Brian Schottenheimer Interview Transcript 10/14/11

On Friday New York Jets offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer addressed the media.  Here is the transcript courtesy of the Jets.

On having a lot of unhappy guys on offense and if he is concerned…

Well, I think Jared obviously made me aware of it, but the beautiful thing about being here, obviously is that Rex (Ryan) allows each guy to be himself. I think the team is a family and families have disagreements. They have things they talk about. I know one thing, our guys are all on the same page about wanting to win games. So I think the guys that are doing that, they’ll get it all worked out.

On if he is compelled to get involved in the back-and-forth talk between players…

I think there’s always dialogue. We’ve lost three games in a row, guys are frustrated, guys are looking for answers, they all want answers. We have a lot of dialogue, we have a lot of things we talk about and not necessarily one situation like that, but there’s always conversation amongst all of us. ‘Hey, how are you feeling? What’s going on? What are your issues?’ I think that’s one of the reasons why we’ve been able to handle tough times in the past.

On if it is troubling to hear negative comments made by Santonio Holmes…

I think obviously Santonio is a guy (who is) very competitive. Sometimes when things are said in the media, they don’t always come off the way you say them. But again, those are the situations where we don’t worry about it. We know we’re professionals. We’re all going to work through it. We need to win a game, and we realize that. We want to win a game. We’ve been through this before, a couple years back we went through hard times and it’s not a lot of fun. But, there’s only one thing you can do, and that’s roll up your sleeves and get back to work.

On if any receivers talked to him after the refuted report that they complained to coach Ryan…

No, they didn’t. Obviously, I was made aware of it and once Rex said it was untrue, then I obviously had no concerns about it.

On hearing public criticism of himself…

I always laugh about this and I point out Rich (Cimini) every time, because two years ago I got a “One More Schott” deal, heading into Indianapolis, the first game. Sorry Rich. (laughter) I don’t want to read tomorrow’s (headline) now (joking). (There’s) no telling. ‘Yeah, this is your last Schott’ (laughter). But, in all reality, it comes with the territory. I do the best I can, this staff works our tails off, we have to be more consistent. And when you’re not winning games and there’s things you’re missing, you’re going to take heat in the position I’m in.

On his players saying that it’s not on him, and that they should execute better…

I appreciate them saying that. Ultimately, I’m always going to take the responsibility. That’s the way I was brought up in my family, in the role that I’m in and I’m comfortable there.

On what he gleaned from his father, Marty Schottenheimer…

It’s funny because I used to be on the other side of it. I used to be the guy in school getting in fights with kids talking about my dad and now you sit there and you worry about your kids and stuff. The thing I took from him, you do the best you can, you have trust in yourself and what you’re doing. You stay true to yourself and if you do that, at the end of the day you have that to fall back on.

On if he has banked what his father did during his coaching career to use it in his own career…

Absolutely. Actually, a long time ago, I’ll never forget, we were at breakfast one day after they (Kansas City Chiefs) lost. The Chiefs played the Dolphins, I can’t even tell you what year it was. We were at breakfast, it was the day after they lost. Nick Lowery missed like a 50-yard field goal. And we were at the breakfast table and some guys were talking about the game and talking about, ‘Boy, Marty Schottenheimer, he doesn’t know what he’s doing, that guy’s a bozo, this and that.’ And so my mom and I and (my) sister were kind of stewing, like ‘Can you believe this?’ And all my dad did when we were done (was) he walked over and introduced himself. He said, ‘How are you doing? I’m Marty Schottenheimer. I don’t take myself too seriously, I do the best I can.’ The guy sent him like a five-page letter in the mail apologizing. ‘I didn’t know you were there, I’m sorry, thank you for what you’ve done in Kansas City.’ All you can do is handle yourself with class. I think my father did that.

On three-and-outs and how to fix it…

I think, ultimately, and I’m not dodging your question at all. I think here’s the big thing, starting fast is about execution. We have openers. A couple weeks ago, we challenged our guys. The Jacksonville game, we went out and did it. So, again, I think it really is about being more consistent. That’s kind of been our M.O. so far this season, and that’s probably why we’re frustrated as a unit. Because there’s a lot of flashes of really, really good things. But when you go out and you do silly things, and I’ll take my fair share of blame for those, I’m ultimately accountable. But that’s, I think, what’s frustrating. We have a second-and-one situation, we get a penalty. Mark goes on a hard count, (he probably) really does not need to do that. We jump offsides. Just little things like that that we need to work through. But, can the team do it? Absolutely. The big focus this week is, you take one play at a time and when that play is over, you move on. It’s over. Good, bad or indifferent, you move on. What happens if you let that play effect you, then you’ll have a series of bad plays. And you don’t want to have that. You can have one bad play, it’s going to happen in the game. But when you have a series or two or three plays in a row that are bad, that’s when you really kind of falter.

On how much of the problem is execution of playcalls…

There’s plenty of blame to go around. There’s certainly things that we need to execute better. There are certainly (times) that I’d like to have calls back. You can’t put a percentage on it. So ultimately, when you sit in my chair, you take the responsibility.

