Here is the transcript of head coach Rex Ryan’s Wednesday press conference courtesy of the Jets.<\/p>\n
Opening statement\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n We made the trade, Derrick Mason going to Houston. (Here are a) just a few thoughts that I had on Derrick. I have a ton of respect for him, one of 18 receivers in the history of this game to go over 12,000 yards. He\u2019s closing in on 1,000 receptions. I\u2019ve always had a ton of respect for Derrick, and still do, as a player and a person. With that, though, we made the decision to move on from Derrick (and) trade him. I think that gives more opportunity. It shows we feel really good about (Jeremy) Kerley (and) what he did in that Patriot game. We saw it coming on the practice field. It was hard to ignore, the kind of plays he\u2019s making, so we\u2019re excited about Jeremy.<\/p>\n On what did not work with Mason\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m not sure. As we know, I\u2019m on record, saying he\u2019s going to catch 80 balls, because that\u2019s the kind of respect I have for Derrick. I know the kind of player that I knew in Baltimore and here. (I was) excited to bring him in. It\u2019s just one of those things. He was targeted 10 times in I think the Oakland game, a bunch of catches and things. He\u2019s still got a lot of ability. I think what we saw on the practice field was that Jeremy Kerley, I think, has a lot of ability. When you look at it, even this past week, we wanted to feature Jeremy in there. He was impressive. He was targeted three times, three catches. You can run reverses, you can do different things with Jeremy. At the end of the day, Houston gave us a call, and we\u2019re like, \u201cYou know what, let\u2019s go with Jeremy.\u201d And that\u2019s what we did.<\/p>\n On the perception that there was turmoil between Mason and the coaching staff\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n I thought I answered it back then. I had a private conversation with Derrick and it\u2019ll remain that way, but he was not benched because of comments that he made in the media. That is not true.<\/p>\n On whether Mason bought in 100% to the program\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n I mean, buying into what? Most guys want to play. In that particular game plan, we were much more\u2014 and you guys have all the numbers, I know you do\u2014more regular personnel and two tight ends and things like that. Guys want to play. There\u2019s no question. And then, when you look at it, Jeremy had the 18 reps, and I think, Derrick had six or seven reps I\u2019m guessing, or something like that. It wasn\u2019t that he wasn\u2019t buying in. It was just that we saw a lot of Jeremy and we got excited about that.<\/p>\n On why he would give up on Mason after a slow start\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n The one thing I wanted to make sure is clear (is) how much respect I have for Derrick. Always – before, during and after him being a Jet and everything else. As I\u2019ve said, (he is) a tremendous player and a tremendous person, but we\u2019re excited about moving forward with Jeremy. I don\u2019t know how else I can tell you that. I think when you see him out there he\u2019s doing a great job as a punt returner. He\u2019s doing a great job as a third receiver.<\/p>\n On why he didn\u2019t make Kerley the number three receiver and keep Mason\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n You could do a lot of things.<\/p>\n On whether it would have been a difficult situation having Mason as a fourth receiver\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n I think you\u2019re right. That\u2019s a valid question. It is. Your fourth receiver primarily is a huge contributor on special teams. Right now, we\u2019re kind of hanging our hat on special teams. That unit is playing spectacularly. They\u2019re playing great. Generally, you want a Patrick Turner, a Brad Smith, Wallace Wright-type guy in your fourth spot, in your fourth and fifth receiver. That\u2019s really what you look for on your team.<\/p>\n On whether Kerley exceeded his expectations\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n I think that\u2019s a fair statement. I think that\u2019s what\u2019s being lost a little bit in this. Jeremy, and we all saw it. I know you guys saw it in training camp. He was impressive from the day he got here and it\u2019s just getting better and better. We\u2019re really excited about Jeremy.<\/p>\n On why the team singled out Mason for his poor performance when the offense as a whole has underperformed\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s not like we\u2019re singling out anybody. Quite honesty, I\u2019ve been happy with Plax (Plaxico Burress). I just think he\u2019s actually going to (ascend). I mean, he hasn\u2019t played football for two years. I think he\u2019s (improving). Like I say, I\u2019ll go back to what I said about Derrick. I was probably the most excited guy in the building when Derrick decided to sign here. For whatever reason, it didn\u2019t happen. We weren\u2019t getting the balls to him or whatever it is. It\u2019s hard to say. It was more the emergence of Jeremy (Kerley). It\u2019s a fine line. We\u2019re trying to win now and he\u2019s a young player that\u2019s actually going to ascend. We\u2019re excited about Jeremy Kerley and I think that\u2019s maybe the thing that is getting lost here.<\/p>\n On if Mason wasn\u2019t around enough to grasp the playbook\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n No, I just think we understood that his home was in Nashville. We were going to allow him to miss Mondays and Tuesdays. The players\u2019 day off is Tuesday. A lot of teams have Mondays off, as well. We were giving him that time to go back home, so that is true, but we did that before we ever signed him.<\/p>\n On his thoughts on the wide receivers so far\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n Look guys, as a football team we\u2019re 2-3 right now. We\u2019re not happy with that obviously. We have higher expectations of ourselves. So that\u2019s the way it is. This team needs a win and the thing that I like about our team is that we put it on our own shoulders. We have a quarterback that puts it on his shoulders. You have a receiver that puts it on his shoulders. The defense puts it on theirs, and that\u2019s it. But it\u2019s collectively (that) we have to improve this thing.<\/p>\n On if an example was made out of Derrick Mason\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n No, I mean one message I think, I\u2019ve had great players in the past that I\u2019ve had to bench. Chris McAllister was a great player, wasn\u2019t playing well and we had to bench him. We made that tough decision. Last year when Kyle (Wilson) was struggling, you know what, we had Drew (Coleman) play. So I think that\u2019s what it is. One thing is, the best players play and that\u2019s a thing that we\u2019ve always stood by, and that\u2019s what we believe in.<\/p>\n On Mason\u2019s reaction upon learning his role against New England would be diminished…<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m going to keep my conversations private between Derrick and I.