Transcript of head coach Rex Ryan's news conference following Wednesday's midday practice at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center:
Here we go. Injury report. These three guys did not participate today: Plaxico Burress with his low back, Joe McKnight, toe, Brodney Pool, knee. And then these two were limited: Marcus Dixon, shoulder, Josh Mauga, low back. And then the rest of these guys practiced full: Mike DeVito, knee, Kenrick Ellis, ankle, Shonn Greene, head, groin, Santonio Holmes, foot, Nick Mangold, ankle, Calvin Pace, groin, Matt Slauson, neck, and Isaiah Trufant, hamstring. I have nothing to say. What's up? Somebody fire away.
On if Dustin Keller made the injury list…
Dustin doesn't even make it on there. He's fine.
On if he is worried about anyone in particular about being able to play Sunday…
I feel pretty good about where we're at. I think, of all those guys, maybe Brodney Pool. And Brodney played almost the entire game last week. So that's why I think we're healthy. I think we're going to be just fine.
On if this is a great opportunity to follow through on taking control of the division from New England…
It absolutely is. You want to win your division, that was our goal. The two years I've been here, obviously New England has won the division both times. They've beat us already. So we know what this game represents, we're not afraid to talk about it. It's not one of these "Well, if we don't there's still a lot of season left." We're approaching it like we have to have this game. We want to win our division. We think it goes through New England. Obviously it's a three-way tie for first right now. Buffalo is playing well, us and New England.
But there's that old saying, "To be the champ, you have to beat the champ," and they're sitting right in front of us. I respect the job that Pittsburgh and the Giants and Buffalo did in defeating New England. That's no easy task. And right now we're going to say we think we've improved as a football team, and we're going to find out on Sunday. Because this is a measuring stick right here.
On how this team is different from the last time they played New England…
I just think we're playing Jet football. We're playing more to our style, more to the runs and completions and I think our defense is playing much better than we did the first time. Again, we have to give credit. I think we were ready to play that game against New England the last time we played them. They just were better than we were. We'll see. That's what I'm saying, we'll see if we've improved enough to beat New England.
Now I love the fact that we're playing at home. Our fans could be the difference. When two good teams go at it, there's a reason why there's homefield advantage and all that. I know the first year that we beat New England, our fans, we gave them a game ball and everything else. They were the difference. Two good football teams going at it, but they were the difference. It affected their communication, they had penalties, they had to use timeouts and all that.
That's a challenge that I'm taking to our fans this week. We're here, we're undefeated at home and let's make it miserable. We've talked about that. I think, without question our fans are going to be ready. They're going to be excited about this game and be there throughout that whole game. Let's see if you can't make them burn timeouts. See if our fans can't make them false-start. That'll be the shoutout. Our team is going to be ready, there's no doubt. Their team is going to be ready. And I truly believe, I wouldn't ask the fans to do this if I didn't think they can be the difference.
On the confidence he has in the offense…
I feel that we're a much more confident team playing this way, this style. It does open up. It's crazy, but running the football opens up the passing game. And I think that's where we're at now, we feel good. We think we have three real good backs and it kind of reminds me of that first year we were here. We had Thomas Jones, we had Leon Washington, we had Shonn Greene. That was a three-headed monster.
I kind of feel like Joe [McKnight], maybe he's not there yet, but I think he does have that kind of ability. But when you have Shonn Greene and you have LT [LaDainian Tomlinson] back there, I feel pretty good about our running game. Our offensive line is healthy. I think that's critical. You're going up against New England. Now, New England does a nice job of playing the run. It's starts with that, and I hate to say "big" when describing Vince Wilfork, but he is big. He's a great player and quite a talent, but it starts with that big guy right there.
On how he feels about going back to relying on the running game…
I feel very comfortable and confident that this is what we know. I got enamored with throwing the ball a little bit more out of different personnel groupings. And we'll throw plenty, but I think the fact that we're able to run the football and doing that more effectively than we did at the beginning of the year, and making more of an emphasis in the running game, I think helps our football team. I don't care about stats, total yards, all that stuff. I just care about wins, and I think for our football team to run the football effectively is the best thing we can do for our team.
On Mark Sanchez's numbers improving since going back to "ground and pound"…
I just think it makes sense. If you can run the football and you make those guys have to defend you with eight in the box, it's much easier to throw than it would be say, against a Cover Two look.
On how difficult it was to play without Nick Mangold…
We never make excuses, but I wanted to. But he's the best center in football. Kind of like the Darrelle Revis of corners, that's what Nick Mangold is at center. So having him out, obviously, was a great loss to us. I also like the fact that Brandon Moore is back to being that dominant right guard. He had the hip surgery in the offseason, but I see that Brandon is playing like Brandon. Wayne Hunter is playing excellent. D'Brickashaw [Ferguson] and [Matt] Slauson. I love our group. That offensive line, if I'm going to hang my hat on something, it's going to be that offensive line, how we play defense and special teams and so I feel good about where we're at.
On the idea of attacking the Patriots pass defense and if it is enticing…
I just want to win, I don't care what it takes. If that means we're going to have to throw it 50 times then so be it. But I think when you look at it, that's why stats can be misleading. That team has played out in front for a lot of the games that they've played. They've been way out in front of people. You're going to give up some yards. If some team just drops back and throws it every down, you may give up 400 yards, but you may win the game. You'll probably win the game. So I think sometimes that's a little misleading.
