Transcript of head coach Rex Ryan's afternoon news conference following the Jets' Wednesday morning training camp practice at SUNY Cortland:
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On how impressed he is with Geno Smith…**
I think it's good. Obviously the big thing that you have to see is some of those things, holding the football, concerns me a little bit. He's got to get rid of it. If I could point to a negative it might be we're going to take some hits. But along those lines, he has confidence, he's got poise and he's hanging in there and then he's very accurate with the football so he has been impressive.
On why Sheldon Richardson wasn't practicing…
Yeah, he had a couple…one tooth that needs to come out and maybe like a root canal or something in another one. Not good.
On if Richardson had a tooth come out…
I'm not sure if he needs one or what, needs one out, but it sounds like any of us that have it, as soon as you say it, I don't know if you're like me, but I'm like, "Oh, the root canal and all that other jazz." We've all had it and immediately we kind of give it one of those deals. So we know how painful that is.
On if Richardson has had surgery…
No, we'll see. Hopefully they get in today and get something fixed.
On if he will use Antwan Barnes in the same role as Aaron Maybin last year…
No, completely different guy. I think he can be more involved in some of our base stuff as well. But Antwan's a guy certainly that brings some pass-rush ability to us.
On Mark Sanchez's performance today…
I thought for the most part it was great competition. Both sides of the ball were getting after it. I thought the offense had their moments and then that the defense had their moments. So anything specifically, I know one [interception] was a third-and-longer situation, kind of threw it in there, gave it a chance. I thought it was Cro [Antonio Cromartie] who just made a great break on the football and he was in man coverage and it was just kind of a fight for the ball and Cro came down with it.
On Sanchez going 3-for-10…
Well, I'd like to see the numbers higher than that but it's kind of good news, bad news. It's good that the defense won on seven of those. And there's always different things when you look at the big picture and stuff like that. You guys have those stats in front of you, I really don't, but when we get to watching the tape and stuff like that we'll evaluate it.
On Smith throwing the football better than Sanchez…
No, I mean I think everybody gets enamored with a guy that can throw a 96-mile-per-hour fastball. There's no question about it. But Mark certainly has a good enough arm to play in this league. He's done it and so certainly he has a good enough arm. Geno, it does pop off like 'Wow he can really throw it,' and that's where I mentioned before like I don't know if he has as strong an arm as [Jay] Cutler or the kid from Detroit [Matt Stafford]. I mean those two guys got bazookas for arms. I don't know if he can throw with them but he can throw with probably anybody in the league.
On if he will utilize the Wildcat…
I think it's here to stay for the simple fact guys are getting these quarterbacks now, these mobile quarterbacks, the size, speed and all that type of stuff, so I do think it's here to stay. It does give you the numbers back. Sometimes on defense you're playing with plus-one, but it's a great equalizer and that's what I was saying when we we're putting it in with Brad [Smith] and Leon Washington and [Tim] Tebow or whoever. But the other thing is you're seeing different guys do it. We had Jeremy Kerley do it, we had Brad do it. It doesn't have to be the quarterback but the fact that it is the quarterback I think is sometimes even better than having a running back type guy do it.
On how much David Lee has helped with the Wildcat…
Oh, he's been a big contributor. And that's what you love about Marty [Mornhinweg] is Marty takes the knowledge he has and he's very knowledgeable about it as well, but then he takes his staff and he collects information from everybody and I think that's what you do. Same thing on defense, you bring a guy in maybe to give me something that kind of adds to really what you do and it becomes the New York Jet offense and same thing on defense. But obviously I would think that was…you take a guy that has really been around it a long time.
On if it is fair to say that they will use the Wildcat more this season than last season…
I would say we probably would because you guys say it, we never used it, so I would say yeah. But no, I would think that's part of what we do.
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On what he has seen from Jeff Cumberland and Kellen Winslow…**
The thing that we're doing with Winslow is very similar to what we did with Landry, LaRon Landry, last year. We're trying to bring him along where he's not going back-to-back days. We've had a great track record for veteran players on this program and our training staff does a tremendous job. So he feels great right now. It's not that he can't go back-to-back days as it is we are choosing not to do those types of things with him.
