On Thursday New York Jets defensive coordinator Mike Pettine addressed the media.\u00a0 Here is the transcript courtesy of the Jets.<\/p>\n
On the Maurice Jones-Drew play from two seasons ago\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n It was just a situation that we practice for a one point game called a \u201cfreeway\u201d. You try to be good actors and you allow an opponent to score, let it be an eight-point game, and now you have a chance. Because the way the situation was with the game, we wouldn\u2019t be able to stop the clock. It was right above the two-minute warning. So looking ahead we realized, as much as a defense it goes against every shred of your defensive mentality and your body to allow that to happen, it\u2019s part of the game and I\u2019ve seen it used successfully for teams to get back and have the ability to tie a game up. So we called it and (Marques) Douglas made a heck of a play. It was just an instinctive thing, I think he shed a block and dove and tackled him, but right then he knew it because then at the two-minute warning we could see their coaches talking to Jones-Drew on the sideline, we realized we\u2019re not going to get that chance again. And sure enough, on the next play, that\u2019s when he ran down and broke the heart of some fantasy football owners and took a knee at the one-yard line. But we\u2019ve watched that game, it\u2019s still one that bothers us because we allowed a team to come in here and be more physical than we were. We were inconsistent that game. We had stretches that game, we played lights-out. But we allowed a long drive early and then we had a chance to close the game out. We had taken the lead and we let them drive right down the field and kick the game-winning field goal. That\u2019s obviously something we never want to have happen, especially at home.<\/p>\n On Rex Ryan saying that the defense made seven glaring mistakes during the Cowboys game\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n I don\u2019t know the exact number, but I think there were more than seven. It all depends on your definition of \u201cglaring\u201d. That\u2019s all definition, are we talking about mental mistakes? Are we talking about technique errors? Errors that end up being big plays? We can have a colossal bust on a play but it ends up being a great play for us because the ball ended up not going there. (You) turn a guy loose, don\u2019t even cover him and the ball gets thrown somewhere else. Whereas, where a guy like Eric Smith who has tight coverage and it\u2019s just a perfect throw by (Tony) Romo over the top and it was against the right coverage and the help on that side of the field was low instead of high by design, and they hit a big play on it. So again, a lot of it depends on the result how you look at the mistake whether it was a critical error or not. But again, that maybe was his count, but I think for us as the defensive staff and the position coaches, we\u2019ll probably have that number a little bit higher.<\/p>\n On if he was surprised at the number of mistakes the Jets defense made\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n No, I wasn\u2019t surprised. It was an opener. They did some things that they hadn\u2019t shown that gave us some trouble. (It\u2019s ) a credit to them, that\u2019s a very intelligent coaching staff. They had the entire lockout, the entire offseason to prepare. I think that\u2019s probably why, contrary to popular belief, that people I think thought the defenses were going to be ahead of offenses and you look at the results, (in Week One there were the) most passing yards in a weekend, all the points being scored, I think that\u2019s a credit to a lot of the offensive staffs out there that had all that time to come up with some pretty good plans and study the defenses in that offseason. I\u2019m not surprised by it. Obviously, we were thrilled, relieved, whatever the word is to get out of it with a win. Hey, we\u2019re going to learn from the mistakes we made, but when the smoke cleared, we ended up 1-0. That\u2019s obviously huge, and that\u2019s life in the NFL. The other team is going to make plays and I give credit to them. You hear some people out of the Dallas market, I mean you hear the owner say that\u2019s as good as he\u2019d seen Tony (Romo) play up until the fumble. And he did (play well), he made some throws that were lights out. The one he hit Dez Bryant on the sideline, it was a perfect throw, you can\u2019t cover that. Marquice Cole hit him with a dead run, hit him from full blast from 20 yards away and to his credit he stood in and made that throw. That\u2019s going to happen, so again, the sky wasn\u2019t falling for us after it. But again, it was, \u201cHey, we\u2019re not as good as we think we are\u201d moment in the defensive room as well.