Transcript of head coach Rex Ryan's news conference following Wednesday's midday practice at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center:
Injury report: Here are the guys that did not practice: Marquice Cole [hamstring], Jerricho Cotchery [groin], Dwight Lowery — it is a concussion. Right now it's just no contact, no nothing, really, so he's just going through that evaluation process right now. Tony Richardson and LaDainian [Tomlinson] did not practice today. It was not injury-related. I'm just holding them out a little bit. Matt Slauson with the knee, but he's better this week at this time than he was last week at that time. Eric Smith, ankle-slash-wrist. Just kidding [smiling]. Just the ankle. How did I miss that one? The trainer gave me bad information [smiling]. He was held out with the ankle.
Limited guys were Mark Sanchez with the calf. Full: Nick Mangold [shoulder], Josh Mauga [hamstring], Calvin Pace [foot], Darrelle Revis [hamstring] and Damien Woody [knee]. That's a lot, but anyway, there they are. It could be worse. It could be like Indy without 11 starters, somebody said, last week. Ouch. I think Indy needs to get healthy this week [smiling].
We're going into a home game. A lot has been made of the fact that we're 5-0 on the road and we're 2-2 at home. That's not sitting well with our fans, not sitting well with our team, any of us. We're going to make this a home-field advantage. That's what you work for. That's why you try to get all the wins that you can in the regular season. You hope to host some playoff games. I think this is going to be a huge home field advantage. I've said it from day one, but I've kind of figured it out. Last time we played against Green Bay, I believe it was a 1 o'clock start. New stadium, the tailgating, I understand was exceptional. I want to do this. I'm asking our fans because they always give it to us. I'm just asking that we start tailgating a little earlier, and by the time introductions come out we've got a butt in every seat. I think it's going to show the commitment that we have to each other, the team, the fans that we're in there for introductions.
Quite honestly, we haven't started fast on offense in particular at home. I'm challenging our offense, I'm challenging our fans, I'm challenging everybody, myself included, to start fast. We do that by getting a little charge going even in introductions. Let them know we're there. Our team is going to let Houston know that we're here and then our fans will also. That's going to be it. I can't tell you how much, that when I drive in on the bus, I look out there and I see all the tailgating going on. I see the throwback jerseys. You see the Joe Namaths, you see the Wayne Chrebets. You see the true Jet guys, the history of the Jets, your Joe Kleckos. That's awesome.
Then you see a bunch of the new jerseys. I always think you can tell how good your team is by how many jerseys are out there and you see a bunch of them. With our team, you see all kinds. Obviously, [Mark] Sanchez has a bunch of them. Most of them are women fans with Sanchez jerseys. They're not going to have a Bart Scott jersey, let's face it [smiling]. You've got Bart Scotts, you've got Jim Leonhards, you've got all these guys. LaDainian [Tomlinson]'s jersey is out there. Jerricho Cotchery, Santonio Holmes, Braylon Edwards, you've got all of them, but, of course, no offensive linemen. I even saw a Nick Mangold jersey out there.
It's funny but you see all that and it's just like "Yeah, that's right, here we are." This is our team. This is the Jets coming into our stadium. No way man. This team is a good team we're playing. I have a tough time believing they're going to beat us with our team at our best, our fans at our best. No. Let's make sure they're getting everything we've got from the fans, from the team, our preparation. That's my responsibility and our team is going to be up to it this week. That's my challenge out to our fans. Last time we played Houston, they had a "white-out," everybody wearing white. I'm not calling for anything like that. I'm just calling for a "loud-out." Let's be loud and proud and get after these guys.
On Mark Sanchez being limited at practice…
Not too limited. He looked good. He did almost everything.
On why the offense has had slow starts…
I don't know. For whatever reason, it seems like there's times during the season that the offense has started fast, the defense has started slow, times our special teams start fast. At home, I don't know. It's hard to put my finger on it. I think if we can get that buzz going early, our fans can give us a boost. I know I've mentioned that several times. I remember we'd go to play that game last year against Cincinnati where we had to win to get in. No team was going to beat us. No team in the league was going to beat us that day. I just felt it because I felt the energy that our players had, but it was driven through fans.
That's why I'm challenging our fans. Hey, you know what? You guys don't realize how important it is to the guys. It's certainly not our fans' fault that we've started slow. We should always start fast at home and we're going to finish strong at home. Make it miserable.
On if he wants to force the issue and call certain plays to make something happen to get the fans riled up…
I think we stick to it. Our plan works pretty good. We do like to go on defense first and, up until just recently, we hadn't given up a point. We'll try anything. The colors of the jerseys, pants, we'll try anything.
On if the noise has decreased in the new stadium…
No, not at all. I tell you what. When we were playing New England, I don't hear great anyway, but man there's no way. I've got guys standing there. I'm like, 'What? What?' That was great. I know if we can get to Tom Brady, we can get to anybody.
