On Thursday New York Jets offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer addressed the media.\u00a0 Here is the transcript courtesy of the Jets.<\/p>\n
On whether the field being shorter is part of the reason they have struggled in the red zone\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n “I don\u2019t think so. We\u2019re not going to make excuses like that. Believe me, it\u2019s hard. It\u2019s not easy, but I think what we\u2019re looking at, when you go back and look at it from the last couple of weeks, is execution. We don\u2019t expect that Mark (Sanchez) is going to drop a snap on first-and-seven at the seven (yard line). What we need to do, is clean up the execution in that area of the field. The game does shrink. There\u2019s smaller voids, I think. You go back to the first drive of the game last week and we tried to sneak LT (LaDainian Tomlinson) out in the flat on third-and-two down in there low. He (Sanchez) came of his first two progressions, tried to come (over) to Braylon (Edwards) (with) the ball. Things are condensed and the safety made a good play on it, but there\u2019s clearly things we could have done differently throughout the course of the route where we feel we could\u2019ve executed a little bit better. We\u2019re aware of it. We know we need to execute things better. We\u2019re looking at the plan and the different things we can do to try to maybe condense things and not have as many things down there (and) focus again on the execution. We\u2019re aware of it and we\u2019re working towards it.”<\/p>\n On what happened on the play where Sanchez was almost intercepted by Abram Elam\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n “That\u2019s a great question. We hit the play going the other way. It was second-and-15, we had a false start penalty or something that backed us up going the other direction. We hit Santonio (Holmes) on the same exact play for about a 12-yard gain. In that situation, you know you\u2019re in field goal range. You\u2019re going to call a pass that you think gives you a chance to convert the third-down, but also is pretty safe. We flipped it (and) ran it the other way. They were in a pressure and (we) were trying to get the ball to Santonio (Holmes) or LaDainian (Tomlinson), and when LT flared out to the left, Matt Roth, the defensive end peeled on him. When Mark saw that, he just kind of assumed that the spot route, which was what Santonio was running, was going to be wide-open. He thought, \u201cOk, if he\u2019s running with the swing, there\u2019s nobody there.\u201d He just never saw Abe (Elam). It was Mark\u2019s eyes. He had bad eyes, or bad read discipline on that one. He has to see that guy because it could\u2019ve been a costly error. I think Santonio made a terrific play to come in there after Abe bobbled it and knock it down. It was just a bad read.”<\/p>\n On how important it is to have both Tomlinson and Shonn Greene\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n “Obviously, I think the formula has worked for us for a couple of years now, even dating back to Leon (Washington) and Thomas (Jones) before Shonn ever got here. It just helps. You don\u2019t think you\u2019re going to have 91 plays or whatever it was last week. You don\u2019t think you\u2019re going to run it 45 times. I think a lot of times we pride ourselves, offensively, (on) being able to score on big plays, but also we can move the ball down-the-field and sustain drives. If you\u2019re going on a 13, 14-play drive, you\u2019re going to need backs. It\u2019s hard. The running backs, they take such a pounding in this league. Quite honestly, the two that we have are awfully great compliments, because LT is such a threat out of the backfield and he can get to the perimeter and Shonn\u2019s such a bruiser. Not that they can\u2019t do the other\u2019s skill set, but it\u2019s awfully nice to have a change-of-pace back where Shonn\u2019s pounding you between the tackles and next thing you know, LT\u2019s on the edge. I think we\u2019re just very fortunate to have those two guys.”<\/p>\n On if Greene getting more carries makes it feel like the team has a new acquisition\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n “No, I think a lot of times numbers maybe make things appear that way. His numbers were down, his carries were down and he wasn\u2019t maybe as productive. I think a lot of things go into that. LT, obviously, he was the big story because of coming here and everybody thought he was washed up and stuff like that. We have two really good tailbacks. Again the numbers have just gone, that Shonn has gotten more work the last couple of weeks. He\u2019s produced for us. Not that LT\u2019s not playing very well, just sometimes the numbers go that way. I think Shonn, last year, right around, the New Orleans game, game (four), started taking off and I think you see him coming on right now.”<\/p>\n On how much of Sanchez\u2019s mobility is instinct and how much is experience\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n “I think it\u2019s something that we saw that Mark had coming out of college, but I think that it\u2019s something that you need to continue to work on. It can be refined. It needs to be stressed. It\u2019s probably something that early in the year, myself and Coach Cav (Matt Cavanaugh), probably could have done a better job of. We\u2019ve obviously made a big (adjustment). I know everybody sees us out there beating him up with the foam bats and everything. It\u2019s something that you have to work on. There\u2019s so much going on in such a confined space. You (need to) have the instincts to move, but you also have to make your body do it. I think Mark has the instincts. He has the feel, but at the same time, you have to keep your legs engaged and you have to be able to tell, \u201cOk, my mind\u2019s telling me to move. Can I move fast enough to avoid a 330-pound defensive lineman that\u2019s coming free?\u201d Unless you work that, it\u2019s hard to get it to kick in. To play quarterback in this league, if you don\u2019t have that, you\u2019re not going to be very successful because so much of the game, even with the line we have, is played with people around you and having to move and avoid people. That\u2019s one of the things that he, Mark, is very pleased with, how he\u2019s progressed with that through the last couple of weeks.”