{"id":2641,"date":"2009-08-02T21:02:13","date_gmt":"2009-08-03T02:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jetnation.com\/?p=2641"},"modified":"2009-08-02T21:02:13","modified_gmt":"2009-08-03T02:02:13","slug":"rex-ryan-press-conference-sun-0802","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/2009\/08\/02\/rex-ryan-press-conference-sun-0802\/","title":{"rendered":"Rex Ryan Press Conference, Sun 08\/02"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Courtesy NY Jets PR Department<\/strong><\/p>\n

First off, Bruce [Speight, senior director of media relations] made sure he told me that I had mentioned yesterday that this afternoon we would be on the grass. You know, another mistake, another rookie mistake right there [laughing]. I think we\u2019ll go ahead and stay in the dome, that \u201cinvisidome\u201d that we have out there [laughter]. The facilities here are amazing. You just take a look at it and the rain days don\u2019t even affect us at all. It was a good practice today. Really spirited, I thought. Again, both sides had their moments. Really not a whole lot to say today. It was just a great practice. The energy is fantastic. <\/span><\/p>\n

The guys are great in the meetings, too. As Schotty [Brian Schottenheimer] always says, \u201cWrite it down\u201d anytime there are points. Guys are doing a great job. This team senses that we\u2019re going to have one heck of a football team. Nobody wants to be the weak link or the weak guy out there, so it\u2019s great. <\/span><\/p>\n

I thought that [special teams coordinator] Mike Westhoff, just watching his special teams, the way he prepares his guys and communicates along with [assistant special teams coach] Ben Kotwica and [special teams coach] Kevin O\u2019Dea, they do a great job. There\u2019s no way I thought that I could put together a staff like we have now. We\u2019re very fortunate. We\u2019re very fortunate that Mike accepted our offer to stay here. It\u2019s just great to watch. He\u2019s confident. He\u2019s cocky. He\u2019s everything. He invented the game [laughter]. That\u2019s a positive. He feels like I do on defense. Maybe that\u2019s why we get along so well. He really is a pro out there. We\u2019ve got so many of them out there with the coaches. It\u2019s outstanding.<\/span><\/p>\n

I thought the Run Over drill today with the running backs, it\u2019s just a pride thing. It\u2019s the heart and character over technique with that drill. I think they really responded well.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the offensive line looking stronger than the defensive line and if Kris Jenkins’ absence played a role in that\u2026<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Kris definitely makes a difference. There\u2019s no question about it. Yes, that\u2019s a really great offensive line. We\u2019re really proud of our offensive line. Everyone one of those guys, they\u2019ve either been to a Pro Bowl or are getting ready to go to one. So it\u2019s really an outstanding, talented group. But I\u2019ll make sure to tell the D-line that you said that [laughing].<\/span><\/p>\n

On how long Jenkins might miss practice\u2026<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

It could be a little longer than I thought. Sometimes those calves are a little slower to heal. He\u2019s looking good. He did a great job at treatment. He certainly wants to be out there. That would be great to get him back out there. <\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s funny because the way [head strength and conditioning] Sal [Alosi] is and [head trainer] John [Mellody] and those guys, the way they work those guys that aren\u2019t allowed to practice, you want to be out there as soon as possible because they work the tar out of those guys. So I\u2019m sure Kris is going to want to get out there as fast as he can. <\/span><\/p>\n

It is funny because he does make a huge difference. You can replace guys and we have good football players, we\u2019re deep at a lot of those positions. But there is really only one Kris Jenkins out there so it\u2019s always good to get him back.<\/span><\/p>\n

On Shonn Greene’s injury during practice\u2026<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

It was an ankle and again that\u2019s the kind of guy we brought. Some guys would have said, \u201cI\u2019ve got to take this practice off\u201d or whatever. That\u2019s not this kid. He is a tough guy. He kind of rolled an ankle as someone was rolling him [laughter]. But in an inside drill I think four of those guys were going to miss him. He came in there running hard, his pads down, eyes up. I love the way he runs the football.<\/span><\/p>\n

