Rex Ryan press conference transcript 10/14/10

On Thursday New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan met with the media.  Here is the transcript from the press conference, courtesy of the Jets.

Opening remarks…

“First off, we’ll go through what we always do, our injuries. Darrelle (Revis) and Calvin (Pace) were limited in practice today, so that’s an improvement from yesterday. Guys that were full: Jim Leonhard (bicep), Nick Mangold (shoulder), Brandon Moore (hamstring), (and) (Jamaal) Westerman (ankle). That’s all we have to report on the injuries. The biggest thing I believe is the Yankee game coming up. I think we’ve got (CC) Sabathia going. I’m not sure who the Rangers are going to go with, but I think he’ll do all right.”

On Jason Taylor being off the injury report…

“Yes, the fact that his elbow is three times the size as the other one, (there’s) no need to put him on any more (smiling). No, he’s great. (He has) no limitations at all. He’s good.”

On if he has better idea of when he’ll make a decision on whether Revis plays…

“I do. After talking to Darrelle, we’re going to take him to Denver, one way or the other. He wants to be with his team, whether he can play or not, and that’s where I want him, also. We will definitely take him to Denver with us.  Hopefully, he’ll be ready to play. He looked good today. Again, though, it’s too early to say he’s definitely going to play. I’m still not comfortable with that.”

On if Revis will be a game-time decision…

“Yes, it could be. I told the defensive coaches to prepare like he’s not playing, and then, all of a sudden, it’s kind of a boost when he is playing, obviously. That’s how we prepared, but he got a lot of reps with the ones today, also.”

On if the playing surface in Denver will influence his decision on whether Revis plays…

“Oh, I thought you said circus, and I’m like, it could help, the circus could help (laughter). I don’t know why I thought you said that. I’ve got to take the peanut butter out of my ears (laughter). Yes, that’s always a plus. Being on grass is always a good thing unless there’s a huge snowfall or something that pops up every now and then out there. I think the weather is supposed to be decent apparently. The weather is supposed to be outstanding, so it’ll be good.”

On if the altitude plays a factor in this game…

“No, we’ve already got a formula for that. We just show up. We stay on east coast time, pop down there an extra day early, (and) go practice on a high school field like we always do. We’re ready to roll. Every time we’ve done this schedule, we’ve done just fine. Any time we’ve changed it, the altitude gets you (laughter). I’m not really worried about that as much as I’m worried about the team over there, and really I’m not worried. They have some good players, but so do we.”

On defending Denver’s passing offense…

“They’ll look at our pass defense statistically. They’re averaging 50 passes a game, so they’ll probably up that to 55 this game (smiling). They can get you in trouble. Let’s just put it that way. If you want to throw it every snap, that’s fine. I think we’ll make enough plays on the back end. We’ll be able to get some pressure on the quarterback, and that’s what we expect. They’re not all of a sudden going to try to run the ball down our throat. I think they will try to be a little bit more balanced, but whatever they want to do is fine with us. They’re going to have to snap it sooner or later and we’ll see what happens.”

On if he has a better feeling about Pace playing than Revis…

“Both of them will definitely make the trip.”

On if Pace is any further along…

“Yes, he felt good today. Yesterday, he probably was worse than Darrelle. That’s how sore he was, but he did really well today and did exactly what was asked. I’m hoping both of them can go, but we’ll see. That flight is a long flight and we’ll see how they come out of that flight. Then (they will) run around a little bit on Saturday and we’ll see how they’re moving around.”

On if they would play Revis in a limited role…

“Absolutely. If that’s what we think ends up being the best thing for us and the best thing for Darrelle, absolutely. The only thing is it’s not like you can say, ‘Well, play him in sub-packages.’ This team is going to be in three wides (and) four wides. Maybe (we’ll) just say, ‘Hey, go out there on 3rd down.’ We’ll look at all possibilities.”

On Champ Bailey…

“He’s a great player. There’s no question. Champ Bailey is a heck of a football player. He was the No. 1 corner in the league. I think right now he’s probably two or three because we have the number one guy. I think Champ will tell you that.”

On if it helps Mark Sanchez that he plays against Revis in practice…

“Yes, him and Cromartie both. Any time you have excellent players competing against each other, I think that can only help you.”

On if Sanchez’s zero interceptions are a product of his development or luck…

“I think it’s definitely his development. The way he studied (and) the time he put in in the off-season, it’s starting to pay dividends right now for us. Luck, if that’s thrown in there, that’s fine. I remember the time when really somebody could should have picked that one little screen pass we tried. I think (that) is the only time I can remember somebody dropping a ball. He’s really been smart with it. He knows the routes. The guys have done a great job protecting him up front, and he’s just done a great job protecting the football and throwing it to the open guy.”

On if Sanchez ever texts him…

“Every now and then.”

On what types of texts he receives from Sanchez…

“I get all kinds of things from him. He’ll have one (that is) a cartoon and it’ll be a cartoon of me and the guy is 500 pounds. He’ll send it, “Hey, just thought you’d want to see this.” He’ll do random things like that all the time. ”

On if he ever texts him about plays…

“(It’s) more goofy stuff generally when he sends it to me. Every now and then, he’s serious, but very rarely.”

On if Sanchez ever thanked him for the two challenges that reversed interception calls…

“No, and he should do that (smiling). I appreciate you bringing that up. I think he should make note of that.”

