Brian Schottenheimer interview transcript 11/4/10

On Thursday New York Jets offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer met with the media.  Here is the transcript courtesy of the Jets.

On if his wife yelled at him for not running the ball last week…

“No, my wife did, but she was pretty good.”

On if he’s serious that his wife yelled at him…

“No. She doesn’t yell at me. She questions me a lot. She’s a tough one. She’s been around the game for a long time, so she’s got some strong opinions. She usually gives me a few minutes to compose myself, but then she’s not afraid to tell me her thoughts.”

On his wife’s thoughts…

“She just wanted to know what I thought (and) what went wrong. My father was there as well, so that was always good. He gives a whole different dimension to that. They get it. They’re always very supportive. They really are. They’re great. Hey, we didn’t play very well and I can’t remember this group having that many missed opportunities especially in the fourth quarter. Jerricho (Cotchery) is one of those guys (where) he makes those plays for us. Mark (Sanchez) makes those reads and has made those reads and throws for us. It’s just unfortunate, we feel like offensively we lost the game for us. We own that. It’s inexcusable. We need to play better.”

On if he ran the ball enough against Green Bay…

“Here’s what I think. You give the Packers credit. They did a good job against us running the football. The reason we kind of went with so many passes is we were moving the ball throwing it. They were doing a good job against the run. I think we had 27 carries for 3.2 yards per carry, not counting the fake punt and Mark’s (Sanchez) run late. We had some big plays and so I felt very comfortable with the way we were moving the football in the passing game. Yes, I was comfortable with the numbers.”

On if he feels that he got away from the Ground-and-Pound mentality…

“I’m the first to say when you look and there’s 38 attempts or whatever it was to be like, ‘Wow. That’s more than usual.’ Again, I don’t go into a game saying I have to run this many times. A lot of it is feel. I think a lot of it comes with winning and losing. I’m conservative against Baltimore. We lose. You lose against the Packers and you’re over-aggressive, so I don’t care about that stuff. I call plays that I think are going to help us move the football. I call plays that I think are going to help us score points. We had plenty of opportunities to score points, runs (and) passes. We need to execute better. There are certainly things that I could have called better and those are the things that, I think, this group in general, we all take ownership of. We had a great meeting on Monday. We watched the film all together. We don’t usually get through all the film together. There was a lot of guys sharing their thoughts about (the game, saying), “Hey. My bad. My mistake.” That was good to see.”

On if the offense was embarrassed on Monday…

“We were embarrassed. It’s embarrassing to get shutout. The Packers are a good football team, but I think it was 2006, the last time it happened. Again, you’re in a close game like that, the defense was playing lights out and we just didn’t make enough plays. It was one of those deals where we just couldn’t get the field position turned. We had the one drive early in the half, to start the second half. Brad (Smith) had the big return and on third down Santonio (Holmes) drops the ball running across the field. He was probably going to score. It seemed like we were backed up the whole game. We moved the ball. I think we had over 350 yards of offense, but it’s our job to score points and we didn’t do that, so that loss falls on us.”

On Jerricho Cotchery dropping passes against Green Bay…

“It breaks your heart for all of us because you know how much he cares and how hard he works. He’s just one of those guys, if I had to throw a ball to anybody with the game on the line, I’d never bat an eye to throw it to him. He’s a pro and he accepts it. He’ll bounce back this week.”

On Cotchery talking to the media after the game…

“That doesn’t surprise me. He’s the best. He’s got a passion about this game. He’s got a passion about his preparation. He’s got a passion about the way he plays. He’s one of the guys I enjoy coaching more than anybody I’ve ever coached. He’s up there in the top four or five for sure, so that doesn’t surprise me.”

On if he sees an opportunity to run more against Detroit’s defense…

“It’s funny because (the way) they play, the box is going to be loaded. You’re not going to have to find the safety because he’ll be in the box. The way they play and the way they get up field, there are seams that are created. They’re an interesting group because I think they’re giving up 6.1 yards a carry on first down, but they’re also sixth in the league in causing tackles-for-loss, so there are good plays and bad plays. You’ll hit a run on them and then they’ll hit you for a loss because of the way they play. This team is aggressive off the ball. They play with those wide ends, that are tilted in. The three technique, the two guys inside, (Ndamukong) Suh and (Kevin) Williams, are good players. But, yes, there are things that we feel like we can continue to find a way to run the football. People have gotten some big plays because when you load that many people in the box, if the ball gets through the front seven or front eight, there is nobody left. That’s one thing that does come up. You might be hitting your head into a brick wall for a couple of plays and then one ball will pop to the edge or you’ll pop through and you’ll have a big chunk. Again, I think it’ll be a good test for us, but something that we look forward to.”