On if Darrelle Revis has become an elite cornerback\u2026<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh yeah, without question. He\u2019s got the great cover skills. You can\u2019t be a great corner without having exceptional change of direction and speed. He\u2019s tough. He\u2019s got great hands for the interception. He\u2019s smart. Again, the way he is, he\u2019s working to be the best corner that he can be. That\u2019s certainly good news for us.<\/span><\/p>\n

On opposing teams staying away from Revis\u2019 side of the field\u2026<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I can see where that would make a lot of sense. Sometimes you throw one out there and he can boomerang on you real quick. We feel good about our other corners, Lito Sheppard as well. That\u2019s why we made the trade to Philly to get another great corner, a former Pro Bowl corner. And then to have another young guy like [Dwight] Lowery pushing him, he\u2019s doing great also. So we\u2019re excited about it, but Lito is obviously the starter. <\/span><\/p>\n

We have depth there. I think in the 10 years I was at Baltimore, really we had one year that was tough sledding. I think that was due to the fact that our depth at corner was so poor. When Samari [Rolle] went down and Chris McAllister went down, we really never had a whole lot behind them. We had Corey Ivy who was an outstanding nickel but he was pressed into playing corner every snap and then we had some other guys that, quite honestly, aren\u2019t in the league right now. That was tough and it showed. We never had the dominant defense that we usually had and that we\u2019re going to have here. <\/span><\/p>\n

And that depth at corner is critical. The way teams run four wides and three wides, you have to have guys that are talented and we certainly have a group like that. <\/span><\/p>\n

On why Sheppard was attractive to the team\u2026<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

You can\u2019t be afraid to play man coverage in this system. Lito excelled in that role. Sometimes a Cover-2 corner, I don\u2019t know where he plays in this system, maybe safety or something, I\u2019m not sure. It\u2019s OK to play Cover-2, but you\u2019ve got to be able to play man and have the skills to do it all. Lito definitely has that. <\/span><\/p>\n

On if Sheppard and Revis have a competitive rivalry\u2026<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

No, I don\u2019t think so. I think the whole group pushes themselves. They get excited to just get out there and compete. It\u2019s pretty good when your second corner is a Pro Bowl player. That\u2019s not all bad. We\u2019ll take our chances. I know we\u2019re not very good there [laughing], but we\u2019ll be OK, I guess.<\/span><\/p>\n

On how Lowery has improved\u2026<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I think his confidence, first off. I think knowing the system. He\u2019s a quick study at learning the system. He believes in his ability and he\u2019s got a lot of ability. The other thing, when you look at his career, he was always productive, he made a lot of interceptions, so he is a playmaker as well. I see his confidence and I think that\u2019s the number one thing.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the size and impact of David Harris\u2026<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

You notice it when the pads are on but we\u2019ll really notice it when it\u2019s live contact, when we\u2019re taking guys to the ground. He\u2019s going to make a ton of tackles. That\u2019s just the way he is. He\u2019s got a great nose for the football. He\u2019s a complete middle linebacker. Obviously, it starts with run-hit ability and tackle ability. He has those things, but he\u2019s also an outstanding inside blitzer. Probably not as good as an outside blitzer, but I really like David. <\/span><\/p>\n

On teaming up Harris and Bart Scott at inside LB\u2026<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

That\u2019s pretty good. I think every team in the league wished they had a combination of those two guys.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the reason WR Huey Whittaker is getting fewer reps in practice\u2026<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Really, the first two groups are getting the majority of the reps. And then the threes are getting quite a few less reps. Today, we actually had what we call \u201copportunities\u201d where the third group will scrimmage against each other. That was on the schedule, but we\u2019re not on the grass and the practice went longer than I wanted it to. <\/span><\/p>\n

When I make those plans, I told [Mike] Pettine, this is with the offense going three-and-out. But they\u2019re driving the ball like they are. It\u2019s adding to the length of our practice. They\u2019ll all get opportunities. Every one of those guys will get opportunities. I want to be smart. If we\u2019re going to do any tackling I want it to be on the grass.<\/span><\/p>\n

