Transcript of head coach Rex Ryan's news conference following the Jets' Friday midday practice at the Atlantic Health Training Center:
All right, first off this week [Santonio] Holmes had surgery, [Josh] Mauga had surgery, so both seem to be doing well. [Darrelle] Revis, now, is going to be scheduled for Thursday next week. If you need more details, on all those things, obviously, Bruce [Speight, media relations director] will let you know. Now, with that being said, I know I had said before about Darrelle that I would like to wait for him to have surgery, whether we place him on IR or not. Unfortunately, really with our time situation, we had Eric Smith being out this week, we're going to need that roster spot.
When you looked at it, you can designate guys and all that, when I said if it was a 0.002 percent chance, well it's not that high. In the best interest of really the organization and Darrelle, we will place Darrelle on IR. It won't be a designated-for-return, so that would be it. I was kind of holding out hope, but the more information we got, the more you realize that that wouldn't be good for Darrelle either. We will place him on injured reserve.
Guys that are doubtful for the game, all these guys: Sione Po'uha, Kenrick Ellis, John Conner, Clyde Gates and Eric Smith. Po'uha with a low back, Kenrick Ellis, knee, Conner, hamstring, Gates, shoulder, Eric Smith, knee. So all those guys will be doubtful. Nick Mangold was limited today in practice with an ankle, he will be questionable for the game. I'm definitely hopeful he plays.
All these other guys are probable, every one of them practiced full with the exception of Stephen Hill, he was limited today, but all these guys are listed as probable. That's Aaron Berry with ribs, [Antonio] Cromartie, shoulder, Nick Bellore, shoulder, [Mark] Sanchez, low back, Calvin Pace, Achilles, Brandon Moore, hip, [Matt] Slauson, knee, Austin Howard, back, Jeff Cumberland, ribs, LaRon Landry, heel, [Jeremy] Kerley, finger and illness, David Harris, hamstring, Bart Scott, toe, Dustin Keller, Bryan Thomas, Stephen Hill, all with hamstrings. So all of them are probable.
I thought today's practice was really high-spirited, guys were flying around. I think we're loose. I like what we're doing. Guys are still watching video right now, so we're trying to eliminate the self-inflicted wounds and then make it a physical contest and we'll see what happens. With that, it's been really a good week of practice.
On the type of surgery Holmes had…
Like I said, Bruce will handle all the surgery questions.
On if they were optimistic after Holmes' surgery…
Oh yeah, everything, both of them, Josh Mauga's as well. We're anticipating, and assuming really, that these guys will be full-go when we come back in the offseason.
On if Revis being placed on IR will take effect this week…
Yes, it will affect the roster this week.
On if they have made a roster move yet…
Not yet, but it'll be either later today or tomorrow that we'll fill that roster spot.
On if any of the players listed as doubtful on the injury list are possible…
I'd say they're doubtful, and you know us with doubtful, that really means doubtful.
On the challenge of playing an opponent that is playing for something bigger than the game…
I think with us, obviously, Chuck [Pagano]'s a personal friend of mine. We coached together, he coached my brother for years and years, and I just think the world of him. But with that said, we have our own things we are playing for, and one of those is, we need a win in the worst way. I certainly understand where they're coming from and the fact they want to win for their coach. We want to win for each other, we want to win for our fans and that's going to motivate us.
On if Hill will make an impact on Sunday…
I think he'll have a big impact because he has that great vertical speed and he has size and I think he has an advantage in both those areas.
On how much they have missed Hill…
Really, he's been out, what? Did he miss two games or one game? I think he only missed the one game, right? Two games. Yeah, he missed two, I'm sorry, that's right. I think it will help. Anytime you have a big, fast guy that is going to take two guys with him. If not, you can throw it to him 1-on-1. I think that might not show up on stats, but I think it could be a factor in the game.
On if he expects Hill to play a lot…
Yes. I don't know how much specifically, but I definitely expect him to play.
