Transcript: Rex Ryan, 12.14
On Mark Sanchez’s injury…
I’m not sure yet. I met briefly with the doctors, but that was mainly discussing how we came out of the game. Mark did a great job of getting the treatment over the weekend. I think on Wednesday, we’ll see how he feels. Hopefully, we can split the reps up with him and (Kellen) Clemens on Wednesday and we’ll see how he feels.
On if there is a rush to get Sanchez back…No, we’ll never rush somebody back. Much like last week, I’ll check with the medical staff and make the decision based on the player first and our team second. I’ll never put a player in a situation where he can’t protect himself, number one, or if it is not in the best interest of himself or the team. We’ll see how it is. I have confidence, though. I thought he would play last week at the beginning of the week on a Monday, but I was wrong. I think we made the right decision. Those three extra days of treatment are going to help Mark. We’ll see what it’s like on Wednesday.
On if he’s talked to Sanchez since the game…
You know the way Mark is. I haven’t actually talked to him today. We’ve been a little busy, but obviously, I will. I can guarantee you that he was chomping at the bit watching that game. I’m sure he’s proud of his teammates. The kind of young man he is, he wants to be out there in the worst way.
On if he hopes to have a quarterback decision made by Wednesday…
Well, no. I want to see how he gets through Wednesday’s practice. Let’s see how he’s feeling. The sooner the better. It may take a couple of days to figure this out. You know me, I’m not a guy that is just going to string it along and know a decision and not say anything about it. Clearly, if Mark is going to be playing, I want him to get the majority of the snaps, just like I would if Kellen is going to be playing. We’ll just see how it plays out on Wednesday. I (have) to talk to the doctors. It will be about the same thing we did last week: make sure we’re doing the right thing for Mark and for our football team.
On if he anticipates Sanchez practicing on Wednesday…
I do.
On if Sanchez was at the facility on Saturday and Sunday…
Yes. That and I think he ended up (spending) a little time on Woody’s (Johnson) farm with Dave Szott (Director, Player Development), probably to get away from things. He has been getting a lot of treatment. He got treatment for at least 10 hours during the day. I know he’s tired of treatment and rehab.
On when Sanchez went to Mr. Johnson’s farm…
I think he went, I’m not a hundred percent sure, on Saturday.
On what prompted Sanchez’s trip to the farm…
I think he just wanted to go shoot something (laughter). No, to be honest, I have no idea.
On if there were any injuries during the game…
No, I think we got out of it healthy. We had a couple of assistant coaches that were sick, but who cares (laughing). Other than that, we’re just fine.
On if the doctors have told him anything about Sanchez having a setback with his knee…
No. I feel good about him playing. Again, I felt good about him playing last Monday. When I talked to the doctors, it ended up being in the best interests of Mark not to play. I think this week we’ll see. Obviously, I’m going to lean heavily on our medical staff, our doctors and trainers before I make a decision. I’ve said it for a long time, that the decisions we make will always be in the best interest of the player, regarding injuries, the player first and the team second.
On how he is approaching the playoff race with the team…
They know how I feel. Our official stance is it’s improbable right now.
On what his unofficial stance regarding the playoff race is…
All I’ve got to say is it’s improbable. That’s the way everybody will approach it right now. Our stance is we believe we’re going to win every game. That’s the way it’s been from day one. That’s the way it will always be. We’ll go into every single game, no slight to our opponents, but we’re going to believe in ourselves. We believe in our players, the coaches, the organization and that hasn’t changed since I got here.
On looking back at the games the team lost…
Well, I believe it was Satchel Paige who said, “Don’t look back, something could be gaining on you.” We’re just going to look forward. All we can do is affect the present and the future, so that’s all we’re doing right now.
On if Sanchez will play this Sunday if he’s close to being healthy…
If he’s healthy, then he will be in there. If we think that he’s ready to go, then he’ll be in there.
On the cornerbacks playing well…
No question about that. I think Lito (Sheppard) has been playing great. When you look at it, we’ve given up one third-down in the last 25 attempts. That’s pretty decent. I think two out of the last 38 third downs have been converted against us. I think we’re playing okay on defense. Our guys are more familiar with what we’re doing. I think the preparation has been great. When I looked at the stats, I think we’re number one in first downs a game, three-and-outs, total yards, total per play, which makes about eight weeks in a row, first in points allowed even though we gave up eight touchdowns on returns when the defense wasn’t out there. I think pretty much the plan’s in place. I thought we’d be kind of in a groove here defensively as the year went on, with people being familiar with our system, understanding this is their defense now. It’s not Baltimore’s defense. It’s the New York Jets defense. Our guys are getting a great grasp of it.
