Transcript of quarterback Mark Sanchez's news conference at his locker following Tuesday's midday practice at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center:
On the challenge of playing on Thursday night on little rest…
It's a good challenge. There's two ways to look at it. We can kind of hang our heads from the New England game and be upset about not being in the driver's seat in the division, or we can turn right around, get the bad taste out of your mouth and play well on Thursday in a short week. And I think it's obvious what guys wanted to do. We want to make this quick turnaround worthwhile, focus on this road trip and be ready to play against a good team.
On comparing his performance this year to his first two seasons…
I think it's something we'll compare probably at the end of the season, but at this point we're 5-4. So that's how I grade myself. I think, if anything, everybody in this locker room, we're all just a little frustrated and a little upset at this last loss, because we thought we could've put ourselves in a good position, but I grade myself at 5-4 and we'll see how this season turns out.
On how his relationship with head coach Rex Ryan has evolved…
Things with Rex have always been great. If anything, it's more and more fun. I think these points in the season, the high points and the low points — it's easy to be the quarterback when you're on a three-game win streak, but when you lose a tough divisional game, that's a good test for a young quarterback, for a third-year head coach. That's a good test for us. But as far as our relationship, things are great. He's the best coach I can think of to play for and we have a great time together. He's always had us ready to play.
On the Broncos defense…
I think that's definitely their strong point. They fly around to the football. They're all very fast. It's obvious on film. I think [Brian] Dawkins, Champ Bailey, [Elvis] Dumervil and even the rookie, Von Miller, have all been great players this season, so it's going to be a great challenge for us, with me being accurate, receivers running the right routes, guys in the right spot. Protection-wise we need to be sharp because they move around quite a bit. We all have to be on the same page. It's going to be a good challenge for us.
On what changes he is looking for this week for the offense and himself…
I think just capitalizing on some of the opportunities we had last week. We let them slip. We had a great first drive, and then we go down and we don't get any points out of it. So things like that. Later on, as the game progressed, we had some great drives, coming back, fighting to make it a seven-point game, and then we went out and turned the ball over a couple of times. We need to take care of the football and then capitalize once we get into the red zone.
On what he has been most disappointed by in his play…
Things are steadily progressing. I just wish we would've won that last game, that's all. I think we all feel the same way.
On having success on Thursdays in the past…
It's not easy to get ready to go. I guess the only thing that's helping us right now is we lost the last game and we want to get back out on the field and win and have a good feeling going into this weekend, being able to watch a lot of the other teams play on Sunday. We want to get to Denver, get in and out of there, win the game and come home and relax. We've got to prepare well.
On if he will run more in this game since they are facing Tim Tebow…
No, I'm OK. I'll leave the running up to him. Their defense gets after the quarterback, so I'm trying to get it out of my hand.
On his observations of Tebow…
He's a winner. That's the most important thing, that's the most important stat. He's doing a great job this year and our defense will have to answer the call and be ready to play well.
On coming off of a loss and being just one game over .500…
Like I said, if you're going to grade us at this point, we're 5-4. Have we done the wild-card route before? Absolutely. Is there anybody who knows how to do it better? I don't think so. If we get some help from other teams and we end up winning the division, great. But that's big-picture stuff. We're focused on Thursday and we'll see how we do.
On how Mark Brunell has done simulating Tebow in practice…
He's good. He's fast, deceptively fast.
On how he feels about Ryan's comments about his timeout in the second quarter against New England…
It's a stupid play. He's dead-on. I've got to know the situation, whether I heard something in the headset or not. You're not playing against a rookie quarterback, you're playing against Tom Brady, so even 30 extra seconds or whatever it was on the clock is inexcusable, so that's on me.
On if he would want his coach expressing his comments to the entire nation…
It's a challenge. I need to know [to run the clock down]. If something like that's going to get under my skin, then I'm in the wrong line of work. It's on the quarterback. I've got to be better than that.
On a sense of optimism around the Jets and their chances at making the playoffs…
That game got built up so much. That wasn't the AFC Championship. Did we want to win? Absolutely. Are we upset that we lost? Absolutely. It's never a one-game season. These next seven games are huge. This is big, because a lot of these AFC opponents will carry over to that wild-card spot, whether it's somebody from the AFC West, AFC South, somebody, Titans or Houston or Raiders or Chargers. Being involved with it the last couple of years, you can kind of see the writing's on the wall. It's going to be us, maybe somebody from the North, fighting for that wild-card spot. These next seven games are huge. We've got to win these, and it starts Thursday.
