Transcript of quarterback Mark Sanchez's news conference following Wednesday's practice at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center:
On if he has ever had any problems with Tom Brady…
No, not at all.
On what kind of respect he has for Brady…
A ton of respect. I think he's one of the best in the league and he's prepping to have a great game, so we need to play well on defense.
On Antonio Cromartie's comments regarding Brady…
No reaction. I'm just worried about their defense.
On the opportunity this weekend presents…
It's huge for us. This would set us up right where we want to be and put us in the AFC Championship Game, where we were last year, and hopefully move on from there. It's a tough challenge. We're facing a very good defense and a great defensive coach in Coach Belichick, so we need to bring our best.
On if he is happy to get another shot at the Patriots…
Absolutely. After playing them last time and not playing our best, and then playing really well, all we could have asked for is to play them one more time. We get our chance this week and we need to make the most of it.
On if he feels like he has something to prove playing up at Foxboro…
I don't. I think it's bigger than just me. I think it's about our entire team. Last game, obviously, I didn't play well, but in all phases, we didn't play well. That led to the ultimate outcome and we're going to have to play well, offense, defense and special teams, and it starts with the quarterback, so it's going to be a good matchup for us. We're excited.
On how much the running game has helped lately…
It takes a lot of pressure off the quarterback. LT [LaDainian Tomlinson], Shonn [Greene], the offensive line are doing a great job. Our receivers, perimeter blocking, are doing a great job and Coach [Bill] Callahan, Coach [Brian] Schottenheimer and Coach [Matt] Cavanaugh are coming up with great run plays each week and it really helps.
On facing some of the toughest AFC teams on the road last week and this week…
That's playoff football at its best. On the road makes it even tougher. It's the few guys you take up on that trip against everybody in that stadium. That's the way we view it. We play well on the road and we're excited about it.
On both teams taking on their coaches' personalities…
It's just two different styles, but I don't really get caught up in it. When guys want to talk, it's totally fine. I'm just focused on the game.
On Aidan Binkley…
He gave me an inspiration. To see him compete and fight the way he did against something that ended up taking his life was pretty inspiring. His family is still very close to me and he has a good seat for all the games. He has a good view.
On what went wrong in the 45-3 loss to New England…
How much ink do you have? It was the perfect storm. We played very poorly. We started off slow. They started off fast. They kept rolling. We didn't bounce back. That's basically the way it went. When you get down like that, then you start forcing balls over the middle, you start throwing interceptions and you just end up buried. That's where their team kind of makes their hay. That's what they do. They capitalize on your mistakes. You have to play mistake-free and that's how we'll have to play on Sunday.
On what he thinks has changed between the last game against New England and now…
I think we just realized how poorly we played and how slow we started. Understanding the importance of time of possession, taking care of the ball, completing passes early, getting into a rhythm, all that helps. In our best games this year, in our biggest wins, that's the way we've played on offense and the way I've played. It's going to be imperative for us to start fast, to be able to bounce back from little bits of adversity in this game, and the most important thing is winning the turnover battle.
On his confidence in choosing the play that ended up putting them in field goal range to beat the Colts…
I think it speaks to Coach Cav and Coach Schottenheimer and me growing up in this offense, understanding the personnel we have on the field, what plays fit with specific personnel, and just having a couple of plays in the grab bag, just in case. They're emergency plays, if the headset goes out, if something goes wrong, we don't get the call in quite right, you can make something up and kind of go on the fly. I wouldn't have been able to do that last year. Just doing all the studying in the offseason and getting comfortable with Jerricho [Cotchery], Santonio [Holmes] and Braylon [Edwards], that's kind of what happens is you grow up in this league, you play more games.
On what makes him so comfortable at the ends of games…
I think just assessing everything at halftime last game, I knew I didn't feel right. I just wasn't as accurate as I needed to be and there was no way I was going to let it snowball and eventually avalanche. I just wanted to come back, get completions, be real smart, take care of the football, no more stupid decisions, especially in the red zone, let the running game work for us, get completions and build on that. Then when it comes time to make a play, you just have to make a play at times and we seem to do that. It's nice having help like we did.
On having a short-term memory…
It's good or bad. You throw five touchdowns in the first half, you have to come back and it has to be 0-0. It's so cliché to say stuff like that, but it's really true. Coach Cavanaugh did a great job at halftime just keeping my head into it, keeping me calm and relaxed and getting me ready for that second half. That was big time.
On how much it has helped his development this year to have Edwards and Holmes…
It's huge. They'll bail you out with great catches, very good routes, just being smart and talking to me all game. That was Braylon and Santonio all first half and halftime. They came up saying, "You're good. You're fine. We're going to hit our rhythm. We're going to hit our stride." Both of them said that multiple times. It would have been easy for them to kind of say, "Yeah, he's out of it, he's not playing well, I can't count on him," or whatever, and they were there to build me up, so that was important. We have a great relationship, so it helps us.
On if it takes the pressure off him when Coach Ryan puts a loss on his own shoulders…
I think we all own up to it and we all know that we had our share of poor decisions, bad plays and bad throws. That's just the way it goes. He's comfortable taking a lot of the blame and that's fine, too. He wants to protect our guys. We all lost and we all felt bad about it, but it's time to bounce back and learn from those mistakes, and we'll be ready to play.
On if he has to cope with feeling like he has to match Brady's performance…
Maybe my first year I thought about that a little more, about how the other quarterback is doing and trying to match him and have better stats and a better rating. If you play like the way you're supposed to, if you focus on the defense like you're supposed to, get completions, make plays when you get your opportunities, inevitably things will go right. There's no real way to track what Tom is doing. It's not even worth your time. Just like he's not worried about another quarterback. He's worried about the defense, not me.