On if Detroit’s defense opens the door for the screen game…

“Yes, I think so. I think they’ve got 23 sacks. They do a great job getting after the passer, plus you watch them playing at home, they’re even more explosive because of the crowd noise. We had two screens last week that could have been really good. Shonn (Greene) dropped the one on the first drive and then Mark (Sanchez) missed LT (LaDainian Tomlinson) on another one, but yes, we always have some screens up. Again, anytime you have a good pass-rush team, you leave yourself open to screens and quarterback scrambles.”

On if the return of Santonio Holmes has caused Dustin Keller’s production to decrease…

“Denver is probably the easiest to speak to. What they did was they actually lost (Brian) Dawkins, their safety. They actually played a third corner as a safety. They played all that man-to-man and so they felt like they had a better matchup. I think teams are accounting for him, but I know by no means does Santonio (Holmes) coming back have anything to do with it. Again, Dustin is a guy that we have plenty of things for. We’ve got to get those things dialed. He’s got to get open. Mark’s (Sanchez) got to make good reads. We’ve got to have guys hold up in protection. That’s kind of what happened last week. We had Santonio coming open in on a big in-route and we gave up a sack. Mark missed Braylon (Edwards) for a touchdown. We had a drop (by) Santonio. It was like one thing after another. That’s the thing that was so frustrating and that’s why this week we’ve talked about really two things, being detailed and being disciplined. Cover the finer points of the details and do it the right way and be disciplined about it. Today was one of our better practices we’ve had all year.”

On if it creates more pressure on the offense because Detroit averages 38 points at home…

“Knowing the way our defense plays, I think 38 points could happen (smiling), but we feel like we have a pretty good defense. If you look at last week, they kept us in the game against another explosive offense. That group’s as good as anybody at throwing the football and doing the things that they do. We don’t worry about the defense, specifically this week. We’re going to worry about us. We talked about that. The focus this week needs to be on the Jets offense. That’s our biggest opponent. Last week, we truly beat ourselves. Not to take anything away from the Packers, but we hurt ourselves. We talked about (how) our opponent this week is really the Jets.”

On Ndamukong Suh…

“(He has) powerful, explosive get off. He’s got unbelievable lower body strength. (He’s) worthy of the pick. (He has) great instincts. If you try to block back on him, he will swim around and cross-face you. The team has taken on Jim Schwartz’s mentality. It’s very similar to the Titans team that we play it seems every year. Bringing in (Kyle) Vanden Bosch, you know that defense is really following Kyle’s lead. They play like their hair’s on fire. It’s a lot of fun to watch. We’ll match that tempo.”

On if it’s tougher for him to try and get everybody involved in the game…

“No, it really doesn’t. I can see where you think it would. What it does is it makes it to where you really have to package your personnel groupings. That’s the hardest part about it. We want Santonio (Holmes) on the field. We want Braylon (Edwards) on the field . We want Dustin (Keller) on the field. We want Shonn (Greene) on the field. We have a lot of personnel groupings where we’re trying to feature different people. That’s the hardest part of game day-orchestration. Anthony Lynn, Kellen Clemens and a couple of guys are involved with that, substituting. We have so many moving parts going in-and-out. That’s the hardest part about it. I feel no pressure, nor does Mark (Sanchez), I believe, to get Braylon 15 balls a game. We want to win, and if it’s going to take 35 carries by Shonn Greene or 50 carries as an offense or 50 passes by Mark, if that’s what it’s going to take to win, that’s what we want to do. It’s a luxury that most teams don’t have. Braylon needs a blow. Ok, who are you putting in? Are you putting in Brad Smith? Are you putting in Jerricho Cotchery (or) Santonio Holmes? Oh, you’re going big with Dustin Keller? It’s a luxury that most teams don’t have, so we’re excited about it. It’s not a problem.”