<\/p>\n On the foam bats they use in practice\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n “The foam bats have been pretty good. We\u2019ve used different things in the past, but when Bru (Mark Brunell) brought those, Mark really seemed to like them. The first couple of times you actually saw him wince. He\u2019s getting more and more comfortable with it. Obviously, it doesn\u2019t take the place of an actual live rep, but you do get more comfortable with things around you. Quite honestly, I know Kellen (Clemens) and Brunell like beating him up when he gets back there. It\u2019s been good. It\u2019s a small little thing that\u2019s paid dividends for us the past two weeks.”<\/p>\n On why the receivers haven\u2019t been more open if defenders are paying more attention to Dustin Keller\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n “A lot of that is play specific. I\u2019ll give Cleveland a lot of credit. They had somebody hitting Dustin on every single play. You watch them in the two minute and it\u2019s the actual defensive end that\u2019s rushing the passer that\u2019s getting a piece of him. The one time he caught the big pass, we call it Cover Two post, late in overtime on 41, (Ray) Ventrone , was one of the few times they didn\u2019t bang him. Give Cleveland credit. They wanted to bang and reroute him. They come out of the New England family that thinks you have to get your hands on him. The other thing is early in the game we hit a couple of comebacks on the outside to Braylon and Santonio. Then, what\u2019s the defense going to do? They\u2019re going to adjust. They start telling their guys to go deeper or wider. That opens up LaDainian. Believe me, it\u2019s not that Dustin\u2019s not involved, but you\u2019ve got one ball. Mark\u2019s not trying to get a ball to a specific player. He\u2019s going through his progressions and the first guy that\u2019s open is going to get the ball. Dustin\u2019s a guy that the ball goes to on the low red zone play. He kind of stumbles coming out of his break. He\u2019s a big part of what we\u2019re doing. There are certain weeks where he\u2019s not going to catch as many passes. Hopefully, when that does happen, Santonio comes away with 80 yards and Braylon has 60 yards and Jerricho has his share of touches. I think LT right now is our leading receiver with 36 (receptions) because teams are playing us pretty soft underneath.”<\/p>\n On Cotchery\u2019s diving catch in overtime\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n “Unbelievable. (It\u2019s) one of those things I\u2019ll remember forever just because of the type of person he is. I saw the catch, but I was actually looking at the coverage to see what happened. I had no idea that he was hurt until I heard about it. They were talking about it after the play was over. Funny enough, I was asking if he was ready to go back in and the trainers looked at me like I was crazy. I was like, \u2018Is he ok? Can he go?\u2019 and they were like, \u201cNo, he\u2019s not going back in right now.\u201d It must have been adrenaline is all I can say. He\u2019s sitting here and starting to pull up and then all of a sudden he sees Mark look at him and who knows what he\u2019s thinking at that point. The adrenaline and the competiveness takes over and he makes that unbelievable catch which was amazing.”<\/p>\n On if he thinks Holmes has not been double-teamed because Keller and Edwards get more attention\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n “We move everybody around so much that I think they try to double different people. It\u2019s one of the positive things of having so many play-makers. It\u2019s hard to double everybody. I think it\u2019s by play. It\u2019s by coverage. I know there were certain times that they (Cleveland) were rolling the coverage to Santonio last week. There were certain times they were rolling the coverage and trying to double Braylon. That\u2019s why it\u2019s pick your poison a little bit. It\u2019s hard to double a back. That\u2019s why LT has had so much production. Plus, you throw screen passes in there. It\u2019s hard to double a back. It\u2019s easier to double a guy that\u2019s extended out wide playing receiver or a tight end. It\u2019s easier to double them than a tailback coming out of the backfield.”<\/p>\n On if their mentality has changed at all in the red zone\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n “No. Obviously, in the red zone the running game becomes more difficult. I think our philosophy down there is the same as out in the field. In the running game, we\u2019re going to do the things we do well. In the passing game, you\u2019re going to try to spread the field as much as you can and get matchups and isolate a guy if you can based on formations. Usually, in the red zone you carry some of your base plays over, but you also have red zone specific plays. Those are the things were looking at and trying to improve some of those things and the execution.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On Thursday New York Jets offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer addressed the media.\u00a0 Here is the transcript courtesy of the Jets. On whether the field being shorter is part of the reason they have struggled in the red zone\u2026 “I don\u2019t think so. We\u2019re not going to make excuses like that. Believe me, it\u2019s hard. It\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"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":[488],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6300","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-jets-press-conference"},"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peLffi-1DC","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6300","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\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6300"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6302,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6300\/revisions\/6302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}