On the run defense…
I think last week, in that second half, it turned around, as you're going against similar things. You saw a difference between the second half and the first half against the same kind of running plays. So I think that hopefully will be a good sign for us going forward.
On how tough it was for Keller to be out.…
It's probably equally as tough on him as it was me and every one of his teammates. That was tough. You sense his frustration, because he clearly wanted to get out there, whatever was asked of him to get back out there. It just was slow to heal. Here's one of our best-conditioned athletes and he has this injury, it's just sometimes guys can heal from things faster. He's had injuries in the past, just like that, he's right back. But it was frustrating for Dustin. I'm just happy that he's ready to go. We'll be smart. I don't think he'll play 60 snaps, but he's going to play a lot. He looks really good out there.
On Revis staying on the roster affecting what they could do with the roster…
Not at all. That's where you look at the situation now, we really need the roster spot. When Eric went down for the week, we needed the roster spot. That's why when you look at it, talking to John Mellody and the trainers, it wouldn't be in Darrelle's best interest, either. There's no way he's going to come back and really be able to play at any time during the season.
On if Revis would have gone on injured reserve if Smith didn't get hurt…
No, I wouldn't have made the move, I would have probably waited until surgery.
On if he will make Revis the designated-for-return player…
No, not after getting all the facts.
On the percentage chance that Revis could return…
My exact quote was with a bunch of zeros and a two, but I think it's really a bunch of zeros, period.
On if the facts involved the extent of the damage…
No, it's just because that injury, as everybody probably assumed, would take more time than the season to come back from. My thing was, until we really needed that spot, let's try to wait for him to get surgery and maybe we'll see. But the more I really paid attention to the doctors and John Mellody, I think the decision was pretty obvious.
On the 53rd spot not being a big deal…
It is this week because we're going to need to use that spot for the game. We are going to have to use it. I'm not saying that it's not a big deal, but we need to activate a guy that is going to play this week. I think that's where we're at.
On what position the new player on the roster will play…
I think it's pretty safe to say that we're going to replace a safety.
On the challenges of facing Reggie Wayne…
There are a lot. Reggie's 15 targets [a game]. They move him all over. That's the whole thing. We can match Cro on him, but he's all over the place, so there are going to be times. It's not like we're going to play man coverage every snap. We could match him on him, but it's tough. They get him the football in a lot of different areas. They can get him little bubble screens, they can get him in the curl, they get him in the flat, they get him vertical. They get him all over the place, crossing routes. He runs the whole gamut and they put him in position. Clearly, they want to get him the football.
On Matt Slauson's fine from the NFL…
I don't really want to get into it. My big thing is what I've said from day one and I'll stick with it. That's that I know the intent of Matt Slauson was never, never to injure Brian Cushing. It's unfortunate that happened. Cut blocks and things happen all the time in this league and I know we're a team that very rarely cuts people. It's an unfortunate part of the game and obviously you don't wish that on any player. Matt obviously felt terrible about when the young man was injured, as we all did. I don't care who you're playing, how competitive and all that, the best thing for this league is your great players are healthy and playing. It's just an unfortunate injury.
On Drew Stanton saying he would get a chance to play with the Jets if Sanchez struggled…
I don't remember that. I read part of his comments. I felt that we had our quarterback, that we weren't going to draft a quarterback because I felt really good about our quarterback situation. When the Tebow trade possibility came up — "Woah" — we thought it was a great opportunity for our football team to add the Wildcat back into our offense and to get a player like Tim in the building. That's why we pursued it.
With Drew, it wasn't like we said, "Hey, we got you under contract, you're going to be here regardless." We never wanted to mess him over. That wasn't our intent. When we signed him, we felt really good about him being the No. 2 and McElroy being the 3. It just happened that this opportunity came up and that's why we made the move.
On if he remembers saying that Stanton would play if Sanchez struggles…
No, I don't remember that. I just remember that we were happy to have him. We thought that he'd be a good No. 2 quarterback and that's why we signed him originally.
