Brandon Moore Press Conference Transcript 7/26/11

On Tuesday New York Jets offensive lineman Brandon Moore addressed the media.  Here is the transcript courtesy of the Jets.

On what his feelings were when the lockout ended…

“It was a big sigh of relief. We’re just glad guys can get back to work. That was the biggest thing. Getting our guys and other guys in their locker room, back to work. I just feel like we came to a fair agreement, and [I’m] just glad to be talking about football, instead of revenue splits and all this other stuff that went on during the negotiation.”

On whether there was a time when he thought the season wouldn’t start on time…

“Yeah, there were a lot of points in there, especially early on. We knew coming in, when they opted out, this was going to be a big fight. There were definitely times when I felt like, ‘Man, I’m going to have to get the guys to hold on until, maybe getting close to missing training camp, and some games,’ but luckily for everybody, it didn’t get as messy as it could’ve gotten. And I think cooler heads prevailed, and people understood the importance of getting back to football, and that’s what helped move things along.”

On whether the Jets are prepared for the condensed free agency period…

“Yeah, we’ve got a lot of question marks, of course, but one thing you know about Mike [Tannenbaum] and Rex [Ryan], especially [Tannenbaum], dealing with that type of thing, is that they’re prepared, and they’ve got every scenario going in their heads of how it will play out. One thing that I’ve learned the past few seasons, especially with Woody Johnson and [Tannenbaum], they’re going to do everything possible within the rules, to make this team a Super Bowl contender. I think I can sleep well at night, knowing that when we line up against the Cowboys, we’re going to have a pretty good team, ready to make a run.”

On how his rehab is going…

“I don’t like deadlines and timelines, but everything’s on schedule, and I’ll be ready to go when it’s time to go.”

On what it was like pulling into the facility for the first time after the lockout…

“It was like Christmas last night. I couldn’t sleep. I was excited about getting in, seeing the guys and getting back to football. It was like that first day of training camp, going through the physicals, and things like that, catching up with everybody. Everybody was excited that we were back, and not having to worry about having to leave and things like that, and it being solidified that football is going on, so it was a very exciting time, even still, right now.”

On how it felt going into the locker room for the first time after the lockout…

“It felt good. Even seeing the equipment staff. Gus [Granneman], who runs the equipment room, and John [Mellody] in the training room. Catching up with what they’ve done in the offseason, and things like that. They’re just as excited as we are, because they want to get back to doing their normal jobs, and getting back to a sense of normalcy in their lives. So, it was just a real good day.”

On whether he is worried about the shortened training camp and the chemistry of the offensive line…

“That word ‘chemistry’…we’ll be okay. We’ve got a good coach in Bill Callahan. He’s got a good plan in place. Whoever has to line up out there during the season, is going to be prepared. That’s one thing that you can feel comfortable with, dealing with Bill Callahan. So, we’ll be okay.”

On how much it helps that the Jets have kept a similar coaching staff intact for the past few seasons…

“Yeah, I think that’s a big advantage. That’s going to be huge for us. That Rex and his staff, and [Brian Schottenheimer] and his staff is in place, and you know they’ve used their time wisely this offseason, to kind of prepare and come up with schedules, and how to approach the whole deal. I wouldn’t want to be on a team with a new head coach, I’d say that, and a new staff, and learn the playbook. I think it’ll be a lot simpler for us. We’ll try to catch up where we need to and keep progressing on what we’re trying to accomplish here.”

On whether QB Mark Sanchez may regress if some of the team’s top offensive players do not return…

“We’re football players. We learn to adapt, and adjust, and I’m sure he’ll do the same with whatever talent he has to play with. There’s no excuses, so he’ll be just fine. Like I said before, with Mike and Woody and Rex, they’re going to do everything possible to give him the tools and also, on the defensive side, and [Mike] Westhoff on special teams, in order to win games with. There’s not going to be any excuses with us, as to why we can’t go out and score points and stop people from scoring points.”