<\/p>\n On if he said anything to Kerley\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n Nope. That was an easy answer wasn\u2019t it? (joking)<\/p>\n On if he is concerned about the depth at wide receiver\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n Well, I think I can certainly understand the concern. You have four receivers, with Patrick Turner, as well as Kerley as the backups. You have Logan Payne, if we can ever get that cast off of him. He\u2019s working out great, hopefully it won\u2019t be long and maybe he\u2019ll have an opportunity, and we\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n On the extra roster spot and if there is an idea of what would happen\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n Not really, because one thing about us, we\u2019re always trying to see about getting our team better, (and) all that. I know Mike (Tannenbaum) and the Pro Personnel department, they\u2019ll always be looking, trying to develop guys off our own roster. So we\u2019re not going to do anything with that roster spot right now, but we\u2019re not putting a timetable on when we\u2019ll fill that spot.<\/p>\n On if this open roster spot is there for a potential trade\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n I would say that we can leave ourselves open for a lot of possibilities.<\/p>\n On if the burden of expectation is proving too heavy for the team\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n No, I think it\u2019s good to have expectations on your team because you don\u2019t sneak up on anybody in this league. No matter what\u2019s said, yes, we did have a rookie quarterback. You might surprise people (for) a week or two, but you\u2019re not going to do it throughout a season. And with us, you want to be the team that has the five nationally televised games, you want to be the team that has high expectations from your fans, from the national media, from everybody because that means you\u2019re good. That\u2019s how we look at it. Now, we haven\u2019t performed to our expectations, our fans\u2019 expectations and all that. We certainly understand that, but this season\u2019s not over. And people want to throw some dirt on us. Well, we can affect how this season ends.<\/p>\n On injuries to Ropati Pitoitua and Nick Mangold\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n I know this is bonus coverage or whatever. Both of them weren\u2019t in practice today. They were off on the side doing things, but both of them seem to be doing pretty well.<\/p>\n On if there are any other injuries\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n Well, I think the other injuries, you have (Donald) Strickland had the head deal, and he seems to be doing fine. He passed the how many fingers (test). How many fingers and all that stuff today. Kidding, but he seems to be doing alright. And then Ropati (Pitoitua) has a little knee type thing that he got on a sack. He finished the game.<\/p>\n On if there is a story behind Eddie Jones being waived so quickly\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n No, I think Eddie was doing good, it\u2019s just sometimes you make moves, up and down guys on the roster, whether they\u2019re active or practice squad. You\u2019d like to get Eddie on the practice squad. The way that is, it\u2019s kind of a floating spot.<\/p>\n On if there is a difference from this three-game losing streak to the ones in 2009\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n No, I think anytime you lose three games, you\u2019re miserable and that was the case then. The other thing is though, just like in those games, you couldn\u2019t wait to play, and we have confidence that we can get us a victory. So that\u2019s where it\u2019s all the same.<\/p>\n On if he expects Mangold to play\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n I expect him to play.<\/p>\n On Isaiah Trufant\u2019s injury\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n Isaiah, that\u2019s one too. He has the hamstring, so I don\u2019t expect Isaiah to play this week.<\/p>\n On if Wayne Hunter has shown signs of improvement\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n There\u2019s no question, I think Wayne\u2019s been playing pretty good. We know the kind of ability Wayne Hunter has. So I\u2019m not surprised that he\u2019s playing well.<\/p>\n On if he thinks these next two home games represent a crossroads for this team\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n We\u2019re just looking at this game. Quite honestly, you\u2019re talking about a caged animal, to sort of speak, in the Miami Dolphins and they\u2019re looking at one when they see us. Both teams have not performed to expectations and can\u2019t wait to play this game, so it should be a physical game.<\/p>\n On how Darrelle Revis\u2019 closing speed on the play when he chased down Patriots WR Wes Welker\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n The great thing is we always say they\u2019re not in there (end zone) until they\u2019re in there. He makes that great play, then we have the, what we thought, was a fumble that was not a fumble. That just shows you that if you get him down, you have opportunities to make a play. They are not in there. You don\u2019t make that play that Darrelle made if you don\u2019t have that belief, and that was what was encouraging to me. We, obviously, blew a coverage and Welker made a great play, but Darrelle did (chase him down). I think Darrelle is faster than people give him credit for. Everybody knows how physical he is and everything else, but he\u2019s got a lot of speed, as well.<\/p>\n On people not noticing how fast Revis is\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n This guy can run with any of them. How many guys do you actually see get on top of him? He\u2019s the best in the business.<\/p>\n On what his main message was to the team today\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s just that you have to start stacking bricks on Wednesday. You just don\u2019t stack them on game day, and that\u2019s it. That\u2019s how we get better. We will get better by how we hit that practice field and then in the class room.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Here is the transcript of head coach Rex Ryan’s Wednesday press conference courtesy of the Jets. Opening statement\u2026 We made the trade, Derrick Mason going to Houston. (Here are a) just a few thoughts that I had on Derrick. I have a ton of respect for him, one of 18 receivers in the history of […]<\/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-9515","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-2tt","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9515","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=9515"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9515\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9518,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9515\/revisions\/9518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miletestsite.com\/jets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}