And there's other ways of holding back guys as well. Braylon [Edwards] is out there all the time but we're trying to cut his reps down some. I even tried to cut Calvin [Pace] down a couple plays a practice. Just two or three plays a practice for your veteran players and things. But certainly he's been impressive.
And then I see Cumberland kind of gaining his speed back. I told him, I said, "You look faster in [uniform number] 87." I don't know if that's true or not, but it looked faster to me. When he came in the league, there's a guy that ran a 4.4. Obviously he had the Achilles injury and things but he looked pretty good. I like the way he's catching the football, too.
On how he decides when to start tackling in training camp…
That's kind of a feel thing but we'll start it I believe tomorrow. Whenever we do the short yardage and goal line, the only way to really practice that is to go live so we'll definitely do it then. And then we have the Green-White Scrimmage. And then as you go, you'll take a period here and there for your guys and in particular your young guys as well.
On if he needs to see guys tackling to better evaluate the player…
Well, certainly, when it's all said and done, absolutely. A lot of times there's been camps where you never tackled at all, but you felt good about going in a game. You're not going to keep a guy on defense if he can't tackle. But you'd better find out. Sometimes I'd rather go live against our own guys just so we're protecting guys, we're doing all that, just a drill or two before we get in to a live-scrimmage situation.
On if his approach to tackling and how he teaches it has changed in the past few years…
No, not at all. We used to do it. That was when we made a joke about "Woodhead's live." Because with a young group I would always, Woodhead was the back, OK, Woodhead's live. And so it just kind of started off that way, and we've kind of made light of it, but we wanted to get our young guys, you want to see cream rise to the top. You put it out there, put the ball on the ground and say let's have at it. And sometimes, especially with the young guys, you've got to really find out who will hit, who steps their game up, and who goes like this. The veterans, you have a pretty good idea of who's going to hit and who's not.
On a game plan for Dee Milliner…
We'll increase it as we go. He hasn't done any hitting obviously so we're doing things with J-Mill on the side, you know our trainers, doing some extensions where he's using his hands and his arms and stuff like that. And we'll progress him a little bit and then hopefully he'll be able to play in that Green & White Scrimmage.
On his plan for the quarterbacks in the Green & White Scrimmage…
No. I think we're rotating every two days who's running with the ones. And we'll see, I really haven't even talked to Marty about specifically the Green-White, so I really haven't talked to him about that yet.
On if the Green & White Scrimmage will be a pressure point for competition…
We're really not going to hit the quarterbacks then, either. But we're going to hit everybody else, so that's a little notch above. But every day you're competing out there, and every drill's important, when you get to the live scrimmage situation and the pre-season games.
On the Wildcat and Tim Tebow last year…
Well, again, I'm just saying for whatever reason, I think if that's the only thing you do with that position, why don't you just leave a running back in there, it's a guy that's trained to do it. If you're going to have a quarterback that has those skills like a [Colin] Kaepernick or somebody like that, then obviously it becomes more of a weapon because you're not just knowing that, hey Tebow's coming in there and he's just going to run the ball and that's kind of where we were last year it seemed like.
On Brian Baldinger's comment from practice that Geno Smith's conditioning was poor…
No. I guess it sounds like if we're training for the Olympics or something, he's going to run whatever, the marathon, we might be in trouble. I haven't seen that in him. He seems fine to me. He looked good when he ran for 80 yards that one play. He looked pretty good.
On if he is rotating Stephen Peterman and Brian Winters at guard…
Well I had the opportunity, [Stephen] Peterman had the little bit of a shoulder, but certainly we said that that was going to be competition at that guard spot. And with him, I like the way he's practicing, I think he prepares well, Dev [OL coach Mike Devlin] rotating all three of those guys though at right guard and left guard, and that's what you want, you want all three of them to learn those spots.