On if there is a temptation from a coaching perspective to throw more against New England…
It is a balancing act, there's no question. If you win, you balanced it correctly. If you don't, then you were wrong. I'm OK with that. I can accept that. We do have some targets. We have some weapons. Obviously you have Santonio [Holmes], you have Plax[ico Burress], you have Dustin [Keller], you have some good receivers out of the backfield. So certainly that'll be something that we'll try to do. But I also like our ability to run the football.
On if he is going to take anything from the Steelers or Giants' game plans against the Patriots…
I don't know, everybody has different styles. The one thing I saw was that Pittsburgh was very aggressive. They played a lot of two-man, even some Cover One's and things, where it's really in-your-face man coverage, which really isn't necessarily Pittsburgh's style. Pittsburgh is more of a zone, fire-zone-type team. But they really got into them, probably more so than they thought they would, more so than I thought they would. And then the Giants, they attack different with that front four of theirs. We do things a little different, but again, I'll steal from anybody.
On if he changes his defensive approach each time he plays the Patriots…
At this time, we're probably a little different football team than we were then and they are as well. Our defense is very flexible. There might be some changes, there's always a few different things that you do. But it's a chess match. You don't want to give them the exact same thing that they've been practicing all week, because quite honestly, that team, they can hurt you. If that guy knows what you're in, if [Tom] Brady knows what you're in, he can carve you up. So you have to be multiple on defense and obviously we have to a much better job of stopping the run this time than we did the last time we played New England.
On the linebackers playing better lately and matching them up on Wes Welker…
I don't remember having a linebacker on him in man coverage, I can promise you he's going to have help. If there's one down there, he's going to have help. But yes it's something that we've done a better job of stopping the run and then the fact that they love those shallow crossers and different things like that. We have to be physical, we have to get our hands on their receivers.
On the most important thing you have to do to beat New England…
Well, you can't turn the ball over. That's the big one. You have to protect the football. That team, it's tough enough to beat that team when you don't turn the ball over. But that's certainly priority number one. And then we have to maintain drives. When you look at it, Pittsburgh, what they did defensively, you look at their numbers and they played extremely well on defense, not taking anything away from them, but their offense really controlled the game. They punted once in the game, and that was with 30 seconds left. So I think that would obviously be what you want against a high-powered offense like that. As good as our defense is, it's not near as good as when we're on the sideline. That's certainly a goal of ours to maintain drives.
On if he thought they would have the opportunity to seize first place this early after losing three straight games earlier in the season…
I knew that we would have opportunities in our division. The way the schedule is set up, this is when our division games are. You have Buffalo twice and you have New England, and both those teams are ahead of us, so you knew that your division games were still out in front of you. We don't play Miami until the last game of the year, but right in this area, in a four-game span, you play the teams that are at the top of your division, you play three of them in a four-week span, so we knew that opportunity was going to be out there. Did I think that New England would lose twice or Buffalo would lose twice? I don't know. I knew one thing, we had to improve as a football team, and I think we're heading in the right direction.
On if Tom Brady looks vulnerable to him…
I don't know about all that. When he set the record last year, what did he set five picks or four, something like that, all season? That's ridiculous. How many touchdowns? He had four or five against us in that game. The guy is a tremendous quarterback, clearly. Without Peyton [Manning] playing, I'd say he's the best quarterback in the league right now.
On saying on the conference call this morning with the New England media that they might sign Dan Gronkowski…
No, I was just kidding. That would be good gamesmanship, though [joking].
On how Mark Sanchez has developed this season…
I think he's been like our team. I like to judge quarterbacks on the win-loss record. He's 5-3. He's done a lot of great things for us. I like the way we're playing in the red zone, albeit, he's made two bad decisions in the red zone. We're scoring in the red zone. This is high as we've been ranked, I think, in the red zone offense since I've been here. It's something we talked about improving during the season. I think Schotty [Brian Schottenheimer] has done a tremendous job of that. That's something that you see. We just want to win. I don't care what his rating is. I don't care about anything else. We just want to win.
On if he can pinpoint one thing Sanchez is doing better this year…
I think he's more accurate. I think this is the most accurate he has been. I think he has done a great job of leading our group. Obviously, you have a three-game losing streak [but] our team never lost faith in each other or belief. It's still a lot different than if you're sailing along. I think maybe the accuracy, but also the understanding of our offense, and also what defenses are trying to do to us.
On Brandon Moore being a captain…
I think, I don't remember for sure, but it was kind of an oversight on my part. Like here's a guy that I lean on about as much as anybody, getting feedback. I think he does a great job representing the players. I was like, "Man, Brandon should be a captain." I just kind of put it out there. It's beautiful because really, it went this long. That'll tell you about an offensive lineman. I'm surprised anybody caught it. He could have gone the whole season, nobody would have known except probably his family who was like, "Hey, you need to put a C on my son's jersey here." But really, he's a guy that is definitely deserving of that and it's somebody that I should have, from day one, made a captain.
On Dustin Keller having only one drop this year compared to 12 last year…
No, I'm surprised he had 12 drops, because he does have great hands, he's a great route runner. You look at him as really an elite receiver at the tight end position. So that's really a surprising stat.
On what the difference is this year with Keller…
We'll why don't we just give credit to [TEs coach Mike] Devlin. Dev has been working hard with him and staying extra. Lets' go with it.
