Here is the transcript from the press conference today with New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan and general manager Mike Tannenbaum.<\/p>\n
Opening Statement\u2026<\/strong> REX RYAN: First off, again, in line with what Mike was saying, I really want to thank Bill Callahan, Brian Schottenheimer, Henry Ellard, Jeff Weeks and the guys that are leaving the New York Jets, I wish them all the best and with that, this is an exciting time for me.\u00a0 I have gone against Tony for years and always admired him.\u00a0 You go back and look at what I have always said about how I thought they were well coached.\u00a0 They had that physical mentality, that toughness.\u00a0 I have always appreciated that in Coach Sparano\u2019s teams and I am just excited to have him coaching with me instead of against me.<\/p>\n On how to improve team chemistry\u2026<\/strong> On if bringing in Coach Tony Sparano is a sign he wants to bring back the running game\u2026<\/strong> On developing Sanchez and Tannenbaum\u2019s comments about the rate of Sanchez\u2019s development\u2026<\/strong> RYAN: I think along those same lines.\u00a0 I think as a football team, there are a lot of areas we need to improve in and I know each individual, Mark, myself, everybody, there are areas where we need to get better.\u00a0 I am excited.\u00a0 I think we will get better.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think there is any doubt.\u00a0 Again, I agree with Mike,\u00a0 Mark has done a lot of good things here.\u00a0 I think the improvement we made in the red-zone this year, specifically the way Mark played in the red-zone, I thought was terrific.\u00a0 I think he had 26 touchdown passes, ran for six more.\u00a0 I think that is really impressive.\u00a0 He did a lot of good things but there are areas where I am excited because I think we can improve overall as a football team.\u00a0 I know Mark will be excited to improve as well.<\/p>\n On potential coaching staff changes and positions under consideration for Todd Haley\u2026<\/strong> RYAN: So far we have had a lot of coaches coming through.\u00a0 You mentioned Todd Haley, David Lee, Karl Dunbar.\u00a0 There have been several coaches who have come through and have been very impressive.\u00a0 Again, we will make decisions that are in the best interests of our football team and whoever we hire at the end of the day, I am really excited about.\u00a0 I am confident that we will build and put together a tremendous coaching staff.<\/p>\n On why he feels Sparano is the right fit for the job\u2026<\/strong> On why there have been so many coaching changes despite remarks that there would none\u2026<\/strong> On whether Brian Schottenheimer leaving was really his choice\u2026<\/strong> On whether Sparano\u2019s disciplinarian approach appealed to Ryan\u2026<\/strong> On the criticisms on Mark Sanchez and how he will make sure the team still has confidence in their quarterback\u2026<\/strong> On the team\u2019s open-door policy and whether players have ever approached him about the work ethic or attitude of other players\u2026<\/strong> On if any of the players expressed concerns about Sanchez work ethic or attitude to either of them\u2026<\/strong> On whether Ryan believes he has to be more of a disciplinarian\u2026<\/strong> On if it will be difficult for Sanchez to return to the locker room after the anonymous comments made about him\u2026<\/strong> On why he got away from being himself last season\u2026<\/strong> On if Tony Sparano will be given the same authority over the offense that Brian Schottenheimer had\u2026<\/strong> On if Sparano will have similar authority to Coach Schottenheimer\u2026<\/strong> Here is the transcript from the press conference today with New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan and general manager Mike Tannenbaum. Opening Statement\u2026 MIKE TANNENBAUM:\u00a0 Thank you everybody and I apologize for being a little late.\u00a0 First of all, I just want to recap a few things.\u00a0 Last week, Rex and I had a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[213,491],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-10453","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-jet-news","7":"category-player-interviews"},"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peLffi-2IB","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10453"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10453\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10454,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10453\/revisions\/10454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nMIKE TANNENBAUM:\u00a0 Thank you everybody and I apologize for being a little late.\u00a0 First of all, I just want to recap a few things.\u00a0 Last week, Rex and I had a number of conversations with Coach Schottenheimer.\u00a0 During the course of a few conversations, he represented to us that a fresh start would be in his best interests.\u00a0 Coach Ryan and I agreed with him.\u00a0 While we were managing Brian\u2019s situation, Rex and I were trying to plan for a few different outcomes, most importantly obviously was trying to find his replacement.\u00a0 We interviewed Coach Callahan and Coach Sparano and we are proud to announce Coach Sparano as our new offensive coordinator.\u00a0 I also want to publicly thank Coach Callahan, Brian Schottenheimer, Henry Ellard and Coach Jeff Weeks for all their contributions to our success over the last few years.\u00a0 They are good people and good coaches and we appreciate everything they have done for us.<\/p>\n
