2009 Preseason Week 3 - Jets at Giants Photos
Transcript of Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez's news conference Saturday night following the Jets' 27-25 win over the Giants:
On how comfortable he felt vs. the Giants in terms of his on-field performance...
I think when I started off the game I was trying to go through things a little too fast and I wasn't breaking things down. I was speeding through my reads a little bit until probably the end of the first quarter. Then I started to slow down and just relax because I realized that we have a great defense and our game on offense is that we can run the ball really well. When we need to, we can throw the ball, obviously, but more than anything just don't turn the ball over. Our return game worked for us and we wanted to have fun, which we did.
On if he felt he needed to validate the starting QB decision for his teammates in this game...
I guess so. Once you're named as starter there is a little bit of confidence that comes with that. You know that your head coach trusts you and more than anything I just wanted to play for those guys that have been around for a long time. I want to study hard and know my stuff on game day for them because I'm accountable to them. And being named the starter solidified some stuff for the team, like what direction we're heading, and it allowed me to be a real leader tonight.
That's what I tried to do and it starts with me doing my job and making decisions and I feel like I did that tonight so I don't know if it was to prove Rex right or just to play for those guys around us and playing a great game.
On the touchdown pass to WR Chansi Stuckey...
That's just one of those plays where you know what routes are coming and you know they're in man-to-man coverage and Stuckey's running all the way across the field so it's tough on the defender to run with someone all the way across the field. The O-Line held up just enough and I threw it in a spot where he could get it.
It was one of those plays where you get hit when you're throwing it and you can't really see what's going on so you just kind of listen and I knew if it was a big roar it was probably a Giants interception and I had to get up quick. If it was one of those quiet roars I knew it could be our fans. When I heard that quiet roar I was like "Oh, boy," so I jumped up and saw him waltz into the end zone. That was a heck of a play by Stuckey, more him than me. It was a great catch.
On if he ever took his eyes off Stuckey on the play...
Well, he was the second guy in our progression so I saw Jerricho [Cotchery] take two on the route in the safety and in the corner and I saw Stuckey running by himself so he was my next guy. And it was almost like an area throw, where you kind of see one as you see the other, and Stuckey made a heck of a catch.
On Stuckey's "waltz"...
Yeah, I don't even know where that came from. He just stopped on a dime on the sideline and I don't know how he did that but he had a heck of a night tonight.
On comparing his performances vs. the Giants and vs. the Ravens on Monday night...
Well, obviously tonight was a lot better. I didn't throw any balls to the other team, so that was good.
On if he sensed how the Ravens game helped him out vs. the Giants...
Oh, sure, first of all just to know that you're going to get hit in a game like this against a tough defense like the Ravens or like the Giants. Those guys get physical with the quarterback and make sure they hit you. Like Justin Tuck, after you're making run fakes, they get a hand on you and stuff and can hit you after throws.
Those are two great defenses we've faced and after spotting the Ravens a couple points I thought we bounced back there, and then tonight we just didn't give the ball up. We played smart with the football. We won the turnover battle, we had a bunch of completions and a lot of rushing attempts, and those are our goals on offense. It was a heck of a run out there. It felt good, and it's just exciting to win.
On if he played more like himself and more relaxed vs. the Giants...
I think towards the end of the first quarter; I was just rushing through things. I left some completions out there for sure at the beginning of the game. There were some plays that I definitely could have had that I rushed through a little bit so there's still a lot of improving to do. So we'll get through that and watch the film and get a lot better.
On if he got a chance to see the pass to Stuckey...
No, not quite the whole thing. I saw right after the catch, I popped up real quick. But I saw the other big play he made down the left sideline, so that was huge as well, just making plays.
On his 29-yard completion to Stuckey and him and his receivers making adjustments on the fly...
Absolutely, especially in preseason. It's one of those plays where you teach guys to get friendly, which means to find the lane in between the quarterback. One guy breaks down the sidelines and one guy keeps going deep, so he did a great job of doing what he's supposed to do and getting friendly and making a big time run after the catch.
On how comfortable he feels with his wideouts...
I feel really good, but more than anything I think I just missed a couple early in the game and that's my fault and stuff that I need to clean up because once I get going, they already know the routes and the reads so it's up to me to play catchup and get ready to deliver the ball.