On if he would consider going on offense first if the team won the coin toss…
I like playing defense. You look at it statistically. When we had the first drive of a second half, I know all through last year, we were very effective, one of the best offenses in the league in scoring. I kind of like that. I also like getting that defense out there. If you can make them go three-and-out, the fans buzzing, we get generally good field position. I don't know. It's hard to say. If that's what the fans want us to do, then that can be a difference and maybe we'll look into it.
On if he is holding out hope that Jerricho Cotchery can play on Sunday…
No, I'm not saying that he's not going to play. A lot of these guys, I expect half of these guys to play. More than that. We'll see. He truly is a, 'Let's wait and see what happens.'
On if they are seeing different things from teams this season…
Each week, teams will tweak things. They'll add game-plan specific things. I know what, our offense is getting a lot of eight-man fronts, nine-man fronts to try to slow our run down. We'll see. If you do that, you're going to be awful vulnerable in the back end.
On Sanchez being able to keep plays alive the last couple of weeks…
He's been terrific. I think the big thing for Mark is go back, if the guy is open, give it to him. If it's not, he knows that he's got a great feel for the pocket. He knows how to step up, find a hole, sometimes he needs to bail and do whatever. That's coming natural to him. It's not something like, 'Hey look. Bail out of there.' It's a feel for him. If you can make the throw on rhythm, then that's what you prefer.
On if he was impressed that Sanchez could still make plays with his feet after injuring his calf…
Absolutely. That's him. He's a competitor, a huge competitor. When Mike [Tannenbaum] and I are trying to build this team, that's the number one thing. We want competitive people. That's him. Nobody can say that Mark Sanchez isn't a great competitor, because he is.
On telling the Houston media that Darrelle Revis might not play man-coverage on Andre Johnson the entire game…
I just tossed it out there to see if they'd bite on it.
On if expects Revis to play one-on-one with Johnson…
We know where he's going to be. If he's not on him, he'll be on the same side. I was hoping they'd buy it.
On why teams haven't been throwing at Revis…
They all know the answer to the test now, that it's probably not a smart thing to do. "Oh, by the way, he's as good as advertised." I think last year and even at this point, they have one of the best receivers, if not the best, in the game. How do you just sit back and say, 'Hey, we have 1-on-1 coverage over there'? Everything you're programmed to do says to throw it over there. Well, we've got the best corner. It ought to be a great matchup over there.
On if he is concerned about the blackout that occurred at the New Meadowlands Stadium during the Giants game on Sunday…
No, no concerns at all. You know that everybody over at the stadium is doing their best to get everything fixed and ready to go. We have great confidence in that. I'm just worried about, well, not worried, but I just have to do a good job against Houston. That's where my concerns are.
On if they would consider signing Patrick Turner from the practice squad if Cotchery cannot play…
That's certainly a possibility that we can bring up Patrick, or we could just use the three receivers and use Joe McKnight or even [Jeff] Cumberland. There are different things we can do there.
On not being able to use the Brad Smith packages at Cleveland as often without Cotchery…
We only practice it one way with Jerricho in there. It wasn't like we had a backup for Jerricho in that situation. Those were specific things. If he's not ready to go this week, I should sit back and say if he's out that package is out, but I'm not good at lying. We'll make sure somebody is ready to go in that position this week.
On if they are approaching this game differently since they have two games in five days…
Yes, we're not going to pound our guys. For instance, we had 40 walk-thru plays and 34 practice plays today. We've got to make sure our guys are ready to go. That's our job. We will be in pads tomorrow. We've got to make sure we're getting our guys at their best. Obviously we're trying to prepare to the best of our abilities so we can play a physical, fast game on Sunday. That's what we're doing, but you have to have in the back of your mind. We're backing down a little bit on the weightlifting. We're backing down on certain things from a physical standpoint to make sure we're physically at our best these next two games.
On what they can do to prevent teams from picking on their safeties…
Play our defense that we called. That would be a good start. Some of those coverages out there, I was like, 'What are we doing?' We've got to be true to ourselves. How are we making these kinds of mistakes? I think that was it. We got back to the basics and fundamentals and techniques and that's why we played much better in the second half and fifth quarter against Cleveland. That first half was embarrassing to our standards without question.
On if they will consider bringing up another defensive back since they only seven are healthy right now…
We better have more than that. That would be something you'd consider. Quite honestly, we feel pretty good. We think we'll get some guys back.
On why they didn't practice outside in the wind...
I wanted to have a sharp practice today. That was the main reason. Are there other issues you take into consideration? Absolutely. I wanted to be sharp. The fact that we never had a ball hit the ground on offense, it was an impressive practice to say the least. It was more about the sharpness. It was more about Mark with the calf. I don't want him sitting back there and forcing the ball into the wind more so than he normally would. That was the reason we stayed inside.
On if he would practice outside with high winds even if they could not use the scissor lift…
Yes, we can do it. We can get on our balconies over there. You know the way this place is. We have everything here as you guys know. If you want to shoot from a stationary top, then you can do that. We have it all here, so we absolutely can shoot it there.