\nRYAN: I think that is a big thing when you look back and I mentioned this the day after the season. You look back at the 2011 season those are things that I talk about that you have to improve.\u00a0 I talked about how I never had the pulse of the team and that is where it starts. (It\u2019s) the biggest thing that we can fix but I also think it\u2019s the easiest thing we can fix and when I look at the things that we can fix in a hurry, that is going to be the number one thing.\u00a0 We have a lot of great people here in this organization.\u00a0 I think to a man, everybody is committed to winning here.\u00a0 We are all disappointed in the 2011 season and finishing 8-8, so I think we all have that in common.\u00a0 We also know that we have to get better.\u00a0 We have to bring our team back together and get that closeness that we have had in the two previous years. I am excited about that and I think that\u2019s the thing that we can do.<\/p>\n
\nRYAN: I think first of all, that ground-and-pound philosophy that we talked about, we are definitely like-minded people, liked-minded coaches and we believe in running the football and protecting the quarterback. I think, offensively, those are the two biggest things in my opinion, and I think Tony shares similar beliefs to that.\u00a0 He is a tough guy, an east-coast guy.\u00a0 I think when we talk about when the weather is tough in this kind of area, New York and New Jersey, the east coast, you have to be able to run the football and if you can\u2019t, I think you struggle to win games.<\/p>\n
\nTANNENBAUM: I feel like what we are getting in Coach Sparano is a really good football coach who was around a good organization for the last four years.\u00a0 He has developed Tony Romo and he knows all facets of the game and in particular offensive football.\u00a0 The point I was trying to make there was, I think Mark, like all of us, has areas he needs to improve upon.\u00a0 The thing I always go back to is what Rex talks about.\u00a0 We are going to fill this locker room with gym rats and that\u2019s what Mark is.\u00a0 He has all the attributes and traits we want which is hard work (and) a love (for) football.\u00a0 He needs to be more consistent and he will be the first one to tell you that.\u00a0 With that said, he has done a lot of good things over three years and we are going to learn where he could be better and we will move forward with Coach Sparano here.\u00a0 We are excited to have those two guys working together.<\/p>\n
\nTANNENBAUM: We have a number of coaches coming in.\u00a0 We are not exactly sure what roles and who it will be, titles, responsibilities.\u00a0 But it was great to visit with Todd [Haley].\u00a0 On a personal level it was neat to see a guy that we had been together a long time ago, see him become a head coach.\u00a0 He has done a lot of good things.\u00a0 How things will fall out, that is hard to say but he [Todd Haley] was in for a visit.<\/p>\n
\nRYAN: First off, I talked about going against Coach Sparano.\u00a0 His teams were always built.\u00a0 His image of what I looked at it.\u00a0 It was going to be a slugfest.\u00a0 We knew it going in.\u00a0 We would tell our players about it [They were] a well-prepared team, tough-minded, it was physical football and I always admired that about Tony.\u00a0 This man can coach football.\u00a0 There is no question about it.\u00a0 He did a great job as a head coach in Miami and also when you mention the play-calling in Dallas, he is a heck of a football coach.\u00a0 Similar to my background, I was a defensive line coach when Tony was an offensive line coach.\u00a0 I did get the opportunity to call plays.\u00a0 He is the guy that can coach it all.\u00a0 Sometimes it gets lost.\u00a0 You\u2019re the head coach.\u00a0 You are kind of the CEO of not just one side of the ball but really the whole team and this is something that Coach Sparano can handle.\u00a0 There is no doubt.\u00a0 I have 100% confidence in him.<\/p>\n
\nTANNENBAUM: There were a lot of moving parts.\u00a0 We tried to manage for a lot of different outcomes and looking back on it, there were probably a couple of things that we could have handled differently.<\/p>\n
\nRYAN: I will say this. Obviously, we wanted to give Brian every opportunity to get that job in Jacksonville. We talked about that. This was a mutual decision. Brian and myself and Mike, it was a mutual decision. What I will say is this, when Brian went out to Jacksonville, we needed to have things lined up for our football team, the best thing for us. Just like it was the best thing for Brian to interview for the head coaching position at Jacksonville, we had to make sure that we were taking care of ourselves. That\u2019s why we interviewed Coach Callahan, and obviously, Coach Sparano. So, I think that was the opportunity right then. I felt great about Bill, I thought he would do a tremendous job as a coordinator, and then when we met with Tony, I was like, wow, I was blown away. When (we) came to that mutual agreement, then we knew that Tony was our guy.<\/p>\n
\nRYAN: I think the biggest thing that appealed to me when there was a possibility of making a change at coordinator, was the fact that I\u2019ve coached against Tony for a number of times and I\u2019ve always admired the way his teams were. I pride myself on having a tough football team, a physical football team, and I thought the same of his. It was just that I admired that from him. I think he understands the league that we\u2019re in, the team that we play, New England, Buffalo. So, I think that helps, but also, the main thing is that this is the guy that I wanted. He\u2019s also the guy that Mike wanted. I think we\u2019re in the same mold, kind of. We recognize we want to be a physical football team that can run the football and protect the quarterback. I think those are things that we\u2019re looking to do and obviously tie that in to playing great special teams and defense. I think we\u2019ll be hard to beat.<\/p>\n
