On Monday Rex Ryan addressed the media.\u00a0 Here is the transcript of the interview courtesy of the Jets.<\/p>\n
Opening remarks\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n “Before I get to the game, just so you are aware of it, you guys will know before the players. LaDainian Tomlinson won our Dennis Byrd Most Inspirational Player Award. That\u2019s a huge award and he earned it. David Harris was voted the team MVP. Shaun Ellis won the Ed Block Courage Award. There were some other awards that were given out, but you guys are going to have to talk with Bruce (Speight) about those. I just wanted to make sure you guys are aware of those awards. I know you\u2019re talking to LaDainian afterwards.<\/p>\n As far as the game is concerned, it\u2019s good news, bad news, clearly. If we play offense like this combined with the way we can play defense and special teams, I think our team is better than we were last year. To say that, we have to get this defense back to the way we\u2019re capable of playing. It\u2019s like beating a dead horse, but it\u2019s like we did with Mark (Sanchez). We talked fundamentals and (worked on) his technique. We really focused on it and he got better. Now, he\u2019s looked like a different quarterback these last couple of weeks. That\u2019s what you have to do. I don\u2019t want to say I\u2019m diminishing what Chicago accomplished because they made some plays, but that wasn\u2019t our best. We need to get back. There are no excuses. To get back to who our defense is, we need to practice. We\u2019re going to go back to individual drills (and) fundamental drills and really hone that in, which is kind of unusual at this time of year. We really have to because that\u2019s how we\u2019re going to get better. There\u2019s no magic call. There are some calls that are better than others, but we have (to execute).”<\/p>\n On how Mark Sanchez feels after the game\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n “I think he came out well. He\u2019s had treatments. We\u2019ll probably know a little more when we get back (to the facility). My understanding is he came out fairly well.”<\/p>\n On if Sanchez will play against Buffalo..<\/strong><\/p>\n “This is kind of tough. Here\u2019s what I\u2019m looking at. Obviously, his health is the number one priority. The fact that he is in such a groove right now, we have to look at it has the week goes on. That was my first thought, to just not even play him. Number one, I want to win this game. I think it\u2019s important to win this game. If we can get to 11 wins, I think it\u2019s only been done five times in the history of the franchise. That would be huge. You want to go in with a win. That\u2019s really what we want to do. I want to win this game. Now, obviously, his health is the number one concern. It\u2019s kind of fine line because he is hot right now. We can\u2019t afford for him to take a dip. We need him to stay at this level. Those are things we\u2019ll definitely consider. I don\u2019t want to say 100 percent he\u2019s out or he\u2019s in, to be honest with you. That\u2019s what I\u2019m weighing right now.”<\/p>\n On if he\u2019s talked to Sanchez about him playing against Buffalo\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n “No. That\u2019s kind of new. My first thinking was good, we\u2019ll just rest him, but I\u2019m not so sure. I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s best for him. We\u2019re going to weigh it as the week goes on. The main thing is, like I told you guys yesterday, I want to win this game. I think it can really help us. Winning 11 games in the regular season would be an outstanding regular season for us. That\u2019s the goal. It\u2019s a fine line. If a guy\u2019s injured, we\u2019re not going to play him.”<\/p>\n On if Sanchez will only play for part of the game on Sunday\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n “That certainly will be discussed, for sure. I don\u2019t want to say. I\u2019m really not clear right now. We\u2019re not even back at the facility. That\u2019s definitely a thought.”<\/p>\n On why the defense needs to work on fundamentals\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n “I do (think it will help the unit improve). For instance, if you\u2019re not putting your hands on receivers, if you\u2019re not playing the proper leverage (or) if your base is high, it\u2019s tough to change directions. It\u2019s just little things like that. It\u2019s really on all three levels. The back end is obviously the one you recognize the most, but all three levels need to get better. In the running game, right down to knocking the blocker down and getting off blocks, things like that are Day One training camp things (that) we\u2019ve got to get better at. I think we\u2019ve slipped the last couple of weeks. We haven\u2019t been as good in those areas as we need to be. I recognize that the field conditions are what they are the past two weeks. We weren\u2019t the only team that struggled to get a pass rush. If you look at Pittsburgh, (they) had no sacks. If you look at Chicago, (they) had never had a sack. Those are two of the best pass rushing teams in the league. It\u2019s hard to say that the conditions never played into that factor, but we got stuck on blocks. We weren\u2019t getting off blocks the way we normally do. We lost some leverage. That span in the third quarter, I\u2019ve never seen anything like that. I think we can get better through hard work on the practice field. It\u2019s the same thing I said about Mark before, you rely on fundamentals and technique. That\u2019s what we have to get back to doing.”<\/p>\n On wanting to go into the playoffs with a win\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n “I look at it this way, once you get in the playoffs, it\u2019s a brand new season. There\u2019s no hiding that fact. New Orleans lost two in a row and went on to win the Super Bowl. I just want to win because it says a lot about a regular season (when) you can get 11 wins. (It is) really hard to say that hasn\u2019t been an outstanding regular season. It is. Granted, you like to win your division and we weren\u2019t able to accomplish that. Eleven is better than 10. That\u2019s how I look at it. I would like to get that win to go in (to the playoffs). The fact that there\u2019s still a chance we can be the fifth seed is another thing that\u2019s out there as well. Any time you compete, you want to win. I know that\u2019s how I am. I know that\u2019s the way our team is. That\u2019s why I don\u2019t really want to say this player isn\u2019t going to go. I think it\u2019s safe to say James Ihedigbo is not going to play. We want to get him back for the playoffs. He injured his knee, his MCL. I think it\u2019s safe to say he won\u2019t play. Everybody else, there\u2019s a chance that they\u2019ll play. That\u2019s good for us because it says that we\u2019re getting healthy. There\u2019s a chance to possibly get Eric Smith back. I\u2019m not sure. He\u2019ll obviously have to be cleared to play. Damien Woody might be a possibility. We\u2019ll see where everybody is. Obviously, if a guy is really injured and could use the week, we won\u2019t play him. I want to win this game. I have to weigh how much this guy plays or that guy plays, but the fact of the matter is we\u2019re going to try and win the game.”