Transcript of Jets head coach Rex Ryan’s news conference following Monday’s midday practice at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center:
I guess a few things happened. First off, if you haven’t heard, Darrelle Revis, we signed him. That’s a little footnote [smiling]. We’ve also got Tony Richardson. We’re going to sign him back. I know there were a lot of nervous people. Basically what happens is you get an exemption for Darrelle. I don’t know how long it is. You guys know more than me, I think it’s a couple of weeks. We bring T-Rich back on the active roster. He’ll play against Baltimore. Brian Jackson will be released, so we’re set there. I do think we may play Revis. I’m not sure. I think he might need to practice for several weeks before we play him, but don’t be shocked if he’s out there. In other words, he’s definitely playing.
We had a long couple of days negotiating. I think it was great for my perspective to see how Mike Tannenbaum, Ari [Nissim], Jackie [Davidson] and everybody, it’s a team right there. It’s not just one person getting the job done. Obviously, it’s headed by Mike Tannenbaum, but it was really interesting to see everything and how it happened. I only lost faith in everybody about three or four times, but it was great to see it finally get done. I think a lot of credit, obviously, goes to Mike Tannenbaum and like I mentioned, Ari and Jackie. Then there was a great compromise, Neil Schwartz and Jonathan [Feinsod] and Sean Gilbert. We had a million phonecalls, a million conversations and then it finally got done so that’s the important thing.
On if he thinks a deal with Revis would have been done if he and Woody Johnson hadn’t gone to meet with Revis…
Yes, I think so, absolutely. I understand people are trying to give us, maybe me, way more credit than I deserve. Maybe with Woody going down there, I certainly think it helped because I don’t know how many owners would do that. Obviously, Woody recognizes how important Darrelle is to this football team. It was great. When he was down there, there were some good talks back and forth. We felt more confident when we got on that plane heading back that a deal could be reached.
On what he thought the breakthrough was…
I thought our meeting was good. I thought we were confident that a deal could be reached, but then it seems like it wasn’t going to happen and later it came back. Again, it was Mike, Neil and Sean. Those guys really are the ones that put this thing together, so they’re the ones that should get all the credit for it.
On what points and arguments he made when speaking to Revis…
I don’t think I made any arguments. Sean is too big to argue with [smiling]. I looked at him like “I don’t think I can take him.” [laughing] It was just good. I think they realized how we felt, Woody and I and representing the team. Obviously, we felt good about how they felt. We just came together and it looked like there was a chance. The one thing I knew for sure when we left, both sides knew that each other wanted to get the deal done and I think that was big.
On the rarity of coaches getting involved in contract negotiations and if he felt he was walking on Mike Tannenbaum’s toes…
Mike wanted me to go down. He wanted Woody and I both to go down. We’re attached side by side, Mike and I are. This organization, all we want is to be successful. All this organization wanted was to get Darrelle back playing football and the great thing is all Darrelle wanted to do is play, so I think that’s why we’re here.
On what it’s like having Revis back…
It helps, there is no question about it. We said our team has no excuses and never would’ve if Darrelle hadn’t have been here. It falls on everybody, not just Darrelle. I will say this, it makes our job a lot easier. Mike Pettine and I, we’ve already talked about it — we’re better coaches now. Dennis Thurman is a better coach today than he was yesterday. We’re excited to have him back and really he’s excited just to be here as one of the guys. Everybody has a piece to that puzzle. Darrelle’s just happens to be much larger. He allows us to do things on defense that we probably couldn’t do if he wasn’t with us.
On the pressure it takes off Antonio Cromartie and Kyle Wilson…
I think it’s great. I will say this, there was a positive out of Darrelle not being here and that was getting Kyle ready to go and getting Cromartie up to where he could play left corner and right corner and feel good about that. There was a benefit that way. Lowery playing inside, outside, safety, all over the place. We’re ready to go. There is no question. We don’t make any excuses. We are ready to go. The great thing is Monday night we get to go out and snap it for real and we’ll see what happens.
On if he worries about Revis’ conditioning…
If we have to just use him in the sub package, we will, but I really doubt it. I think Darrelle is in great shape and we’ll just throw him out there.
On if Revis will dictate how much time he plays…
I think that’s logical. Hopefully our offense and defense dictate how much we play on defense. I don’t see him coming off the field.
On if it was his idea to go down to Florida to see Revis…
It was our idea to go down there.
On why he decided to go down to Florida…
First off, I like to travel [laughter]. That was probably what one of the reasons was. We don’t do things exactly by the books of other teams, but we do it our way. It’s the New York Jet way. I guess both those times were successful. We were able to get Bart Scott and we were able to get Darrelle back in. I guess it worked out that way.