<\/p>\n On if he expects Jacksonville to run the ball a lot\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n I think what they\u2019ve done since coach (Jack) Del Rio has been there is they thrive on win boring. This is not a flashy offense, and especially on the road they\u2019re going to come in, they want to take the crowd out of it. They\u2019re going to run the football. They\u2019re going to keep the passing game, it\u2019s not a lot of stuff down the field. You\u2019re not going to see a lot of deep balls being thrown. Every once in a while they\u2019ll block it up to take a shot, but for the most part, I think the kid had 24 attempts, only 170 yards. There weren\u2019t a lot of chunks in their yardage, but it was all efficient throws. Three step boots, screens, and then he plays to his defense. The style, it\u2019s not pretty, it\u2019s probably not what the league wants, but it\u2019s very effective for them and it can get frustrating. And then you get guys who try to come out of structure and make a play and next thing you know you are giving up a big play.<\/p>\n On if Luke McNown can win a game if the Jets defense loads up on the run…<\/strong><\/p>\n He did. I think that\u2019s hard on most quarterbacks. There are the elite ones that can do it, but we certainly would like to get him into that situation. Here\u2019s a guy that has been in the league for a long time, only has what is it? Eight career starts. Anytime you have a guy who is inexperienced, you want to put the game on their shoulders.<\/p>\n On if Bart Scott has earned some defensive freedom\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n Well it\u2019s not necessarily freedom, but I think what Bart has proven over the years is that he\u2019s a pretty good pass rusher and Bart\u2019s pretty good when he\u2019s around the line of scrimmage like that. He\u2019s not a guy that can just line up and put his hand down and be a defensive end, but from a standing up position, and I think it\u2019s good that we kind of mix up the amount of time that he\u2019s in coverage and the amount of time that he\u2019s rushing the passer. Like I said, he\u2019s proven he can do that, and there are situations where we want to keep him on the field, so instead of subbing for him in some of those third down groupings, we\u2019ll keep him on the field and just have him be part of the rush.<\/p>\n On the long play to Dez Bryant on the first drive\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n I think Brodney (Pool) was a little late getting lined up. I think that was the first problem, is that he was a little lazy getting out of the huddle and they quick-counted us. They got up and snapped it pretty quick, so he wasn\u2019t set and his job was to see the release of the inside receiver. If he released inside, he was supposed to squeeze number two, try to get his hands on him, and he gave him free access, which is obviously a big no-no to give an elite athlete like that free access, especially when he\u2019s not going against a corner, when he\u2019s on an inside route, so that\u2019s one there. Obviously he didn\u2019t have him down the field, but we needed to get a re-route there.<\/p>\n On if the coaching staff realized the defense wasn\u2019t as good as they thought during the game\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n Not so much during the game, I just think afterwards when you come out of it. That\u2019s something where you feel as a defensive staff, \u201cHey let\u2019s take the positives from this. Hey guys, we\u2019re not as good as we get hyped up.\u201d And a lot of times guys buy into it. \u201cHey I\u2019m wearing a Jets jersey, I must be good.\u201d Whereas it doesn\u2019t happen that way. They have to understand, it\u2019s human nature when you go for such a long period of time, \u201cHey you guys are an elite defense.\u201d Well, we\u2019re an elite defense when we prove it on the field, and I think that was a good wakeup call for our group.<\/p>\n On how good the defense is\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n Good enough to be 1-0.<\/p>\n On struggling against Jason Witten and tight ends in general\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n It was a combination (of things) when we looked at it. Obviously that\u2019s a concern, we had some games last year where we gave up some catches and some yards to tight ends. We know that, especially with how good we are outside, that\u2019s how we\u2019re going to get attacked. Sometimes it\u2019s personnel, there are certain tight ends in this league that are hard draws, that are too big to cover with a (defensive back) yet too athletic to cover with a linebacker. That\u2019s the problem with Witten for example. You want to put a guy down on him and next thing you know they\u2019re running the ball and we have a corner trying to cover him but now he\u2019s trying to get off a block and make a play in the run game. And then you look at the flip side of it, trying to have a linebacker cover in space. You have to mix it, you