On at what point did he go from stewing in criticism to letting it roll off your back…

I think it probably comes with experience. I think the first year or two on the job you kind of (say), ‘Boy, that’s unfair.’ But again, I think I’ve probably had a lifestyle of learning about it. For the last couple of years I just realized it’s a long season. It’s a marathon. You go back to Rex’s first year here, Mark’s rookie year. Two different times you lose three games. He’s up here after one of the games saying we’re out of the playoffs. The next thing you know, we’re in the championship game. You didn’t think you’d get lower (than) after New England and Miami last year. You fight your way through it. I think if there’s one thing we pride ourselves on, it’s being tough, high-character guys that work through problems and we’re proud of that.

On hearing negative chants after the loss to Miami at home last season…

Obviously, the people that say they don’t hear it are lying. You’re aware of it, but again, all you can really go on there is, hey, the game didn’t go the way you wanted it to. We had struggled the week before, but you move on. We had something growing up, we called it the midnight rule. You asked earlier about my father. All you can do is, when the game is over, you have until midnight to stew about it. Win, lose or draw, you have until midnight. Once midnight hits, you have to move on. You have to move on to the next opponent because if you let what happened in that game that just took place affect your preparation for the next game, then you’re probably going to have a streak of some bad games. It’s funny, you get texts from people. My mom will shoot me a text, she’s not great on the phone, (that says), “Midnight rule.” Going back to that game, it was tough. I think we fought our way out of it. (We) went to Pittsburgh and played well. (We) went to Chicago and kind of got on a roll.

On Derrick Mason’s play with the Jets…

Obviously, the big thing with Derrick was, while he was here, he did a lot of good things. Decisions are made every day for different reasons and I think Rex (Ryan) and Mike (Tannenbaum) talked about it, and I’m going to leave it at that.

On if Mason was creating any problems…

Not that I was aware of.

On his relationship with Kris Jenkins and Jenkins saying he is on the hot seat…

I love Jenks (Jenkins). I think Jenks is great. I’m always on the hot seat. I’ve been on the hot seat for six years. It is part of the deal, and if you spend any time worrying about that stuff, then you’re not doing your job, because it’s going to be out there. I don’t have any ill feelings towards Jenks. He’s allowed to have his opinions, and that’s fine.

On Jenkins’ comments about Mark Sanchez…

I think, obviously, I don’t feel that Mark has training wheels on. I don’t agree with that, but we all can certainly play better.

On how come the offense hasn’t taken more shots down the field…

Obviously, we certainly have shot plays in each week. Some of them get called, not all of them. The first play of the game last week was a shot play. Obviously, the protection broke down. The big thing with us is, we always tell Mark (Sanchez), ‘I shot called is not a shot taken.’ Just because you call a shot, doesn’t mean you have to throw it 40 yards. We’re not trying to do that. If a guy is open, we’ll throw it to him. You’ve seen us take advantage of Plax (Plaxico Burress) being one-on-one some, up the boundaries and things like that. We’re calling them, but they’re not always getting thrown deep down the field. Some are getting checked (down) and things like that.

On if they have not taken more shots down the field because the offensive line has not blocked well…

No, absolutely not. You guys have heard (me) from day one, I said the protection issues, it’s easy to put the protection issues on one group. Pass protection is about more than just the offensive line. Everybody is involved, from the coaches that design the protections, to the line, to the backs, to the quarterback getting the ball out of his hand, to the receivers that are involved with what protections you do where they have adjustments and stuff. It’s everybody. That’s got nothing to do with it.

On whether there was too much emphasis on running the ball last week against a team who struggles against the pass…

I don’t think so. Again, I think the “Ground and Pound” is a mentality that we go into games with. The game was close. I wish we could’ve converted some more third downs. I think that would’ve helped balance out the way the game would’ve been played. Obviously, the couple three-and-outs early kind of hurt us, but, no, I don’t think so. I was pleased with how we ran the football. I thought the passing game got going a little bit. We never got the big play down the field until the touchdown late to Tone (Holmes). The big thing, you just got to have the ability to convert on third down, because that allows you to get into a rhythm.

On how much new pieces of the offense can lead to more inconsistencies and incompletions…

It’s not obviously all Mark. There’s a lot of things that go into it. There’s certain timing elements and stuff. I think we’ve worked through a lot of those. I think that obviously was probably evident more so early on. Again, it’s different things. It’s a dropped pass here, it’s a missed throw there, it’s a bad call here, that kind of affect it. We’ve been really, really, really good at times, again, the Oakland game, when we’ve been forced to go (with) some two-minute stuff, against Dallas, going back, we’ve been really, really, really good, really, really, really clean. There’s been other times where we’ve been kind of really inconsistent. That’s what we’re working towards, is to be more consistent and to be better more plays than not.

On whether he feels he needs to call a meeting to address the comments being made…

This group has got a great relationship. They really do. We’ve been through a lot of hard times, and we will continue to work through those things. But, absolutely, whether it’s done in public, whether it’s done in private, those are things that we’ll keep in house, but this group will be ready to go on Monday night, and I have no questions about that.

Tyson Rauch

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