Transcripts of selected interviews with Jets players after Tuesday's morning training camp practice:
LB BART SCOTT
On Mark Sanchez's slide into the end zone…
Like I told the rook, that's a bad career decision. Once you roll out I might blank out. I don't know what the red jersey means sometimes [smiling]. You come out towards me, I'm going to come out towards you. But I blinked back into reality and I jumped out of the way, but bad career move, rook. Throw it away. Live to fight another day.
On how close the defense is to where it could be…
We still have a long way to go. I think we have plenty of time to pretty much get it. But I think we're making strides. Like with anything, you have to make the mistakes. That's what practice is all about. You make the mistakes, you go back and you talk about it. Once we all are on the same page, and know just how important each guy is for each position and each defense, and we've been put in some awkward situations, we'll be ready.
The good thing is our offense is very unpredictable, so it forces us to communicate, forces us to know our checks, forces us to move on the fly. When we play a team that doesn't move from left to right, that's going to allow us to pretty much sit there and laugh. Our offense is shifting, extra lineman, motioning over, really forcing us to think.
On enjoying watching the quarterbacks struggle to find open receivers…
It's great because in a perfect world, eventually that pass rush is going to get there. And we're joined at the hip. The better coverage you have, the more sacks you should have. They work hand-in-hand: the more interceptions you have, the better pressure you should have off the edge.
We realize how important it is and appreciate how hard those guys' jobs are in the back to hold up. Especially to be on an island like we put our corners sometimes. Whenever you can do that and can make the quarterback submit or throw the ball away or run the football, then it's a great job. Whenever you can get a free shot at the quarterback and maybe get him up out of there, it's good.
QB KELLEN CLEMENS
On the goal line drills…
It was good. Rex [Ryan] made it live, which obviously turns the tempo up. The defense got a stop, the offense scored, defense got a stop, offense scored. I think it was pretty evenly matched.
On the QB keepers…
Those were Schotty [Brian Schottenheimer]'s calls. We had it called on about three or four plays but we looked to see if there was an opportunity that presented itself. Fortunately, on a play that I gambled, it worked. That's always better than when you come around and there is a guy waiting for you.
On practice feeling more like football with live drills and contact…
Games are won in terms of goal line and that is certainly one area of the field where a team's heart and desire shows up. Obviously that is something that we are trying to really make a big part of what we do, get the guys on the goal line and then score offensively, and we have the mentality that we are not in until we're in. We were very evenly matched today. I thought both sides did good.
The other thing is that it was nice to get out on the grass, too. That kind of brings us back to our roots a bit.
On what he said to Bart Scott…
Just a little friendly banter [laughter]. Hopefully, there are no hard feelings.
On the last time he saw Schottenheimer so excited…
Schotty is an emotional guy. He shows it on good plays and bad and you always know where he stands, especially when Rex says it is live. That puts a little more pride on the line for both sides of the ball.
On the upcoming scrimmage…
I think the Green & White game is a good chance for everybody to do a little evaluation of where they are at. For me it is all about completions and making good decisions in the pass game and the run game. With the defense it's getting the ball back for us. We have to have some sustained drives. We are going to be able to run the ball well, which is good, convert third downs when we have to, and keep the chains moving.
On the bootleg at the goal line…
It was Schotty's call. He saw some things they were doing and said if it was there to keep it. It's always a good thing when you take that gamble and it pays off. It's a credit to how much of a threat Thomas [Jones] is coming off the outside. They have to put all 11 guys in there to stop him. A lot of times they forget about little old me standing there.
On the physicality of the goal line drill…
It was awesome. Rex made it live so that stepped up the tempo. Games are won and lost in the trenches. It was a good drill. For the most part it was pretty evenly matched. Defense won their share and offense won ours. It was a good drill and again, a live-tempo drill. We got done what we needed to get done and nobody got hurt. We'll watch the tape and move on.
QB MARK SANCHEZ
On diving into the end zone in front of LB Bart Scott during the goal line drill…
I had a touchdown for sure [laughing]. He's just giving me a hard time. He coached me up on it afterwards, telling me what to do to project myself and obviously go for the end zone as well. It's good to have guys like that on the team who give you a little razzing here and there and at the same time they'll help coach you, so it was good.
On if it was fun to go through goal-line,/short-yardage situations…
It was cool. Coach Ryan said it best: "This is a man's practice. This is short yardage, this is who wants it more." You pretty much know what the team is going to do, a little trickery there with Kellen pulling the ball at the end and beating Kerry Rhodes. That was a big-time play and a smart move by Kellen.
Most of the time, it's just "run it up in there" and you may as well point out where we are going. They know and everybody digs in and let's go. That was great, to see what our team's all about, and it obviously wasn't one-sided. That's important, too. Both teams are fighting and we'll be good in that situation.