<\/p>\n On whether he believes that how you finish the regular season transfers to the playoffs\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n “I believe there is. You want to gain momentum. But is it the end-all be-all? No, I don\u2019t believe so. (If) you look at the Colts last year, they lost two in a row and made it to the Super Bowl. You had New Orleans lose their two. I don\u2019t think history repeats that or says that you have to be rolling at the end of the regular season, but I will say this. I\u2019m excited about where our offense is right now. I think we played against two outstanding defensive football teams and we\u2019ve really looked good offensively. I think we\u2019re peaking at the right time. Defensively, obviously, we\u2019re not. We had two games that weren\u2019t up to our standards, but I think we can fix it. I think we\u2019ll get better. I think the answer is in hard work, preparation (and) it\u2019s back to our fundamentals. It\u2019s back to basics. I think once we get those dialed in, we\u2019ll be good. I think that\u2019s the answer. It\u2019s not in this call or that call. It\u2019s in how we play the game.”<\/p>\n On if Brian Schottenheimer has simplified things offensively\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n “It may appear like that. I think we\u2019re pretty much (doing) what we normally do. I think attention to detail (has improved). It starts with your offensive line up front. I think that\u2019s the key. The guys that we really rely on and that we build our team around, those guys have really picked their play up the last two weeks in the protection and knocking people off the ball. That\u2019s been the main thing. That allows Mark time back there and when Mark has time, like any quarterback, he\u2019s able to use the weapons that we have in Santonio Holmes, Braylon Edwards, Dustin Keller and all those guys. I think that\u2019s going to be good and now\u2019s the time you hope we get our backs ready to go 100 percent going into the playoffs. I think we\u2019re going to be a tough offense to handle. Defensively, we just have to get the swagger back. Let\u2019s do what we\u2019re coached to do and, as coaches, we have to demand that from our players. I think we\u2019ll get back to that and I think it can be corrected.<\/p>\n On how he feels about the defense\u2019s performance over the past couple of weeks\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n “I think it\u2019s a challenge. It\u2019s great. I don\u2019t know where we are ranked defensively, but we\u2019re not ranked number one or where we expected to be. We are probably in the top five. It\u2019s still not up to where our standards are in these last (few) games. Whatever the facts are, we have to get better. That\u2019s a challenge for me. I\u2019ve faced it before. It\u2019s not every game that we go out and smack people down. I think when people compare our defense, the first thing they want to do is compare it to last year\u2019s defense. Compare it to the rest of the league. Where is the rest of the league at? That\u2019s where (our defense) isn\u2019t as bad as (you might think). Last year, the defense was exceptional. There\u2019s no question about it and I don\u2019t think people realize how exceptional that defense was. It\u2019s not going to matter until you get into the playoffs and you do something in the playoffs. That\u2019s where we are at, that\u2019s what we are gunning for and that\u2019s why we built this team. (We wanted to have) a team that could get it done in the playoffs. It\u2019s not an easy task when you get three games on the road, just to make it to the Super Bowl. That\u2019s only been done twice so we know it\u2019s stacked against us, but we\u2019re gunning for it. There is no reason we shouldn\u2019t be. I can\u2019t say enough how excited I am about the way the offense is progressing, especially these last few weeks. I think and I believe that we will get our defense back again. We\u2019re going to be tough.”<\/p>\n On why Santonio Holmes did not return punts and if he was benched after the fumble\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n “That wasn\u2019t the intention to sit him. We didn\u2019t pull him because of the fumble. Obviously, it was disappointing, without question. As far as him returning punts, we have a lot of confidence in (Jerricho Cotchery) back there and he\u2019s done a great job especially with the single returner. We feel better about Jerricho catching punts. He did a great job last year. The conditions were what they were and Santonio has a couple of nagging injuries (hip and toe). We feel very confident in Jerricho back there right now.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On Monday Rex Ryan addressed the media.\u00a0 Here is the transcript of the interview courtesy of the Jets. Opening remarks\u2026 “Before I get to the game, just so you are aware of it, you guys will know before the players. LaDainian Tomlinson won our Dennis Byrd Most Inspirational Player Award. That\u2019s a huge award and […]<\/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":[213,488],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6857","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-jet-news","7":"category-jets-press-conference"},"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peLffi-1MB","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6857","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=6857"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6857\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6891,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6857\/revisions\/6891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}