On what he learned from the pressure that New England applied…
I think they did a great job up front. That was their goal. They just wanted to hold up in the back end. It was obvious, especially when some guys went down, they played a lot of zone coverage. We played right into it. We had to get out of our run-game stuff because we were down by so many points and we gave them the ball. We gave them some turnovers. Yeah, they made a couple of good plays, off of tipped balls and stuff, but we just missed some opportunities, and once we played into that, it allowed the defensive line to kind of pin their ears back and rush to about 8½, 9 yards deep, behind the center and they were all hauling butt to get me.
That puts our offense in a tough spot, our offensive line, and our defense as well. So we just have to be better than that. Take advantage of it early. Keep it close until late in the game, and then we can still change things up, be able to run the ball. Once you just abandon the run game, it's very difficult and it makes it quite predictable. So hats off to them. They played a heck of a game.
On if the attention Tebow receives distracts people from noticing the play of their defense…
As well as Tebow's doing, and playing and running, all that, he's doing a great job, but that's the last thing on my mind. Their defense is tough, and they have a lot of veteran leadership. They disguise a lot of looks. If any team is going to be ready to play on a short week, it'll be them. That defense, again, is good. They're fast. They're always in the right spot it seems like. They apply pressure quickly. They don't mess around. These guys are good.
On how the Broncos use Von Miller…
He's been all over the film. We're still trying to get a good beat on some stuff. We're playing a little catch-up here. We'll have a good plan for him, whether he's rushing or covering. It's him, it's Dumervil off the edge, it's Dawkins sometimes blitzing, sometimes he's doubling somebody, and then you have Champ Bailey, who's a lockdown guy. So we're going to have our hands full, whether it's Von or Dumervil, whoever it is, D.J. Williams, they're all good and they're all really fast. When they come to pressure the quarterback they're in there quick, so you've got to be ready to get the ball out of your hand.
On if the Jets bounce back after losses well…
You just don't like losing. You don't like playing poorly. You don't like not playing well enough for your team to win. That's frustrating. That's personal. You want to go out and put your team in the right position and at times I did, at times I didn't. So just inconsistent. That's the biggest thing. We said it at the beginning of the year, trying to be consistent. So if we can consistently take care of the ball these next few games, consistently be accurate, take a sack when you need to but don't throw it too hard to the running back, just get it out of your hand but give him an easy catchable ball — little things like that, that are all fixable, and we'll be just fine.
The most encouraging part about the last game is, you make physical mistakes like that, that stuff happens. You make a bad throw, as long as you make the right reads and the right checks — for the most part, my reads and checks were right on — so we just have to keep that rolling and live with the physical mistakes and rep them out at practice, and that's what Coach Cav [Matt Cavanaugh] and Coach Schotty [Brian Schottenheimer] were doing with me today. It's just getting back to basic stuff, easy stuff, reminders. So that's good. And things are looking up. We've got seven good games coming up and a big one Thursday.
On if he threw the pass too hard to Shonn Greene…
Way too hard. It was like from me to you. You can't throw him the ball that hard. That's not fair to him.
On hearing the word "timeout" over his headset in a discussion among coaches…
Right. So when Schotty has his finger on the button and he's talking to Cav and he's about to give me the play, and they started to give me the play, so I was going to the wristband to look at the play, well, I felt it, too. I felt the clock running down, and to run the play we had, we needed time to figure out what was going on on defense. So as soon as they said, "OK, I think we're going to take a timeout here," and he went over to talk to Rex, and as soon as I saw him, timeout, they were nodding, so boom, and I burned it. And then as soon as I walked over, I see Rex like, "What are you doing?" Then I looked up at the clock and I was like, "That was stupid."
On how he should have called the timeout…
You let it go all the way down to one [second]. You tell the ref, "Hey, we're going to run this all the way down."
On when the coaches on the sideline were going to let him know what their plan was…
You can start talking, as soon as the last play is over you can put your finger on the button.
On if the communication with the sidelines in his helmet stops with 15 seconds left on the play clock…
Right, so I heard it [the talk about a timeout] probably at about 25-ish.
On the coaches being able to call the timeout from the sideline…
Right.
On overhearing the coaches talking about the timeout in his helmet...
Yes. That happens all the time in a game, though. You hear, "Hey, do we want to go with X play or this play? Who do we want to do this or that?" There is conversation going on. You see me on the field sometimes going like this [makes a waving gesture], "Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up." It's not their fault. I need to know the situation. As soon as I hear timeout, I assess the situation — "OK, where are we at? What do we want to do? Running clock? Let it roll," and boom, burn the timeout late.
On if he and Coach Ryan have talked about the miscommunication on the timeout…
Yes, the first thing I told him was I know better than that. We rep that stuff. If it's Andy Dalton doing that or me three years ago doing that, that's fine. You just don't know or you haven't been in that situation. Even without having been in that situation before, you know that. That's a no-brainer.
