The Jets' three coordinators —Brian Schottenheimer (offense), Mike Pettine (defense) and Mike Westhoff (special teams) — will speak briefly with reporters every week. Here are some highlights of their separate news conferences Thursday afternoon:
BRIAN SCHOTTENHEIMER
Former Jets quarterback Brett Favre, now the Vikings' starting QB, had some things to say concerning the injury to his right shoulder that he played with during the final stages of last season. Schottenheimer spent plenty of time with No. 4 last season, and he said he was "surprised" at the timing of Favre's comments. But he is still a big fan of Favre.
"I talked to Brett on Sunday. You guys know how I feel about him. I love the guy. I wouldn't do anything different," Schottenheimer said. "I wish we would have gone on and won a Super Bowl, but I consider him a close friend. I wish him nothing but the best of luck. He'll have some fun this weekend against Cleveland, I'm sure."
Brian's father, of course, is Marty Schottenheimer, the former head coach for the San Diego Chargers. Marty sat rookie Phillip Rivers for a couple years while grooming him under Drew Brees. Brian said Marty's been paying close attention to his son's work with the Jets and Mark Sanchez, their rookie quarterback and likes what he sees from No. 6.
"A lot of people have said that if Philip hadn't held out that year — he had a long holdout — he would have beaten out Drew," said Brian. "That was a lot of people's feelings. I think it is very individualized. It depends on the player.
"I think Mark has the right mental makeup to handle it. Not many things bother him. It is a good thing, I think. Maybe it's California, I don't know."
Schottenheimer said his game plan has not been "dialed back at all" for Sanchez.
"I'm sure he'll have some butterflies. All of the players will," said Coach Schotty. "In talking to Mark, it's about getting him into a little bit of a roll for the season. He is learning his routine and how Saturday needs to go, and how his Sunday morning during pregame. I am excited to watch him go and play. I think he'll have a good job. He'll have an enthusiasm about him and I think he'll do well."
The coach said Kellen Clemens' elbow is not bad enough to keep him out should he be called on to play Sunday. "Kellen's a tough guy," Schottenheimer said. "We have been blessed to have tough guys."
MIKE PETTINE
Pettine is looking forward to seeing what his guys are made of in his first game as the Jets' D-coordinator. "We're confident that we're going to put something out on the field that we're going to be proud of," he said.
Though Vernon Gholston will be starting his first game in place of Calvin Pace, he won't draw the difficult task of taking every defensive snap. "He's responsible for the whole plan, but we have other options as well," said Pettine.
"It would be tough to ask Vernon in his first start going down to an environment like that to say, 'Hey, we're going to throw you out there for every snap.' Some packages he is up in, some packages he's not. The flow of the game and what they're giving us from a personnel standpoint and what they're running at us will dictate how much he's out there. But he figures to be a significant part of the plan."
MIKE WESTHOFF
Seven punters have been on the Jets' roster this off-season and preseason, to Westhoff's dismay.
"It's just been frustrating, in a way," he said. "Our whole thing there is to just get the absolute best guy we can, by whatever means it takes. We were hoping we'd be moving in the right direction and it was just too much inconsistency.
"We feel like we have a very good coverage team, but [the punting] really just was not to the standards that we were going to accept. You know, you just get a ball in the middle of the field without any hang time, it's going to kill us."
The Jets signed P Steve Weatherford after the Jaguars released him last week. He's made several stops heading into his fourth NFL season, but if he keeps up his consistency, he may have found a home.
"This guy punted in the league and had done a pretty nice job," said Westhoff. "Jacksonville was flirting with the idea of keeping him and releasing their veteran. So we took a shot and we think it will be fine. He's punted very well so far in practice. We just hope it will continue."