On his message to the fans…

“Thanks for being patient with us. I know it wasn’t fun, even for us, to talk about some of the things we had to, as far as the economics of it. It got nasty at times, but I think, as we saw in that press conference yesterday, with DeMaurice [Smith] and Roger [Goodell], that stuff is behind us. There’s no point in rehashing old wounds, pulling off scabs. I think it’s back to being a partnership and I look forward to them being at the games and being just as rowdy as they were before. Thanks for the patience and football’s back.”

On whether he has spoken to Coach Ryan yet…

“No, I haven’t. He wasn’t in the office. I kind of went too late.”

On whether he feels conditioning will be an issue…

“I think guys will be in, probably in some the best shapes of their lives. Will they be in football shape? No, because even in past seasons when we had offseason workouts, as soon as you go to football camp and put the pads on, it’s totally different. Football shape’s a little different. There’s so many facilities and performance centers, and all of these different coaches out then there was in the past. So, guys are going to come in, probably in better shape than they were. And then the injury piece, I mean, this is the only sport, where there is a hundred-percent injuries. Guys are going to have injuries, but I think, between the strength coaches, and the head coaches being real cautious in their approach in how they go about preparing for the season, I think that will be huge for a lot of teams. So, I don’t foresee any problems coming up.”

On whether he feels that the quality of play will be sloppy at first…

“Yeah, preseason’s always like that. When I normally go through the preseason, you look at things, it’s like, ‘Wow, how are you going to be able to do things during the season, because everything’s wrong.’ That’s the whole point of preseason. But I think the product will be even better, especially with the offseason rules, the preseason rules, the working conditions-type, player health and safety-type. I think on Sunday, guys are going to be fresher, they’re going to be more mentally-focused and in tune with what’s going on, and you’re going to see a better product and more efficiency, I think, on Sundays, once we kind of get past preseason and into the season.”

On why it was important for the NFLPA to not have two-a-days as part of the collective bargaining agreement and his reaction to LB Bart Scott’s comments on the issue…

“We took a stance that player health and safety was non-negotiable. That was the stance we kind of took going into that. I think the new rules will help change the cultural makeup of football. You set the standard on that, with all of the medical research that’s out there, as far as the head trauma and the continuous hits to the heads, through the helmets and things like that. I think it’ll help guys in college and high school, in kind of setting that example for that. I think that was huge for us. Nobody’s really technically gotten rid of two-a-days. I think it’s getting cleaned up, and players’ health and safety is a big part of that. Now, Bart, I think he’s cleaned it up himself. That may have been taken a little out of context. But, in this system, here with Rex, we haven’t had a problem with that. Rex takes care of his guys. But there are a couple of systems out there that maybe weren’t coming up with the times, as far as taking care of the guys, and protecting them in the best way they could. So, that rule is really to help guys in that situation, to make it uniform, as to how to take care of guys, and how to approach that system.”

On how chaotic he anticipates the first week of training camp to be…

“It’s a unique situation, but it won’t be like this for the next 10 years after this. We’ll adjust, and guys will come in, they’ll be here and get on board, and we’ll move forward. I don’t think it’ll be an issue. I think guys will just understand. As I said before, we learn to adapt to different situations pretty well. I think that’s what will happen with that situation.”

On whether player health and safety was one of the reasons for not moving to an 18-game season…

“There’s a lot of factors that go in. I don’t want to rehash the different deal points and things and how we approached it. Player health and safety was something that was not negotiable, that’s our health and safety, so that was the kind of point with that.”

On when he felt a deal was imminent…

“Probably yesterday. You just never knew what was going to happen. I think Wednesday, I felt better. Then Thursday happened. And then, the weekend. Then Monday we had a call, and the executive committee recommended this deal to the class, to settle, and finally Monday, when it was breaking news, after we got off the call, that’s when it finally set in— this was over.”

Tyson Rauch

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