On if he has a better grasp of the defense in terms of how to use different personnel…
Yes, no question.
On an example of using particular defensive players in certain roles…
Sometimes you look at the strengths of a team, you look at the weaknesses (and) matchups. Really when I say ‘me,’ I mean, Mike (Pettine), Dennis Thurman, Bob Sutton and the entire coaches over there. I think we have a great grasp of what our players can do, maybe what the limitations are, but what the strengths are as well. I think we’re really playing to the strengths of our players right now.
On if there will be any ramifications for Bart Scott’s penalty…
Yeah, that might be a private issue. But, absolutely, there’s going to be some ramifications for Bart (Scott). I’ll just let him tell you. He’ll find out on Wednesday. It’s good news/bad news for Bart (laughter). Absolutely, we’ve got a few things (laughter).
On opening the game with three safeties…
No, I knew going in to open the game, I (wanted) to get a three-safety look, match Kerry up on Kellen Winslow, to play a certain defensive call that we’ve been working on. That’s why I knew he’d be starting, but I wasn’t going to be telling everybody that Eric (Smith) was going to be starting as well. It was something that I knew was going to happen. As the game went on, Kerry played more snaps than Eric. We’re going to play all these guys. This time of year, you’ve got to rely on the depth of your team. Kerry Rhodes played his best game since I’ve been here. He was tremendous. (He) had a couple of big hits, a great play in the running game. Obviously, the interception he made was an outstanding play. It almost looked like mentally, everything else, that this was his best game.
On Jay Feely…
I love the fact that he’s a football player. Yeah, he’s a kicker, but he’s a football player. He goes down, he makes hits, he practices hard. The guys really respect him. A lot of kickers don’t get that respect. You really have to earn it. He clearly is a guy that has earned their respect. He’s smart, he’s a good teammate, he’s a guy that I certainly appreciate. It’s unfortunate that the snap was high, or he’s not going to miss that kick either. That was a tough field to kick on. He launched a couple of 49-yarders, I think, (maybe a) 48-yarder. The one miss he had, he hit it well, but it was a high snap, our timing was off. That’s the only reason I think he missed it. But he’s having an outstanding year. He can kick in poor conditions, and never complains one iota about the way the turf is. He’s different. Some kickers have to have everything right, where Jay, it doesn’t really matter. Get the ball snapped and he’ll give it a shot.
On giving the players Monday off…
We’re probably the last team in the League to do this, unless there’s some obvious things, teams that haven’t won lately. They definitely earned it. It was really warm out there. I thought we were getting in late, it’s an appropriate thing to give them the little extra rest and be ready to go. We’re going to have to play a physical football team when the Atlanta Falcons come in here. We’ve got to be ready to roll.
“You know me, I’m not a guy that is just going to string it along and know a decision and not say anything about it. ”
Zing, Mr. Mangini
Also: On Jay Feely…
I love the fact that he’s a football player. Yeah, he’s a kicker, but he’s a football player. He goes down, he makes hits…
Right, he was on the 20 yard line trying to get a hit on Ted Ginn twice and no one was back at midfield to slow him down.
Let’s all hope that Sanchez is back as Clemens barely played better than the Bucs Freeman and Freeman is a rookie.
What’s the one play that doomed us this year if we don’t make the playoffs.
a) Hartsock’s penalty
b) Ginn’s 2nd TD return
c) Sanchez’s INT in Buffalo in overtime
d) Miscommunication between Leanord and Rhodes on the final drive against Jax.
The 1 play that would’ve been our play of the year (would’ve made our season) was the Keller catch on 4th and long in the 2nd Dolphins game. Had we won that game, that would have been the play we look back on as the play of the year.
YES, PLEASE GOD, PLEASE LET SANCHEZ BE HEALTHY ENOUGH TO PLAY AGAINST THE FALCONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Before the game against the Bucs, there were a number of posters on these thread who kept apologizing for K. Clemens, saying he never had a good team around him in 2007, he never had any preparation for the game two weeks ago, the fans were unfair to him, he was a class guy (which he is), he just never had a chance to show what he can do.