On what he hopes to show in Thursday's Green & White Scrimmage…
Just being smart and managing the game and being smart with the ball. Also moving the chains and knowing the situation. In practice every day, you work on a specific situation. Today it was short yardage and goal line, sometimes it's four-minute offense, two-minute offense, and in the scrimmage, any of those situations pop up at any time. It's time to put all that practice into play, know what situation it is, and show that by the way you play.
On his growing confidence…
I feel a lot better. This is the third time the plays have been installed. First in OTA, then we had a couple days of practice right before we reported for camp in Cortland, and now I'm getting all of these plays for the third time. It's really starting to sink in. I'm feeling good, I'm asking the right questions and I'm performing a lot better. It's good.
On what he does at night…
Sometimes it's time for playbook stuff and sometimes you just shoot Coach Schotty or Coach Cavanaugh a text message — "Hey, call me back when you get a second" — and you just talk a little one-on-one play you want to get ironed out or "What's our read on this? I know we changed the read from yesterday," and you focus on one little thing.
Other than that, you just get down and get some sleep. The smart guys, they're not up playing video games, they're not up walking around, hanging out, sitting out in the sun. Just get down, close the blinds, get under the covers and go to sleep. That's what I'm trying to do and wake up fresh for the next practice.
On if he's gone out to do anything fun after practice…
This is fun. I was telling everybody yesterday that I used to love the fact that camp was around the corner. Come August, you kind of have this time clock and then, when you're still in school, it's like "Aw, man, we have school in two weeks." I wish we could just keep going through camp, and now you get to just play. You keep playing and there are no classes and it's all meetings. This is very fun. I wouldn't want to do anything else.
On if he has caught his "second wind" since the start of camp…
I think a lot of people looked at it as "Man, we have extra practices." The rookies had two days of double days right before we came up, so this past Thursday was our day off. We came up to camp and had two practices already so we got that soreness out. Thursday we were really sore and I got in the ice tubs up here. On Friday we came out and I haven't been sore since.
I'm just throwing a lot of balls but taking care of it after. The training staff is awesome. [Head trainer] John Mellody, [assistant trainer] Josh [Koch] and [assistant trainer] Dave [Zuffelato], they're great. They give us massages, they put the ice bags on, they use the stim unit — it's everything you want. It's perfect. They're giving us extra stretches to do, so I haven't been sore once. Maybe that's my youth, maybe it's that I'm real excited, I have a lot of adrenaline running or something, but I'm feeling good.
On if Scott said he would be sore if Scott tackled him on his end zone dive…
He said, "Bad career move" [laughing] so obviously I want to go back and look at it on film. But there will hopefully be a situation someday in my career where it's me or the other guy and I'm betting on me. Whereas Bart Scott or anybody on defense would bet on themselves and that's just the way you have to play it as a quarterback, whether you're a rookie or not.
I think you like that. That was one thing, talk a little smack to me and get after me a little bit, but at the same time I think he kind of admired the fact that "Hey, this guy's going for it. Whether he's young or not, he's going to take it." That's important, too, and like I said, it's great to have Scott to come back to and bounce some ideas off of him. I said, "What's the toughest thing for you to react to in this situation?" and he gave me a couple pointers, so that was great.
On the bootleg play…
We were supposed to have a delayed leak-out route in the back of the end zone and we didn't get it, so I just tried to pump-fake and, he [Scott]'s pretty quick. He got under me real fast.
On eating the ball…
I thought I was down to the two-minute mark, so it wouldn't matter if I threw an incompletion. He was talking to me about the range. If there's 2:03 left and we have a pass play on and we're ahead in the fourth quarter, "go ahead and throw an incompletion" since the three seconds are going to go anyway and the clock is going to stop. If there's 2:10, 2:15, you might not eat up all that clock and have the clock stop before the two-minute and give them two timeouts. It's a fine line right there. He's coaching me tough and that's what I need. He's exactly right.
On how he felt during the 7-on-7 period…
I felt good. I felt right-on. I was delivering the ball well, the guys were running the right routes, and it shows that the chemistry is getting better and better and things are improving. Wallace Wright — still my guy [laughing]. He was doing well again, he's all over the place.
I think all the quarterbacks — Clemens, [Erik] Ainge, [Chris] Pizzotti — all of us checked the ball down really well today and gave Danny [Woodhead] and Leon [Washington] and those guys a chance to run after the catch, where you can really make some big yards. That's where you improve your completion percentage, so it was good.
TE KEVIN BROCK
On what he thinks he can bring to the table…
Another willing blocker trying to make my mark wherever I can. Anything, special teams, whatever it takes.
On how Rutgers prepared him for the pros…
At Rutgers I did a little bit of everything. Earlier in my career, mostly blocking. As I started playing more I got integrated into the passing game. I'm no stranger to the blocking. We run plays, that's what I like to do. I enjoy it and it wins games. I'm happy to do it.
On what happened in Carolina…
Things happen with the numbers. It's part of the business. You just have to move on. It's a great opportunity to be here in New York and I'm happy to be here.
On what it's like to go from one system to the next…
It's like starting minicamp all over again. I have to take the accelerated course and move from day one to day six and make some plays here.