On Mark Sanchez getting reps with the first team\u2026<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ll leave that to Brian [Schottenheimer] and Matt [Cavanaugh] to handle. They\u2019ll handle those initial reps. He\u2019ll get more reps with the ones as we go on. I think you see the guy has a lot of talent and he makes some throws that are hard to make. <\/span><\/p>\n

He made one today to Whittaker that was an outstanding throw on a deep comeback. When I\u2019ve been telling you he can make that throw, now you saw it back there. He\u2019s on the far hash and he throws a deep comeback. The defense got great coverage underneath, great coverage on top, and he sticks it in there. There are very few guys who can complete that pass. And obviously, that\u2019s one of the reasons we jumped up and tried to go get him in the draft. <\/span><\/p>\n

On Jim Leonhard’s interception of Kellen Clemens\u2026<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

That was Bart. Bart\u2019s the one who caused it. He came flying in there. He did a great job on his blitz. He came clean through there and its just one of those make-it-happen situations where you have to make a play. He launched it up there. He had no time to do anything else with it. We put him in a situation where you\u2019ve got to make it happen. If you get sacked, you lose the game. <\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s the kind of situation we put them in those last few plays. They had to get it done. The offense has to covert and the defense has to stop them. So he kind of launched one up there. You have to throw it. You can\u2019t take a sack in that situation. <\/span><\/p>\n

On when the team will move to the grass field\u2026<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been told not to give you guys a time frame, because you\u2019ll hold me to it [laughter]. So, whenever it\u2019s ready, we\u2019ll be out there. I\u2019m hoping it will be sooner rather than later.<\/span><\/p>\n

On gadget plays on offense\u2026<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I think its something when you\u2019ve got an unusual guy like Brad Smith, you\u2019re able to do those things. Whether it\u2019s Wildcat or whatever they call it, we\u2019ll have our own form of that. I always think it\u2019s tougher when you have a guy who can throw it. I think that\u2019s why Miami took that guy from West Virginia in the second round, Pat White. You\u2019ve got that kind of ability, like Michael Vick. We have that in Brad. <\/span><\/p>\n

If you look at Brad\u2019s numbers in college \u2014 I always throw it out there, I\u2019m waiting for someone to give me the true answer \u2014 it was over a hundred touchdowns that he was responsible for in college [actually 98]. He\u2019s an unusual guy and we\u2019ll take advantage of that. <\/span><\/p>\n

With Brian\u2019s system, it\u2019s so multiple. We can run it on you. We can run zone schemes, counters, reverses. You name it, we can do it. We can run Wildcat stuff. All of it. And its likable and learnable and the guys know it. That\u2019s the neat thing. Both sides of the ball ought to be really hard to defend, and obviously against Westhoff as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the triple lateral by the defense\u2026<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019re going to have a conversation about that [laughter]. That\u2019s the third group. Trust me, they\u2019re going to go like this [motions both hands wrapped around the ball]. They\u2019ll look like old school right there. We\u2019ll have rules. <\/span><\/p>\n

Just like when a guy picks it off in the end zone, we\u2019ll identify the guys who can bring it out. But most of them will stay in. We\u2019ll have a Revis, a Leonhard, good returners. Obviously, Lito Sheppard, we\u2019ll let him return them because I think he has two over 100 yards. So we\u2019ll let him bring it out as well. We literally will say, \u201cNo, what are you doing? Get down. You haven\u2019t reached that level yet, so get down.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

But those guys I think were shocked that they got it. I was just kidding. They were shocked, as I\u2019ve been told, that they were out with the threes.<\/span><\/p>\n

