll see if later in the week that he can go a little bit. He did the same thing last week and he got almost 30 snaps, so he finished the game. We'll see how he feels. Obviously that'll be his and the trainer's decision. The doctors will have an effect on his decision. That's his decision. I'm never going to force a player to play if he doesn't feel right. We'll see how he does. I don't think its right for him to practice. He probably won't tomorrow. We'll see how he is later in the week.
On if it was a mistake to not play David Clowney more prior to the Miami game…
He did a great job in that game. There's no question. Just like where our football team, we've got to take a step back to take a giant leap forward, David Clowney took a step back and took a huge leap forward. Sometimes what you might look at as a negative or criticism ends up being the best thing for that person. I think David has moved forward, understands what I'm talking about and what I want.
On if Clowney being benched wasn't related to his Twitter comments…
No, I don't know. I never even knew the Twitter deal. I had heard about it. I never read Twitter. I don't even know what it is. To me, it was more about the practice habits than it was about Twitter. Now, did I catch wind of something? Like I said, I'm not going to lie to you. Sure, I caught wind of it. I was already thinking about it. It's not that I made an example out of him. I never thought he was where he should have been. Right now, by him taking a step back, he did take a huge leap forward.
Again, nobody's been a bigger fan of David Clowney than I have. I think that's obvious when I said, "Nobody can cover the Clown." Who is going to? I don't know who is going to, but he's doing it the right way now. He's doing it the New York Jets way. He's not looking to make excuses. He's learning his assignments and working his tail off on the practice field. I'm really proud of him. He's overcome a lot. More than anybody in this room knows about. I'm proud.
On if the low number of sacks this season surprises him…
Yeah, I'd say. To say the numbers are down, yeah. Buffalo had more sacks against Miami in one game than we've gotten all season. We only have four sacks. Obviously, we've got to get after the passer a lot better than that. If the guy's going to get the ball out of his hand quick, or sometimes you can't get them, but you've got to get hits and disruptions. At one time, we were leading the league in all those things. Last week, it was more of them max protect when they threw it, and we couldn't get to them. We'll see. Am I confident we'll get to the quarterback? Absolutely.
On if Braylon Edwards will have a bigger impact with a full week…
He did impact, we said three touchdowns. He really impacted three touchdowns, so he did OK. We'll see. If he has that impact every week, I'll be happy with him. I thought he was tremendous. I don't know what more he's supposed to do. He put on another show out there today though. Oh, my goodness. It's ridiculous. Now it's like, 'Are you kidding me? Shouldn't we put a red jersey on him? Like let's not touch that guy.' So that's how I feel. Don't be surprised if you see him in a red jersey.
On if the players have put Miami behind them and are looking forward…
I think so, but you have to ask them. They're always available to you. We're not going to put words in their mouths. I know I put it past me and I think I probably took that loss worse than anybody. I would be shocked if the focus isn't going forward. The other thing is, you always remember what happened to you, but your focus has to be right in front of you. You'll get beat again if you don't have a focus.
My thing is, I just want them to play like Jets. That's it. I don't think we did as a football team. I think at times, we had some guys step up on defense. I just don't think that was our day. We weren't ourselves. I'm not trying to take away credit to Miami, because they clearly won the game. They outperformed us, but I think our mission these next few weeks is about getting better ourselves and really, what is our M.O.? Who are we? I think we want to play like Jets. That's just to bring our passion and emotion and effort and build each other up. That's the kind of team that we want to be. We'll see if we're that team this Sunday, because we need to be.
On if he's encouraged that Sanchez can bounce back after a poor performance…
Definitely not surprising. That's who we all thought Mark was. That's why we gave up a king's ransom for him. He's got that. That's who he is. I was impressed. There was no question I was impressed by that.
On if he is concerned about the running game…
I thought we ran the ball well. [Miami] is one of the best run defenses in the league. I thought we ran the ball well against them, so I was encouraged by the way we ran the ball.
On how it will feel to coach against a "pro offense" again…
That's the funny thing. I was a college coach for a hundred years. To me, did I ever get beat in college? Yeah, absolutely. Did somebody ever run the ball against me? Yeah, but not very often. I think if you look at the stats, and I was probably always in the top five in the country. Did they do something that we haven't seen or prepared for? No. We're prepared. They just out-executed us.
On the problems defending the Wildcat…
I think they outexecuted us is the problem. See, I think that offense is more 11-on-11. We do the same thing here when we do the Seminole package, albeit it's a different guy, you don't have a 230-pound running back. Our problem was they have two of the best running backs in the league. They're both 230-some pounds. You better make a tackle. When you're not gap-sound, you get guys not where we thought they would be and you're trying to make an arm tackle. Those dudes run through them and they did a good job. That's what they do. Don't think for a second we're the only team they run the ball against. I think they average about 185 a game, so I think that's doing a discredit to them. I've said all week long that I thought that that offense is a good offense. I like that offense.
The main thing is to me, "a gimmick", I just throw that out because that's the word being used, but it's the old single-wing. You can't get more old school than that. I think the offense is a good offense. It's not like we weren't prepared for it or they out-scheme you or something. They executed better than we did and better than when they went up against Buffalo. They run the ball against anybody. Watch the Indianapolis game. They do a good job. It's one-on-one football. Somebody's got to tackle Ricky Williams and somebody's got to tackle Ronnie Brown. They're both 230-some-pound guys that run hard and fast and have great vision and good balance. To me, that was the issue more than anything else.
On why the Wildcat is so difficult...
What you're saying is true, that he's a ballcarrier now. What happens, it's not in a traditional alignment. Maybe that's what you mean. Instinctively, this game really is about running and hitting. You tackle the guy with the ball. You know what I mean? That's really what it is. Now, I think the biggest thing is maybe we weren't exactly where we thought we would be. During the week of practice a guy played it out here, and I fill inside. In the game, he was here and now I've got to fill outside or vice versa. I think that was some of the issues that we had.