have to do some different things, they did some things schematically that got him some balls early on, but we made an adjustment later in the game that helped us. It\u2019s something we\u2019re aware of and it doesn\u2019t get any easier this week, I know (Marcedes) Lewis is listed (on the injury report), whether he\u2019s questionable, probable, whatever it is, I know he has a calf injury. He isn\u2019t going to practice until tomorrow, but we\u2019re expecting him to be full go. And he\u2019s right on that list (of elite tight ends). We basically go Week One and Week Two, probably play two of the most complete tight ends in the league. Guys that can block, that are darn good blockers, that can turn around and break you down in the secondary as well.<\/p>\n On his impressions of Muhammad Wilkerson\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n I thought he was solid in the game. Solid, not spectacular. I don\u2019t know how he ended up on Coach Carrier\u2019s grade sheet, but I don\u2019t think there were too many minuses on there. I think it was a good start for him. We didn\u2019t want to get him too many reps. Again, just being opening night and on that stage, I didn\u2019t want to have to throw the kid out there to play 60 snaps, so he was in the rotation. I thought the five guys that played, I thought all were pretty solid. Ropati (Pitoitua) was solid. Marcus Dixon played well, and then obviously, (Mike) DeVito and Sione (Pouha) were the usual, did their job as well. And then you asked about Kenrick (Ellis). He had a real good week of practice this week, so we have that decision to make. This is a running football team. We usually have that meeting on Friday, it could be later today, though, the five versus six D-linemen up (for the game) discussion.<\/p>\n On having Pitoitua healthy\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s huge. We were really feeling that he was going to be a big part of our success a year ago. That\u2019s why it was so heartbreaking to see him go down (last) preseason with the injury. He\u2019s come back and has picked up exactly where he left off. He\u2019s that guy. He\u2019s high-motor, super strong. He\u2019s a guy that, for as big as he is, sometimes you have to worry about his pad level, but he\u2019s so strong that he can still pop up a little bit and still be effective. He\u2019s a Jet and he plays like that. He\u2019s passionate, he\u2019s relentless. The phrase we use, he plays like his hair\u2019s on fire. He doesn\u2019t say a word. You can just tell he loves football, and that clearly makes him one of us.<\/p>\n On why Wilkerson is the starter over Pitoitua\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n To me, if we had to choose, if I was leaning one way or the other (Wilkerson is ahead). If you had really graded him during camp, we had Mo ahead of him.<\/p>\n On why Wilkerson was graded higher\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n He does his job a little bit better. They\u2019re both good players and it\u2019s a great decision to have. We see it as (having) five starters.<\/p>\n On what Pitoitua has to do to get to Wilkerson\u2019s level\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n He just has to keep being Ropati. Whatever his job is that play, do it. We don\u2019t compare like that. Guys earn playing time based on how they are individually. We don\u2019t get into, who\u2019s the starter. We see it as five starters. Somebody\u2019s got to be out there first. We decided it was Mo, in our expert opinion.<\/p>\n On whether it was only the second time Revis has blitzed\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n That probably (was). I had (that play) penciled on the sheet to be the other hash mark, so it would (have been Antonio) Cromartie. No, it was one that we felt we wanted to go with it, so we sent him. That\u2019ll be a once-in-a-blue-moon-thing.<\/p>\n On whether that might be the last time this season that Revis blitzes\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah, that might be it for his career. (Joking)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On Thursday New York Jets defensive coordinator Mike Pettine addressed the media.\u00a0 Here is the transcript courtesy of the Jets. On the Maurice Jones-Drew play from two seasons ago\u2026 It was just a situation that we practice for a one point game called a \u201cfreeway\u201d. You try to be good actors and you allow an […]<\/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-9210","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-2oy","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9210","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=9210"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9210\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9211,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9210\/revisions\/9211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}