On Bryan Thomas\u2026<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019re moving him all over the place. You saw him at nose tackle today because Kris [Jenkins] wasn\u2019t in there. He can\u2019t wait for Kris to get back, I guess. He knows the defense. He\u2019s a smart guy. He is a multitalented player, like a Calvin Pace. [Marques] Murrell has a lot of that ability. Vernon [Gholston] is coming like that. <\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ll tell you, the kid from Rutgers, [Jamaal] Westerman, I\u2019ll be shocked if he doesn\u2019t make a name for himself this year. He is really working good. We\u2019re putting him at inside linebacker. His natural position is outside. We\u2019re moving him all over the place like we did with [LeRon] McClain last year in Baltimore. But he\u2019s a pass rusher, he\u2019s a blitzer. His reads aren\u2019t natural right now inside, but he\u2019s really working on it. He\u2019s improving. He\u2019s a smart kid. We\u2019re really excited to have this guy and the fact that we got him from our backyard is a great thing, too.<\/span><\/p>\n

On Murrell stepping in while Pace is out\u2026<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I think he\u2019s going to have to. We had plans for him anyway. He\u2019s really a good pass rusher. You see he has some coverage ability. He\u2019s an athlete that can play in space. He\u2019s got size and he\u2019s got those change-in-direction skills and he\u2019s tough. Those are some things you really look for.<\/span><\/p>\n

The only thing about Murrell that would keep him from being an every-down guy is that he\u2019s probably not as thick or bulky as you would traditionally like. But he\u2019s a tough guy. I think he can get it done. We\u2019re a team that\u2019s really stacked out there and that\u2019s a good thing. <\/span><\/p>\n

On Vernon Gholston’s demeanor\u2026<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I saw yesterday when Reggie [Hodges] hit that 95-yarder. Where was Vernon? When Leon [Washington] picked the ball up on the 4-yard line, Vernon was on the 15. That\u2019s a pretty good sprint. If someone doesn\u2019t care, they\u2019re going to be back behind the 50. He\u2019s got all the tools, so we\u2019ll see. I think it\u2019s more his demeanor off the field that really puts it out there. <\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ll say this about Vernon. Let\u2019s not forget that he was on the quarter system [at Ohio State]. When he came in, everything was new to him. He missed so much time preparation-wise, learning a new position, getting familiar with your teammates, the pro game and all that kind of stuff. You can make a lot of excuses for him, but they\u2019re actually warranted. <\/span><\/p>\n

Otis Wilson was one of the most physical football players I\u2019ve ever seen. He played for the Bears, number 55. The first year he was struggling mentally. Like my dad said, \u201cHell, I don\u2019t know if he knows he\u2019s a right linebacker or a left linebacker sometimes.\u201d But Otis ended up being pretty decent and he had the same kind of skills. So we\u2019ll see if Vernon can turn the corner in that way in the perception of the general public. <\/span><\/p>\n

One thing I\u2019ll say about Vernon is I\u2019ve been challenging him every day to just run through things. He is a big strong guy. He is a rock. \u201cJust get that feeling of running through somebody.\u201d We sent him on a blitz and he was running the pick stop for the insider linebacker through the A-gap and he ran right through one of our best players. I think Nick was really surprised by that. He gave him a little extra shot at the end of the play. If he can move Nick Mangold like that, he can move anybody. <\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s what we\u2019re trying to get. I told him he messed up because we saw it. We got a little of it this time and we\u2019ll see. It\u2019s all going to come out in the end. He\u2019s going to be the starter for the first four games for sure and we\u2019ll evaluate him after those games. <\/span><\/p>\n

On what merited Gholston being named the starter before camp\u2026<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

He\u2019s a big, physical guy that has all the tools. We\u2019ve just got to give him an opportunity. That\u2019s our job as coaches. What merited it when we made Haloti Ngata the starter in Baltimore? Because of what we saw on college tape. How we project him is why he\u2019s the starter. We did the same thing with Haloti and I think that worked out pretty good, too.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Courtesy NY Jets PR Department First off, Bruce [Speight, senior director of media relations] made sure he told me that I had mentioned yesterday that this afternoon we would be on the grass. You know, another mistake, another rookie mistake right there [laughing]. I think we\u2019ll go ahead and stay in the dome, that \u201cinvisidome\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","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],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2641","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-jet-news"},"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peLffi-GB","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2641","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2641\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}