\nRYAN: Well, first off, from even talking about the different articles or whatever, the anonymous sources, all that stuff. We do have an open-door policy and we encourage our players to express themselves. Saying things and not putting your name on it, that\u2019s not being a Jet. So, that\u2019s going to change without question. But, I think my involvement in the football team, I tried to lay back and be maybe more of a head coach than being true to myself. I need to be in the locker room. I need to be around more, be involved more in the day-to-day, like right there in the meeting rooms and everything else, and that\u2019s what I plan on doing. I got away from that, thinking that maybe a head coach is supposed to act a little differently and it hurt me. I just need to be myself and stay true to that. I\u2019ve always had a cohesive unit when I was in charge of the unit, but as a football team, I thought what gave us a huge advantage the first two years was how close our football team was. I misjudged it this year. I\u2019ve taken full responsibility for that and that will not happen in 2012.<\/p>\n
\nTANNENBAUM: (What I) just want to add to that, is after the season ended, between Rex and I, we probably had 25 to 35 exit interviews, and I think the most important thing about 2011 is we have to learn from it. We\u2019re still going through that process now, but we met with countless players, people on the staff to really look at what happened. Finishing 8-8, we know, wasn\u2019t good enough. We try to pride ourselves, like Rex said, on not only an open-door policy, but being a good listener. And now, we\u2019ve got to look at that Miami loss as an opportunity and springboard to 2012 to get better and learn from what wasn\u2019t good enough the year before.<\/p>\n
\nRYAN: Well, no, I\u2019ll say this, because I\u2019m on record that part of that is I never had the pulse of the team the way that I would normally have or thought, and so, I\u2019m not going to get into specifics of conversations I had with specific individuals, but that was an area where I know I need to improve in and obviously I will. That was something that was always a strength of mine and we\u2019ll get back to that. There is no doubt. That\u2019s why I\u2019m so excited about what\u2019s in front of us. I\u2019m going to have to learn from what happened in 2011 and I\u2019m confident I will.<\/p>\n
\nRYAN: I\u2019ll say this, 100-percent, I\u2019ll say this, I\u2019m going to be true to myself, period. I\u2019m going to be who I always am and that\u2019s the way it\u2019ll work. That\u2019s for me to be this way or that way, that\u2019s not going to work for me. I\u2019m going to be who I am and I have a great confidence in (myself). I\u2019ve always been successful. Like I said, I can\u2019t wait for 2012 and I can\u2019t wait to get our players here. I know we\u2019ve got to look at the rules first and what you can do and what you can\u2019t do, and all that kind of stuff, but I can\u2019t wait to get going again.<\/p>\n
\nRYAN: I\u2019ll say this, I don\u2019t know how many (players) don\u2019t feel confident in Mark Sanchez. I\u2019ll tell you this, if it is not all of them, it\u2019s the majority of (the players) that have a great deal of confidence in Mark Sanchez. And when he walks through that door, his head is going to be held high. There\u2019s no question about it. That\u2019s what I know. An anonymous source, or whatever it is, doesn\u2019t speak on behalf of the entire football team, doesn\u2019t put his name to a quote and things like that. Believe me, there are a lot of people, that I know specifically, a ton of our players and everybody in this organization in my opinion that have a great deal of belief and admiration for Mark Sanchez.<\/p>\n
\nRYAN: Even some guys that I looked up to were like, \u201cRex, you have to have to quit being just a defensive coordinator, you\u2019re coaching just like a coordinator\u201d and all that kind of stuff. I said, ok, some guys that I admire (said that). I tried to sit back and tried to improve and ways that I looked at improving might not have been the best thing for me. I think that is probably what I learned also. I might not be a coach that is cut in a certain mold. I might not be like 31 other head coaches, but that\u2019s ok. I have to be myself. I am going to hire great people. I\u2019ve also said these coaches work with me not for me and I\u2019ll never alter from that. I\u2019ve had success my entire life and I plan on having more success as we go. Was it successful in 2011? Absolutely not. It\u2019s not what we expected or what I expected. When I go back, I take a hard look at what I can do better and I think, for me, I need to get back in the classroom and that\u2019s what I plan on doing.<\/p>\n
\nRYAN: We hired Tony because of what he brings to the table and the confidence that I have in him. I have confidence in Brian Schottenheimer, I\u2019ve said that from day one. Tony is a guy that I have extreme confidence in. I want to learn what we do offensively, to sit there and if need be, if Tony asks my opinion, be able to give it. But believe me, I have complete confidence in Tony. You\u2019re right, we are very like-minded. I think the biggest thing that we do is we both want to win. I can\u2019t wait until we get this thing going. I can\u2019t wait until Tony is on the practice field and the Jets are on the practice field. It\u2019s an exciting time for us and the negative part of 2011, I can\u2019t wait to put that behind us finally and be able to focus on what\u2019s in front. It\u2019s going to be positive, it\u2019s going to be kind of a fresh start and I\u2019m looking forward to it.<\/p>\n
\nRYAN: Of course. We don\u2019t want me coaching the offense. My expertise lies on the defensive side of the ball. I\u2019m not, all of a sudden, going to think I am going to be Don Coryell calling offenses, that\u2019s not it. I brought in Tony to coach with me and to put an offense in and I\u2019m not going to hold him back. I\u2019ll tell you that much.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"