On if he got the feeling that Revis missed being here…
Not around me as much, but I knew he missed being around his teammates. All he wanted to do was play, you could tell it. When you look at him, he wanted to play. I think he saw in Woody’s face and my face that we definitely wanted him back. That’s what he does. He’s a football player and that’s what he does. He plays.
On if this was the first time he tried to meet Revis in person during the talks…
No. I tried to meet with him in person. There was a rumor that he was here in town, so I drove up to his house and he wasn’t there. It was my first time, but I intended to meet him then.
On if it was in the last week that he tried to meet with Darrelle…
Yeah, I think so.
On Tannenbaum saying he had to medicate him after hearing the news that Revis was signing…
It’s true, but he had to try to medicate me twice. Once when I stormed out of there ripping everybody on both sides. Then, after I threw my little tantrum, when the deal was getting done, they brought me back up. When we all agreed to the deal, all of us felt great about it. The first call I made was not to anybody in the media but to my wife. I said, “All right, we finally got this done.” That was it. It was just a great time. I knew and I saw how hard everybody worked to get it done. Clearly Neil and Jonathan and Sean wanted to get Darrelle back on the field and this organization wanted it to happen. That’s the only reason it did happen.
On anything Revis said or did when they met that conveyed they had a chance to get a deal done…
Privately I knew he wanted to play. We had to let everybody do their jobs. It was a good meeting. I thought it was good when Mr. Johnson went down. If anybody deserves credit on our trip, it was Mr. Johnson heading down there.
On who retrieved him after he stormed out of the meeting…
Mike came back. He stayed the course and got the deal done and he came down. As he told me, “Rex, you can’t leave. You can leave the meeting, but you can’t leave the building.” That was how he put it. They did a great job. I can’t tell you how impressive it was to watch real professionals work.
On Revis coming out to practice…
They were all pulling the whole Rudy thing when he came back to the team. There were some comments about “castaway” because Darrelle hadn’t shaved for a while. It was great. There was an energy in this building, in this team when we knew Darrelle was coming back. It was just great to see. We had him come in and break everybody down. You can tell he’s relieved and happy at the same time and his teammates are happy to see Darrelle back.
On if he had his temper tantrum Sunday night…
Yeah. I’ve had a bunch of them, as you guys know. I was just a little “Come on.” I wanted it to happen. Bruce [Speight] had a great saying, “It’s kind of like a boyfriend-girlfriend thing, but the parents won’t let you get together.” That was kind of how I felt. He wanted to play, I wanted him to play, but for some reason, it wasn’t happening.
On if there was any face-to-face contact with the agents…
No. Everything was by phone on their side.
On who was in the room when he had his temper tantrum…
Lots of people. Bruce was there, Mike, Jackie, Ari. That was who was there.
On if Revis’ agents heard his temper tantrum…
Oh, yeah. It was directed at everybody.
On if he has a hard time being patient with contract talks…
I would say that’s definitely not a strength, and this would be the last time I get involved ever. I think it’d be the last time I was ever invited. That’s probably what will happen there.
On if he had a role in bringing Tony Richardson back…
Yeah, I just said, ‘Let’s get him in quick.’ The thing is, we felt pretty confident we could get T-Rich back, but there’s still the possibility that somebody gets him and convinces him. We had to get this deal done quick, so that’s what we did.
On if he was on board with the original move to release Richardson…
I felt confident that we could get Tony back at some point. That point is 24 hours later.
On what went into the decision to bring in wide receiver Patrick Turner…
Sometimes, and that’s interesting, but he’s a guy that our scouts really liked.
On if the organization pays attention to what a player does with another team or just the original scouting report…
No, we look at everything, but we certainly believe in our scouting department and what our coaches look at. It wasn’t like we never followed him. We did, but sometimes it takes guys a little longer to develop. Clearly, we’ve seen that with this team, as well. He’s a guy that is, in our opinion, a big, talented guy. We went in there and we’re going to take a shot at him.
On waiving David Clowney in favor of Turner…
Again, everybody has their own methods of doing things.
On deciding to have Turner fill the receivers spot instead of Clowney…
Well, what we’re trying to do is trying to win here. Whatever we think gives us the best opportunity to win, that’s what we’re going to do. I think, at the end of the day, we get paid to win. Fantasy football, that’s someone else’s deal.
On Baltimore signing WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh today…
He’s a talented receiver. I had to face him a number of years. An outstanding slot receiver, a guy that did a lot of great things in Cincinnati. It’ll be interesting to see how much they use him now. I believe they traded [Mark] Clayton, and he has to get up to speed, I would think, knowing their system, but he’s a talented guy.
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