Transcript of quarterback Mark Sanchez's weekly news conference at his locker following Wednesday's midday practice at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center:
On how his nose feels…
Feeling good.
On if the week following the loss is more intense…
We treat all the games the same. Obviously, this is a big game; an AFC game for us, a rivalry game for Rex [Ryan], but at the same time we need to make corrections from last game and play better on the road. Protect the football on offense, and just elevate our play as an entire team. It's another good challenge. This one's no bigger than the next. I know we have a good stretch of games here and we would've liked to have won last week, so we'll clean it up.
On how much conversation there has been about protecting him…
Nothing's changed. We pride ourselves in protecting the quarterback. That's a part of me making sure I understand the protections, making sure I get the ball out on time. And when I do stretch a play out to the sidelines, to get rid of it in time or complete the ball early enough to where I'm not putting myself in harm's way. The onus is on me, just as much as anybody else.
On facing the Ravens defense…
This is one of the best groups we'll face all year, a physical group. They know their schemes really well. They've played together for a long time, so this is probably one of the best team's we'll play, and we need to play well on the road, answer the call, and play well against this really good team.
On if it'll be an emotional week with so many connections between the Ravens and Jets…
I think that's always part of it, any time you play a team that a lot of guys on your team have played for. Sure, they want to win. Coming off of a loss anyway, we just want to get back on the field, we don't care who it is. That's not taking anything away from the Ravens, they're a great team, and we're going to need to play our very best football, take care of the ball on offense and score, and not get throttled on third down. Yeah, they're excited, of course, but we just have to play well again.
On if a team could survive passing the ball at the rate the Jets currently do…
We're 2-1. I think we had opportunities to win last week's game. Whatever it takes to win, I'm fully on board. Whether it's throwing for 300-plus yards, that's all well and good, but if we don't win the game then nobody's happy. Really, whatever it takes. If that means [we need to] run the ball more, if that means get more completions and be more effective in the passing game, then fine. Then we need to do that. It doesn't matter to me what we do, as long as we're winning games. I'm totally cool with running the ball a bunch.
On the Jets identity as a running team…
Just looking at this past game, I think we had to throw it there at the end, so that obviously upped our numbers. Sure, our rushing attack has been great these past couple of years, and we're still trying to find our way. We have a couple of guys banged up and a couple new schemes that we're trying to implement. We don't want to take all of our playmakers off the field in the pass game. We'll see how we keep coming along, but whatever it takes to win. If it puts more pressure on the passing offense, then we need to play better.
On how aware he needs to be of Ed Reed…
I wish I had another set of eyes. [Joking] He's one of those guys who's that good. He's so smart and savvy in the back end there. He just kind of plays centerfield. Sure, he plays his scheme and knows his assignment, but at the same time, he has a real good feel for things. Same thing with Ray Lewis and [Terrell] Suggs and [Jarret] Johnson, all those guys. They're some of the best players we'll play all year. It's going to be a good challenge for us and I'm excited about it.
On if quarterbacks tend to get too rattled going up against Reed…
I don't know. You never want to change too much. Obviously, you don't want to telegraph anything. You don't just want to stare something down and expect him not to be there, because that's where he does so well. You're not going to change your drops, and change where you're looking. You don't want to be a bobblehead back there. You want to go through your stuff, trust your eyes and watch the film and prepare. Same thing with a Troy Polamalu or somebody like that. When you play against those guys, sure, you're taking your chances throwing the ball down the field, but at the same time, you can't just change your entire game plan.
On if he has to find Reed before every play…
You've got to find the safeties every game. A lot of the times they give you tips and stuff. Where pressures coming from, but he does such a good job disguising, so as much as you want to find him, you don't want to get up in it, and really just get stuck out there trying to find him and forget what's going on on the rest of the field, because then they can really hurt you. The bottom line is, really prepare, understand what looks are coming, and then at the end, you've got to relax and just trust your reads.
