Rex Ryan interview transcript 12/7/10

On Tuesday New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan addressed the media.  Here is the transcript courtesy of the Jets.

Opening remarks…

“We watched the tape this morning. I think I’ll stand by everything I said last night (about) how we got out-coached and out-played. We got our butt kicked. That’s what we saw on tape. I don’t know what else to say. I mean, I think that’s saying plenty.”

On if the problems on defense were because of execution or scheme…

“Well, you’ve got to question everything. The tackling was an obvious one. Schematically, it’s easy to say, “Well we should have done (this),” hindsight being what it is. We should have tried everything but what we did. We thought going in that we had an outstanding scheme. We thought we had a great scheme, but the execution was poor. Again, it’s not all on the players. It’s on the coaches, as well.”

On if he is concerned about Nick Folk’s missed field goal..

“When you look at it, you always get the spot where you feel comfortable that he can make the kick. He never missed a kick in warm-ups. Was that a long field goal? Absolutely. We did think we had the wind at our back. He just miss-hit it. We’re obviously not going to attempt a kick we don’t think we’re going to make. We gave it a shot. We didn’t do anything well in the game. We missed a field goal. We had a 12-yard punt with the wind at our back. (I) wonder how far it would have gone if the wind was in our face. We stunk up the joint on defense. We stunk up the joint on offense and we were probably worse on coaching. It was a bad game. I’m going to say this. It’s funny. I’ve been around this game a long time. That was the worst defeat in my coaching career that I’ve been a part of. But, there’s another defeat that I think was probably just as humiliating (and) bad on a national stage, (that was) maybe even as big or even bigger than this and that was the ’85 Bears against Miami. (They) lost in a Monday Night game to Miami, which everybody still talks about. The funny thing is, and I hope history repeats itself, the goal of the Chicago Bears was to win a Super Bowl. That’s our goal. Whether people like it or not, I really don’t care. That’s our goal. That’s our mission going into this season. It was a huge loss. There’s no question about it. We got pummeled. We played terrible, but it’s one game. Everything we talked about is still attainable. We have a quarter of our season left, so we’re far from pressing the panic button. Did we play terrible? Absolutely. Was it the worst performance I’ve ever been around? Yup, sure was. You have to give the opponent credit. They went out and earned it. They did everything right, but it is just one game.”

On how the team feels today…

“Well, I haven’t talked to the team yet. I won’t talk to the team until Wednesday morning. This is their day off.”

On what his message to the team will be…

“I’ll have a specific message that I’ll share with them first.”

On if he will make sure the team is aware that divisional standings are not set yet…

“Well, sure. We’re one game behind them. I think with the tiebreakers, whatever it would be, if we go out and we win our four games, we’ll see what happens. We better start by beating Miami, who is going to give us everything they’ve got. They’re coming in here with slim playoff chances. They’ve got to beat us. It’s as simple as that. Right now, we’re three games up on them with a win over them. I’m not good in playoff scenarios, but I know one thing, we’re going to get their best shot.”

On if it will be hard to motivate the team for Sunday’s game after he billed the game against the Patriots as the game of the year…

“No, I don’t think so. It was the game of the year. We can’t say it wasn’t. The unfortunate thing is I feel bad for ourselves obviously, our fans, and really the NFL. The NFL deserved a better game than that, but we weren’t up to the task.”

On his assessment of Mark Sanchez’s performance…

“Well, kind of like the rest of us, (he was) sloppy. At times, he looked great and, other times not so good. In that situation, when you’re behind that many points, Peyton Manning (or) Tom Brady (are) not going to look good in that kind of situation.”

On if the Patriots game is a good indication of what they should expect in the playoffs…

“Most of us went through it last year. First off, we’ve got to earn our right to get in there, but we know what the playoffs are all about. The same scenario happened last year. We beat them in Week Two. They smoked us at their place, yet I think we went further than they did in the playoffs. This one won’t be our first rodeo. We know what to expect with that kind of intensity. We played poorly. There’s no question about it (and) no denying it. Tom Brady was on fire and everything they did worked.”

