Rex Ryan Talks To The Media – 12/26/11

Opening Statement…

Obviously, we watched the tape and we gave up too many big plays on defense and obviously, to the Giants credit, we never got any big plays on offense. We controlled the ball by time of possession. I think we had 97 offensive plays, gradable plays. Generally, you win the game when that happens. You make a team go eight three-and-outs for the game. Eli (Manning) was nine-of-27. We would’ve signed up for all of those things, but at the end of the day, they made some big plays, obviously the 99-yard pass really killed us, took momentum out of it. It was a third-down play with two minutes left. That was really a momentum changer. It’s just a frustrating thing. You try to make things happen. That’s kind of when you get in trouble. That certainly added maybe to some of our failures. But you’ve got to give credit to the Giants. They played a great game. They played a better game than us and they deserved to win. Going forward, what I talked to the players about today, I talked about there’s hope and possibilities. Obviously, the game against Miami is critical when you look at all of the factors involved and the most difficult thing (we need) to happen, I think, is for us to beat the Dolphins. The Dolphins are playing extremely well, doing a great job on defense. Mike Nolan’s doing a great job down there, has those guys really playing. Offensively, they’re moving the ball well. I don’t know the health issues of Reggie Bush, but clearly he’s had a great year, 1,000 yards rushing. But we look at that, of all the scenarios, that might be the biggest one, the toughest thing. You’d hate to have everything fall into place and us not take care of our own business. So, that’s where our focus is. I think when the guys come back on Wednesday, we’ll be dialed in, everything will be behind us and we still have an opportunity there to make the playoffs, albeit not near as good as it would’ve been had we have beaten the Giants.

On whether he still believed the Jets were forced to throw the ball even though they only trailed the Giants for one score most of the game and whether he was happy with how the game was called…

Well, I think it’s easy to go back and look, and even after the game when I had saw that we had thrown it 59 times or whatever it was, obviously we don’t want to be that kind of team. And I said before that we were not built for that, meaning we need to run the ball more. At the time, you’re down what we were. I think the best way I should’ve said it, having been a playcaller myself for 10 years as a defensive coach, I look at it, the toughest offenses to face are the ones that are balanced. Any time you get to where a team has to throw that many times, very few teams, probably with the exception of New England and maybe Green Bay, but I still think they run it a bunch, maybe Indianapolis, those are about the only teams that can win consistently if you’ve got to throw that much. For us, when I said that we’re not built that way, I don’t really think a whole lot of teams are built that way and certainly not us. I’d much prefer to be more balanced.

On his level of confidence in Brian Schottenheimer and Mark Sanchez…

I have a huge amount of confidence in both guys. There’s no doubt. I’ve stated over and over my feelings about Mark Sanchez. And I’ve said it before, no quarterback’s going to look great when that’s all you do and you fall behind and things like that, but it wasn’t Mark’s best day by any stretch of the imagination, but we know he’s done it. And he’s been doing it. We have great confidence in him and I have great confidence in him. And as far as Brian Schottenheimer’s concerned, we’ll just keep working side-by-side, shoulder-to-shoulder and we’re trying to find a way to beat Miami. I have confidence in him. I have confidence in all of our coaches. It’s just that we have to find a way to get it done.

On injury updates…

I think Brodney (Pool), he was cleared medically, so he’s fine. He had some headaches during the game, but he stayed in there and passed all of the concussion tests, all those type of things that they have you do. Mark (Sanchez) took some hits, but he’s fine. But this time of year, you get a lot of bumps and bruises and things. Eric Smith with a knee injury is still fighting through that. There are guys beat up. I think we’ll play. I think all of us will play.