On if the criticism of that play bothers him…
No, it's just a stupid play. I have to be better than that. That's it.
On how soon he discussed the timeout call with Coach Ryan…
After the game, not immediately. I didn't go near him immediately [joking].
On whether the criticism does not bother him because Coach Ryan discussed it with him or because he should know better…
It's not even that. That's just something you know. We're just beating a dead horse here. I'm better than that. I know better than that. It shouldn't have happened. Even if he takes the blame for it, then he's protecting me, whatever, but I know that.
On if he draws on a past experience when trying to get past a low point in the season…
I don't know what it is. I think you just want to go out and play well and get that bad game out, just like a bad throw. You want to come back the next play and you can't let it hang over. I think that was our mistake last year when we lost to those guys up there and got blown out. We let it hang over and I was guilty of that more than anyone in the building, and it showed in the Dolphins game, I think it was. You just can't do that. The game is over. We have a short week. Let's go play again. I wish we were playing today. I wish we played yesterday, just to get it over with and move on.
On if the hangover they had last year after the loss to New England was addressed today…
No, we didn't discuss that specifically, but it was obvious. Last year, I wish we would have discussed it because we needed it and you could tell there was just a dark cloud over the facility. Today, the guys were rolling at practice. The guys were fine, loose, [and] excited. Just put the last game behind you, and it's almost good it happened with a Thursday game coming up because we don't have to dwell on it too long and we have to roll.
On if there was any similarities between Sean Lee's interception in Week 1 and Rob Ninkovich's interception for a touchdown on Sunday…
The Sean Lee one, I was just staring at Dustin [Keller] all the way. I'm feeling good. I had hit about eight passes in a row, and you are just feeling invincible: "Oh, yeah, I can cheat my read a little bit." I should have thrown it outside. It was wide open outside, and I am staring at Dustin. Sean Lee is staring right at me, like "No way he's going throw this." Boom, I threw it and he took it.
This one, Ninkovich is basically the eighth dropper. They are only rushing three, so he's going to hit Dustin to slow him down. Once the spacing got messed up, I'm waiting for LT [LaDainian Tomlinson] to turn around. As soon as he turns around, I'm throwing him the ball, and Ninkovich just kind of fell off and made the play. To get intercepted on a checkdown, other than throwing it too hard at Shonn [Greene], to get hit and to get intercepted on a checkdown, that's like one in a thousand throws. He made a good play and I have to get rid of it sooner, that's all. Different plays.
On how much it will affect the offense if Tomlinson can't play Thursday night…
He plays well in Denver. He played great last year up there. That is where, if he's down and he needs to get healthy, there's an opportunity for Shonn [Greene], Joe [McKnight] and Bilal [Powell]. That's big for us.
On how much Tomlinson not playing would affect him…
He's good in protection, but I think that is what tonight is all about. This film time tonight, this extra study time tonight with the backs, that's important. Identifying stuff, making sure they know, giving them an extra point in the game, just reminding them. LT, you barely talk to the guy. When he wants something different, he'll let you know, but we're always on the same page, so it's good. That's where this offense is heading. LT is not going to play forever. I wish he could, but he's giving that wisdom to these young guys and they're catching on quick, so it's going to be a big opportunity for them. It's a good team. These guys come flying off the edge. For me to be good, for us to be good, those guys have to be on their stuff in protection, so they will be.
On the success they had moving the ball against New England's defense…
Sure, there were some big plays. Some plays, we were better than them on third down. There were a lot of positives to take away from this game. It's just in some of the crucial situations, we either turned the ball over or on second down, we were just awful. Our big push was to be good on first down. That's great, you get 6 yards on first down, well, you can't take a sack on second down and bring it back to third-and-11, third-and-14. Then we get a penalty on a pushoff on Plax [Plaxico Burress]. It's like, "Man, we can't get out of it."
That's the problem. Those games happen. There are a lot of highlights on that reel. It's an encouraging thing. It wasn't just an all-out beatdown like last year's 45-3. This was a couple of crucial mistakes, a special teams turnover. But you can't win against those guys like that. We'll get better, I'll be more accurate and we'll be ready to play.
On watching film with the running backs tonight…
Yes, that's our routine. We do it all the time, just to go over some protections and stuff. If any week is the week to go over it a little extra, this is the week.
On when they would normally watch film together…
We would do it Wednesday, Thursday or whenever, but it's just a refresher with [Nick] Mangold and the backs because those are the three guys that are really involved in the protection quite a bit, so it's just communicating it.
On if the team is conceding the division to New England…
No, we're obviously going to need some help in the division. We're not in the driver's seat like we could have been, so if that's what happens, that's what happens. That's big-picture stuff and that's for the coaches and management to think about. For us, we're concerned about this game.
