As the Jets prepare to take on the Buffalo Bills, Rex Ryan, Plaxico Burress and Mark Sanchez spoke to the media today.
Rex Ryan
Opening Statement…
Ok, here are the guys that did not practice today: Jeremy Kerley, knee, Shawn Nelson, illness, Bilal Powell, illness, LT (LaDainian Tomlinson), with a knee, and then, Plax (Plaxico Burress), non-injury related. All these other guys were full today: Mike DeVito, knee, Marcus Dixon, shoulder, Shonn Greene, rib, David Harris, groin, Kenrick Ellis, ankle, Nick Mangold, ankle, Calvin Pace, groin, Brodney Pool, knee, Mark Sanchez, neck, and (Matt) Slauson, knee. I’ll go ahead and open it up for questions.
On what is wrong with Mark Sanchez’s neck…
I’m not sure (laughing). We report everything. He practiced full, but I don’t know the (specifics).
On if LaDainian Tomlinson will play this Sunday…
I hope so. What happened, they had a little setback, him and Kerley both. We worked them pretty good and they were sore today, so I don’t know if we expected that much soreness. We did a lot of change of direction with them and all that, but they were a little sore today.
Plaxico Burress
On the charity event he hosted in Virginia…
It’s just a beautiful day, a beautiful event that has been going on the past two years while I was away. My wife and my family, all those things are still going on, but for me to be able to go back and be able to do it for the first time in two years, it’s always been a special day for me. I grew up in that area, I grew up in that community and know what it is like not to have food on Thanksgiving. So for me to be there and be present and (have) people crying and going through different emotions, it’s just a beautiful thing to do.
On Coach Ryan letting him go to the event and miss practice…
When you plan these events throughout the season, you usually try to make them happen on Mondays and Tuesdays. It was just a strange thing that happened to us that we played on a Thursday and my event fell on a Monday and a Tuesday. Tuesday is usually a day off around the league and it just happened that our schedule wasn’t (acting) accordingly. But I just thanked him, Mike Tannenbaum and Woody (Johnson) for letting me go out and fulfill my obligation and meet my commitment throughout the community and different things I want to do with my foundation and charity and just go out and help people.
On what he did during his charity event…
Just going to the high school, speaking to the kids and (I was) just in my neighborhood handing out turkeys and hams and going around to the homeless shelters (with) the food that was leftover (that) we had. We were just taking it around the city, blessing families.
Mark Sanchez
On the mood of the team right now…
Guys are excited to play. We know that even still, as poorly as we’ve played these past couple weeks, we have a real shot at the playoffs. So, we need to do everything possible to make it and that starts with winning this game.
On being on the injury report with a neck injury…
It’s just a little sore, nothing bad.
On when the injury happened…
In the game.
On the hits by Von Miller and if they were illegal…
I don’t know about that. It’s a violent game. He’s playing his butt off, he’s a really good player. That’s the way it goes.
On if he has thought a lot about how to improve his play over the past few days…
Sure, I think it’s just been a couple plays a game, but they’ve been the plays that have really hurt us. Interceptions, the interception for a touchdown. Other than that it was a solid game. I made good decisions, I made good reads and then you let it get away from you a couple times and that’s when you can really hurt the team. It’s just a matter of tightening those things up and sure, I’ve thought about it quite a bit. But I know this team, what our potential is, I know how I can play and I know how I can improve.