On how long it took him to understand that he did not have to be perfect all the time and that he could depend on his teammates…
I think that's the way our offense is kind of built. We have so many playmakers that guys will bail you out. You can't count on that all the time. You want to be perfect and then at the right times guys will make their plays, and when it's my turn, I need to make them. When Braylon, Santonio, LT need to make a big run or Nick Mangold needs to make a big block, we'll do it and it happens. When we're playing our best, guys help each other out, pick up the slack.
On if Indianapolis underscored that they are still a run-first offense at their core…
We definitely established the run there and part of that was because I wasn't throwing the ball very well. I think, honestly, when we're the best, I've said it all year, is when we're balanced and we kind of feed off of each other. The completions come with good runs and the good runs come with some completions, so I like being balanced, but I don't know exactly what the run/pass numbers were.
On how he would characterize the way he likes to present himself to the world…
Number one, I've always respected the other team and I respect all these players. They're putting in a lot of hard work, and coaches. To me, it's just not worth saying too much before the game, even after the game. You respect those guys as competitors and I just don't really get in to the bulletin-board material stuff, but that's just me.
On Shonn Greene…
He's a bruiser. He's a tough back. Shonn, he really comes on at the end of the season and it helps LT, it helps the offensive line and he's just kind of that extra boost. It looks like he has fresh legs. He's tough. He'll lower his head and hit you, so it makes it tough on defenders trying to tackle him.
On if any opponent has ever said anything about him that annoyed him…
You spend so much time focusing on your preparation and what they're doing on film, there's not a lot of time to read the newspapers and watch TV and see what somebody says about you. It doesn't matter.
On if his accuracy problems against the Colts were a product of his bad shoulder…
I think I was just not throwing the ball very well. Some days you're off, but you have to find a way to make it work. I think we did that, just making completions underneath, being smart, taking our shots when we got them and giving our guys a chance. That was the most important thing. It wasn't the best throw in the world to Braylon and I'm not afraid to admit that. He made a really good catch. However it has to happen, we won the game, we're in the divisional round and that's all we needed.
On how his shoulder feels…
Honestly, it feels the best it has felt in three or four weeks. I was full-practice today for the first time in a while and that was huge. We know it's getting better and that's the most important thing is week by week it's getting better, so I'm ready to go.
On how much confidence he has in Wayne Hunter to replace Damien Woody at right tackle…
A ton of confidence. Wayne's done such a great job of respecting Damien and that it is his right tackle position, but at the same time, when he has gotten his opportunities, he's taken over and he hasn't missed a beat. I was really proud of the way he's played. He's into it, he's excited, he smiles, he's having fun and he's a tough competitor. I'm fired up for him. I couldn't be happier for him. Then to see Woody out, it kills you, so it's a bittersweet feeling. They're both great players and tough competitors, so I feel safe either way.
On if he can say how bad his shoulder really was now that it is feeling better…
It's feeling good now and that's the most important thing. Nothing our trainers can't handle.
On if it speaks to his confidence level that he went back to Edwards with the game on the line and with a similar throw…
One, you can't change what you're doing because you're not playing well. You never lose your confidence. You might throw different routes, you might try and throw it a different way, but you never lose your confidence. Even if you miss 10 in a row, that number 11 is going to be a strike and you just have to know that. That's kind of the way I felt, and Braylon had beaten him before. It was pretty good defense on the play and Braylon made a great snag.
On how frustrating it was to miss Edwards on the long throw down the sideline before that…
Oh, he was wide open. He scores, runs out of the stadium. We would take a knee and the game is over. That was a killer and you don't get many second opportunities, but when we did, we made the most of it. You don't want to miss that one too often.
On if he expects to have some openings to throw on the outside to the receivers against New England…
We'll take our chances on the outside, like we do each game. We'll take calculated shots, like we always do. We'll be smart with all our throws and understand we're playing outside, tough environment, probably real cold, maybe windy, so all those things will play into it and we'll see how the game unfolds. We'll be ready to make all the throws.
On if Edwards knew he was going to him again when many thought they would run one more time and then attempt the field goal…
I think he had a pretty good idea of what was coming. We knew by down and distance, we had a good idea of one or two different coverages and the coverage they gave us, we took our shot to Braylon. As soon as I called the play, he kind of knew what was going on because I told him on the sideline before that I missed him on the go-route earlier. The guy had pressed him up man-to-man, he was wide open, running away from him and I missed him, so I told him, "If we get another shot at it, be ready to go," and he definitely was.
On the benefit of having Coach Schottenheimer again this year…
Just being in the same system. [Mark] Brunell said that yesterday, actually. He said, "That would be the best thing for you in year three, four and five, just having the same kind of system, same calls." It's huge because you work with him all offseason and now I'm hearing the same calls again year two, so it's really important. It helps your growth.
On his non-football relationship with Schottenheimer…
His family is at the facility all the time. I'm close with [his wife] Gemmi. His dad, Marty, is around quite a bit and offering his two cents all the time. It's so cool to hear his dad talk and sit in on meetings and have fun, joke around. We have a great relationship. We know when it's time to work, we know when it's time to have fun. He has two beautiful kids and we hang out, so it's a good time whenever they're around.
On if their relationship off the field helps the trust factor on the field…
I think it helps, having a relationship off the field and you trust each other. I don't know if he'd let me babysit yet. It's probably a smart move on his part [joking].
On what kind of trouble he would get Schottenheimer's kids into…
I don't know. It would be bad.