On if he would run it more against Green Bay if he had to do it again…

“I don’t think so. You look at how we moved the ball in the game, (a) big pass to Jerricho (Cotchery), big pass to Santonio (Holmes). They did a good job on the running (game). A couple of the Brad Smith things, maybe, I probably would’ve featured a couple of those. That’s one of those things that you guard against as a play-caller. You call the one, and he fumbles the ball on the boundary. To be honest with you, you get that in your mind, (thinking), ‘Oh, man.’ I trust Brad. I trust Brad with my kids, but in your mind, you kind of go away from that and that’s what you fight. The staff’s great. They give me a bunch of feedback, (saying) ‘Hey, don’t get away from this. Don’t get away from that.’ To be honest with you, no, I’m comfortable with the way I called the game. There’s one play that I wish I would’ve handled differently, that jumps off at me. That’s the third-and-one in the two-minute drill. I thought LT (LaDainian Tomlinson) was out of bounds, and they wound the clock. I called a pass because I was kind of like, ‘Oh, they’re winding the clock.’ I would’ve probably called a run, for sure. It was third-and-one. There was like a minute-and-a-half left, you go and you get the first-down. You get a brand new set of (downs). I would’ve loved to have that one differently. I just didn’t handle the adjustment. I thought he was out of bounds. I expected him to be out of bounds and he wasn’t. I screwed that up.”

On if Sanchez ran a quarterback sneak to avoid a possible challenge by Green Bay…

“That’s the information that we got from upstairs. They thought it was close. Obviously, we watched it and it really wasn’t. It was such a big play at the time you didn’t want to take a chance. We were trying to hurry up to make sure that they didn’t challenge it.”

On if it would have been better to throw short on third-down and go for it on fourth down, rather than throw it deep to Jerricho Cotchery late in the game…

“I liked the call, and believe me, you guys know me, I don’t make all the right calls. Believe me, I screw a lot of them up. We were supposed to have LT getting out. He was the underneath check-down in that situation. He kind of got caught up in protection and never got out, so there was nothing for Mark. When you kind of saw him, he started inside to Dustin (Keller), who was his first progression. He just missed Braylon (Edwards). He had Braylon, he just missed him. His natural response, we think, was that if LT had gotten out, he probably would’ve checked it down. Some progressions, your built-in or conservative call, can be a check-down or a shallow cross or something like that. Unfortunately, it just didn’t work out for us.”

On if the adversity Sanchez is facing now will serve as a true test of his growth…

“I think so, and he realizes it. We have a fine system for his body language and things that he’s doing, which is great. (Mark) Brunell brought that. He’s growing up. He’ll handle this. I have no questions about this. This is a tough game. It’s a tough league. We’re 5-2. We didn’t play very well. He’s thrown four interceptions in the last two games, but come on. Those two interceptions (against Green Bay), they go on his record book and that’s fine, but those were good decisions, good throws. Our guys had them. They have to hold on to those balls for him. He’s been great this week. He’s been into it, ready to go, and again, he plays really well when he’s getting questioned, in my opinion, or when his back is against the wall.”

On the fine system for Sanchez…

“It’s for his body language. We have fun with it. Today, there was a play in practice where he screwed something up and he kind of looked like it was somebody else’s fault. That’s a fine. We fined him.”

On how much the fine is…

“I don’t know if I can tell you because it’s probably a salary cap infraction (joking). It’s just fun stuff, where if we see his body language getting the best of him. He’s a passionate guy that loves to play and so we just stay on him about that.”

On his tendency to show his feelings through his body language…

“Believe me, I know that better than most people. He and I spend quite a bit of time together, but it’s a fun way for us to stay on him about, ‘Hey, look. You’re the leader. Stay composed. Handle your business, good, bad (or) indifferent. It’s a four-quarter game. You never know.’ As bad as we played in that game, we had a chance to win the game down to the end.”

On how often they fine him…

“We just put it in. Actually, he (Sanchez) was the one that wanted to put it in. You’ll have to ask him about it. He’ll probably be mad at me for telling you guys, but who cares? (joking)”

On if the fines are more for games or practice

“No, it’s practice. He got dinged a couple of times today.”

On how much money he would’ve lost last season with his body language…

“Oh, he’d be broke. As much money as he has, he would be broke for the body language he had last year (joking).”

On what the fines go towards…

“I don’t know. Maybe he’ll take us all out to dinner or something. I don’t know. We haven’t gotten that far. It’s just something that, honestly, came up last week. I probably wouldn’t have even thought to say it, except (that) we fined him twice today.”

On if Mark Brunell is keeping the money…

“I probably trust him the most (joking).”

On how much would a fine for eating a hot dog during a game cost…

“That would be bad. That would be really bad. Don’t tell Brunell that. He probably doesn’t even know he ate a hot dog. He would probably be mortified to know that’s what was going on.”

On if he has thought about Steve Weatherford at running back…

“Absolutely. Did you see the speed on that thing? Actually, I wish he would’ve gotten an extra half-a-yard.”

Tyson Rauch

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