Now maybe they’ll finally admit it: KC just can’t play. He’s a mediocre back-up QB at best. Other than a couple of nice passes here and there, he was just plain awful this past Sunday. His footwork was awful, his pocket awareness was awful, his timing was awful, he missed his receivers again and again and again.
KC was no real threat through the air through most of the game, so much so that one of the WORST TEAMS AGAINST THE RUN IN THE LEAGUE went a long way toward limiting our run game, just by loading up the box.
All of which is to say, even with all of his rookie mistakes,
W E
N E E D
S A N C H E Z
B A C K
A S A P !!!!!!!!!!!!
Ronnie: In overtime against Buffalo, Thomas Jones broke through for a big gain inside the 15. A holding call negated the play. That was the play of doom.
Ronnie-
My play of doom was where it all began, the first game we lost, which was also the first game we should have won:
After an absolutely tremendous goal line stance against the Saints, Sanchez gives the ball right back to them, and NO scores a TD.
It must have ripped the very soul right out of our D.
From that moment on, our season was never the same.
I must say, All these players i just read on these transcripts loves playing for the Jets.
Thank You Rex
Ben, just a tad contradictory there, first its WE NEED SANCHEZ BACK then the play of doom was Sanchez?
So we need him back so he can provide another play of doom?
The GAME of doom was the BUF game, that is the one game they lost AT HOME vs. a team with a losing record.
And Sanchez lost that game.
QB is the weak link on this team.
If you want to kill Clemens by all means go ahead, he disappointed me by missing a few easy throws, but realize IF they miss the playoffs it isbecause of Sanchez.
He has had many, many bad throws this year, yet some of you make him out to be a super star.
He may or may not develop into our franchise QB, but he has mostly sucked this year.
KC fan club-
It’s not contradictory at all: despite his rookie mistakes, Sanchez is simply the best QB we have. No one else on the squad comes close.
Clemens absolutely sucks (he’s worse than Brad Smith)–but KC is the guy Rex is going to go with if MS is not healthy.
So, yes, I hope Sanchez come back asap.
KC fan, yes, Sanchez cost us a few games, but honestly, the game that I’d want back the most is Miami-2, and Sanchez really had nothing to do with that loss. KC took ALL of the snaps in practice and had an extra-long week to prepare for the Bucs and he was still unimpressive at best. A 4-year veteran QB should not look that inept against a 1-11 team. I know you like the guy and I honestly feel that he’s gotten the short end of the stick as Jet, but lets face reality, Sanchez is at worst, at par with the guy and has no where to go but up. For his own sake KC should seek a fresh start somewhere else.
To be honest Sanchez has made some really dumb bonehead plays but its not all on him. As a 23 year old rookie he should have never even had the ball in his hands to make the mistakes he made.
Bottom line is Schotty used Chez to try and get a head coaching gig. It started out great at 3-0 and then the rookie wall came in to play. Ive seen it a million times with rookie QBs in the league, its the same story over and over. There is reason they are called “rookie mistakes” To judge the kid any other way is completely UNFAIR.
If Schottenhiemer called the game the way Rex wanted it to be called, alot of Chez’s mistakes would be erased. Im not saying Rex isnt at fault here, but he s a rookie coach who is entitled to make mistakes, thats what life is basically.
I was very encouraged by what Chez did in the Buffalo game, you take away the two dropped passes and his line would have been like 9-14 for close to 150 yds and 2 TDs, 0 Ints in the first half. He made one bad throw against a team that made him look like he never threw a football before.
To all the KC apologists, as person KC is a great guy. True stand-up family man, god fearing, classy dude. As a football player, he is as run of the mill as they come. Whether you want to believe it or not, he was given EVERY oppurtunity to take the job. You guys are not at practice every day, there is a reason he was always the back-up. In life sometimes nobody gives it to ya, ya have to take it. Well KC hasnt and didnt do anything to take it on Sunday. I wish the guy well but its clear he is not the answer here and the sooner you guys realize this and start rooting for Chez and the future, the better of the Jet fan base will be
See, Eddie is the man because, HE KNOWS WTF he is talkin about.
Stop wishing for something elsee, WE ARE WHAT WE ARE.
Clemens is god awful and Sanchez has a HUGE upside. Have you seen some of the plays the kid has made. Everyone just clings to the bad stuff, but there is a hell of alot of good plays out of the dude.
Stop trying to change the team, and just root for what we are. Like i said a million times, TAKE SOME DAMN PRIDE in this Jets team.