On being 1-3 against teams with winning records and 7-0 against teams with losing records…

“That’s usually the formula you take. As long as I’ve been in the league, they always say you win the games you’re supposed to win (and if) you split with the really good teams, it’s a formula to win 12 games. That’s always been a formula. That’s what good teams do. You win the ones you’re supposed to. Clearly, we’ve got to do a better job. There’s a reason we lost three games. We lost to three good football teams.”

On what made him feel that they were out-coached…

“They out-executed us. Your job as a coach is to put your players in a situation where they can be successful. They did a better job of that than I did.”

On if there is one thing that stands out that needs to be changed…

“There’s way more than that. There’s too many. There’s no question. I went into that game believing we’d win, just like I do every game. We got smoked. There’s no other way of putting it.”

On Drew Coleman covering Wes Welker on his 18-yard touchdown pass…

“At that time, we had lost James Ihedigbo. We had some confusion out there. In that situation, if you go in Cover-Zero, I prefer to have Revis or Cromartie on Welker. We left a guy uncovered. Revis did the smart thing and covered him. We had the other corner on the other side, but that was not what we intended to do.”

On if he knows the extent of James Ihedigbo’s injury…

“No, but the fact that he didn’t finish the game is generally a concern. He’ll go for an MRI today. He’s probably (hurt his) MCL and his ankle. Obviously, we don’t feel good about it, but I don’t know the extent (of the injury) right now.”

On if they will consider signing a defensive back…

“Absolutely. We’ll probably do that even if (James Ihedigbo) can go. We’ll probably bring in another safety.”

On signing Laveranues Coles…

“Well, we lost a Jet and I wanted to bring a Jet in. I would have liked to have had LC here, but now we’re going to have to let him go because of the safety situation. With the uncertainty of Dig (Ihedigbo) being out, we’ll probably have to bring a safety in.”

On Santonio Holmes as a punt returner…

“(Holmes) had a huge return during the game, but we had a block in the back.”

On if they will use Holmes as a punt returner for the rest of season…

“Yeah. With Jimmy (Leonhard) being out, we’ll use Jerricho (Cotchery), Santonio (Holmes), Kyle (Wilson), and Joe McKnight.”

On Antonio Cromartie’s performance…

“Well, it wasn’t a good tackling day. More than anything else, that was probably the biggest disappointment in his play. He’s too long to not be a better tackler. He’s done a great job up to this point of getting guys on the ground. You have to give (New England) credit. Deion Branch and those guys, they did a great job with the run after the catch. At this time of year, it’s hard to practice tackling. You have to talk about it (because) it’s hard to practice. We had enough injuries. It’s hard to go out there and simulate it on the practice field. It’s something you really have to focus on and we have to talk about it and think about it all the time.”

On getting ready for the Miami game…

“Throw out last night. This is a huge game. We’re just trying to compile as many wins as we can. At the end of the day, that’s all they add up. They add up your wins and losses, and that’s how they judge the score. We have a quarter of our season left in the regular season and we have to try to rack up as many wins as we can.”

On Folk’s future with the team…

“I think Nick will be our guy. I would have liked him to be a little closer for that kick. Maybe that’s something I need to look at. Maybe (we should) not attempt that kind of kick on his first kick of the day. Maybe that’s something I need to look at.”

On Sanchez getting hit in the jaw resulted in a lingering injury…

“Not that I’m aware of.”

On other injuries…

“No. I think Damien Woody is still sore, but again that’s two weeks in a row he’s played. Other than that, I’m not sure.”

On how he responded to the defense’s performance…

“I’m not used to it, so I don’t really know how to act. The only thing I know we’re going to do is roll our sleeves up, go and come out fighting. That’s the only thing I know how to do. We have to tackle better. We have to look at what we’re doing and come up with a great game plan for our guys to be successful.”

On Eric Smith…

“I thought Eric did okay. Was he perfect? No. But nobody on that field was perfect.”

On bringing in an extra defensive back…

“There’s a guy I think we’ll target. We’ll see what happens. It’s tough now because if you have to play them, they better be familiar with what you’re doing. That list of safeties might be this long (hand gesture), but it really might be that long (shortens hands).”

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