On if he's concerned about the Ravens pass rush…
It's another example and another reason why I need to get rid of the football. I have a plan when I come to the line, understand the plan, the protection, and don't stand back there and hold it, because they'll make you pay and knock you out of the game. So you've got to be ready to go against these guys.
On evaluating his own play through the first three weeks…
I feel like we're 2-1. My play's reflective of that, as well. There's been some great throws, and some great reads and great decisions, and then there have been a couple of bonehead decisions that would have made our offense look a lot better and potentially helped us win that game last week. Is there room for improvement? No question. I think there have been some good highlights so far. We'll keep working and getting better. The most important thing is good decisions. The bad throws will happen, but real good decisions, especially in the red zone like last week, you can't have that [interception].
On if during his rookie season he ever thought he would have a 300-yard passing game…
I guess so. Even as a rookie, you're so concerned with protection and alignment and you're drop and you're read, that the stats at the end of the game, are like, who cares? As long as we win the game. Now, you kind of have an idea how the game's going. What your completion percentage is as you're going through the game. You know when you're hot, you know when you're not getting a lot of completions and you need to start. I just have a better feel for things. You dream about throwing for 300 all the time. That's really cool. It's fun, but at the end of the day we want to win games. It's not about stats for anybody on this team, we just want to win.
On what changes when he's not playing with his regular center…
We have a luxury of having Nick Mangold. A lot of times he'll take care of some things at the line that I'll see maybe on the film after the game, [and say], "Oh yeah, that was a great call, man," or whatever it is.
On what he means by "take care of things"…
He does a good job of identifying fronts and stuff like that. It's stuff that I'm in tune with, but a lot of stuff you take for granted. He can change stuff on the move, where I can't communicate to the line once I start dropping back. Nick can, and he'll do that. Where Colin's [Baxter] just a little more inexperienced, but he's done a heck of a job. We're really proud of the way he's fought and battled and competed and made great improvements from the first chance he got to play to his first start. So he's done a good job.
On comparing where he was as a quarterback vs. the Ravens last year as compared to now…
I feel more comfortable and I'm really trusting my eyes. If anything, at times I've gotten too comfortable and felt like I can throw anything. I'd rather be that way, then scared to make throws. I'd rather have to pull back on the reigns a little bit than be scared to throw the ball, but at the same time last year, if you really look at our game plan, knowing what went on inside of the building, with the intricacies of our game plan. We had so many plays and so many specific plays for one specific look, and then you're hearing from other coaches, "Be really careful," and "Watch out for this guy."
There was so much going into it that you're almost stuck at the line. You're almost frozen there trying to make it just right. And this game is not like that. It doesn't happen like that. Things change. Guys move. Protections get busted. You miss a read. Things happen. I don't think we had very good contingency plans for it. We were trying to be too perfect. We just got to go play and let our offense work for itself. Like I said, trust my eyes, know the drop, prepare my butt off, and then at the end of the day, go play and win the game.
On if the game slows down when a player gets more experienced…
Sure, it starts to. I think where it's really slowed down is in those two minute drills, towards the end of the game, in crunch time, where I didn't have a lot of experience with that, going into my rookie and even all through my rookie year. At USC, we didn't have to come back and win a lot, we were on top of a lot of those games. We ran away with a bunch of games. Now, I've gotten that experience under my belt. I understand you don't have to throw it 50 yards down the field to make 50 yards. You can give it to a guy like LT [LaDainian Tomlinson] or Santonio [Holmes] underneath and they can create for you. So I think I'm more comfortable in that situation, that's for sure.
On Forbes ranking him the most overpaid player in the NFL…
That's another stat. I don't know. It doesn't matter.
On if he feels he is targetted…
You're playing quarterback in New York. That kind of stuff happens. Just like [when] you win the divisional game against the New England Patriots, you can do no wrong. It goes both ways. I'll just try and stay in the middle and try to win games. We've got Baltimore this week, so I'll focus on that.