On what he’s seen from Shonn Greene…

“Shonn Greene has been awesome. If you watch him on the practice field, he’s really hitting it in there and he’s being Shonn Greene. It was great to see him get those tough yards. The most impressive run, besides the touchdown run he had, was that short yardage. Every single person they had was inside the tight end box. If we would have had a toss call, we’re still running with it.  They knew we were running the ball inside. We knew we were running the ball inside and he still picked it up against an excellent run defense. Shonn is just packing it in there great, protecting the football, and he just keeps hitting you, keeps hitting you and then he bounces it on you. That’s his running style. He literally is a guy that can bury teams in the fourth quarter. That’s his running style.”

On Greene’s slow start to the season…

“I just thought he was (playing well.) (He needs to recognize) that you don’t need to try to hit a home run. Just hit a single, single, single, double, and then you hit that homer. You don’t need to bounce it. Just be you, and that’s great. Get five yards a carry or just keep humming in there at four yards, four yards, then pop a couple, eight, nine, ten, and run somebody over. That’s his game. The one that I thought was an amazing run this past week, the safety came to take his ankles out. He dove down there low and Shonn bent all the way down and still rammed him with his helmet. I was like, ‘How the heck did he get his body down there?’ He’s got such great forward lean and balance. He’s like, ‘No, I’m going to run you over.’ Regardless of how low you got, he got lower, and it was like a battering ram. That was impressive.”

On signing Nick Folk..

“Our guys felt really good. Up top, (Assistant General Manager) Scott Cohen and (Mike) Tannenbaum good about Nick Folk. You’ve got a young kicker, who was a Pro Bowl kicker two years ago. (He) struggled last year and had an injury. (He) came out here, worked out, and he did a great job in the workout for (Mike) Westhoff. We just thought that you can’t have everything, and we were going to have to give up something. If we would have signed Jay (Feely), we wouldn’t have had Jason Taylor. The combination of Jason Taylor and Nick Folk is pretty good. How does that look right now for us? I think  that’s something. I’m not going to say Nick Folk is doing a great job kicking like a Pro Bowl kicker or anything like that because his contract is up, so I’m not going to make that comment.”

On if he ever worried that they were messing with a good thing when they didn’t sign Jay Feely…

“Of course. You worry about it a little bit, but if you have confidence in the evaluators upstairs, if you have confidence in yourself and in your football team and your organization, then worry is probably too strong a word. Concerned? Maybe.”

On if Westhoff had any input in the decision to sign Folk…

“I always give Westhoff credit. Absolutely.”

On if Westhoff felt like he could work with Folk…

“No question. Westy came out with this one thing that was as big as this room. You guys saw it in training camp. I don’t know what the shape is (t-square). He breaks that bad boy out and he hasn’t missed since. I think Westy is going to be selling those things across the country.”

On if he worried about Folk during OTAs…

“I was worried that day (laughter). I was concerned most of the time. I was worried that day. Today, he was unbelievable. We’re out there and usually it’s a progression. You kick an extra point, back him up five or ten (yards). He takes one kick today, then he backs him up like 30 yards and he’s just booming them all over the place. He made a 63-yard field goal on the grass one day, just out here with the team. It was like, “Oh, no problem.” He has got some talent. There’s no question.”

On if he ever considers having Folk or Steve Weatherford come off the bus first since they are both gym rats…

“No, you usually want Wayne Hunter out first or somebody like that.”

On it being unusual to have a kicker and punter that are both physically strong…

“Weatherford is a great athlete. You look at him and he’s a decathlete. He can really run. I think he’s trying to get into body-building after he’s done. That’s what we tease him on. He uses those shake weights all the time (laughter).”

On Denver’s defensive approach…

“I know the defensive coordinator well, Don Martindale. We worked together and we call him Wink, by the way. He almost looks like a Ryan, too. He’s got this big, square head. He’s got a five-head, not a forehead. He’s a heck of a guy, a heck of a coach and he doesn’t want to give up a yard, trust me. He’s going to try to stop you as fast as he can. Hopefully, he’s going to struggle and we won’t be friends after this game. He’s going to get them going. I know they’ve got a few injuries, but this guy is a hell of a coach, and he gets them flying around.”

On Kris Jenkins talking about coming back next season…

“That’s great because there’s only one way to do it and that’s to be completely committed. You can’t half-whatever it. You’ve got to be 100 percent committed and if he is, he’s got a chance to come back. If he’s not or if he wavers, that’s going to be tough. I love the fact that he’s saying it right now because we all know Jenks. If he says it and he believes it, he’ll go out and do it.”

On if Jenkins can be the same player…

“Yes. He’s kind of a genetic freak. He really is. We were expecting that he was going to have a huge year for us. If he would have stayed healthy, he would have really had a big year. Coming off of this injury, you’d like to see him really get his weight off earlier. That can only help him. This guy is really a special player and I’m hoping for his sake that he does it, because I don’t think he’s through playing. I really don’t.”

On if he’s spoken to Jenkins…

“Not yet. I think this was one of those give him space, he’s going to make that decision (on whether to retire). I’m for anybody that isn’t through playing. I know the way he approaches competition and if he thinks that, “Hey, I’m going to show you. I’m going to get back and be better than ever,” I’m not betting against him.”

Tyson Rauch

See Full Bio