On Schottenheimer’s overall performance this season…

Well, I think, one the biggest things going into the season, we talked about was red zone and I don’t know if we’re the first in the league but we’re one of the best in red zone efficiency. Obviously, that was a point of emphasis in the offseason. Statistically, that’s going to be what it’s going to be, but there have been some teams that I have been on where the numbers aren’t great but you look at the wins. I think that’s the huge thing when you evaluate coaches, is just look at the teams that are winning. I think that’s the biggest thing. I am really proud of the way we’ve gotten much better in the red zone. Obviously we need to get down there more. I guess if you are evaluating Brian (Schottenheimer), I think the season, number one, is not over and the fact that we’ve won eight games, we obviously need to win this ninth game to try and get in the playoffs. The thing I think when you look at coaching, what you’re emphasizing, and in the offseason we emphasized that red zone offense and I think we’ve done a great job there. I can say this, I don’t think anyone works as hard as Brian Schottenheimer, and really everyone on that staff, that offensive staff, they do as good a job as I’ve ever seen, they work as hard as anybody. Sometimes the results are there, numbers-wise, sometimes they’re not.

On how disappointing it is to have win and get help to make it to the postseason…

Well, you’re disappointed because you wish it was like last year, where you go into that last game with a little breathing room because you know you’re already in but obviously we haven’t earned that right yet, and so we have to do it the hard way. Absolutely we hope that luck is with us, but we can only affect the game that we are playing and that is where our entire focus needs to be.

On whether he feels changes are necessary for the offense to be more successful…

Again, we’ve won eight games, obviously we were hoping to win more than that, but you know the numbers sometimes can be real misleading at times. (As far as making) changes and all that stuff, I thought we did an excellent job in the offseason of putting together what I think is an excellent football team, with a lot of talent. Have we had the results that we were hoping for? No, but again the season is not over. We will look at everything at the end of the season, but right now we are competing for it, we have a chance and we just have to find a way to get it done this week

On if he talked to Schottenheimer at halftime about running the ball more…

First off, I think it might be a little misleading because at (the) half, the two-minute drive, we had 11 straight passes trying to set up that field goal, which we did a good job of, but we did have 11 straight pass attempts there.  That can kind of messed with it statistically, a little bit.  I thought we ran the ball effectively.  Sometimes when the score gets to what it is, you have to throw a little more than you want.  It’s easy to look back after the game at the facts and say, ‘Well we were running the ball well.  We should’ve run it more.’  That’s the way it is, sometimes.

On what he has seen from Sanchez lately to think that he has improved this season…

I think some of it, it might be hard to evaluate and say, “Well, he definitely improved in this area.”  I don’t know if that was the case.  I know the Giants put a tremendous amount of pressure on him.  They did an outstanding job in mixing some of their coverages and different things like that.  I think you have to give credit.  As far as evaluating him, I always like to evaluate guys on wins and losses, and I think that’s the way a coach should be evaluated, as well.  Obviously, we never did a good enough job against the Giants.  The Giants did a better job than we did and that’s why they won the game.

On why the offense has been so inconsistent this year…

I think, sometimes, we’re quick to overlook the obvious, and that’s the opponent.   I think you have to give credit.  When you look at the Eagles and the Giants, both those teams did a tremendous job of rushing the passer in the game.  Going into it, they were some of the best pass-rushing groups in the league and they proved it against us.  They were putting pressure on us and I think sometimes that makes it difficult.  Obviously, not as much in the Giants game, but in the Eagles game, you fall down 28-0, nobody is going to look good in that situation.

On if he thinks Miami will be more motivated this week with the chance to play spoiler…

Yes, you want to play spoiler and all that, certainly there is no doubt you want to win games, regardless.  When you have a chance, maybe your season hasn’t gone as long as you have hoped, because everybody has the goal of getting into the playoffs, but you still want to play that spoiler role.  When you look at them, they’re playing really well right now, so this is going to be a difficult game, a big challenge for us.

On if he was disappointed in the offensive line not being able to protect Sanchez more on Saturday…

I think, sometimes, you target the line when there is pressure.  Sometimes, there are more things involved.  There is blitz pickup, tight ends involved, running backs involved (and) all those different types of things.  When teams are able to just tee off on you and you’re playing from behind, you can look at the stats throughout the league, that when you’re trailing in the fourth quarter, that’s when you get more sacks, you get more turnovers and all that kind of stuff.  That kind of played out on Saturday.  That’s kind of how it played out.

On the Giants running the ball better in the second half…

They made a couple of big runs on us.  I don’t want to not give them credit because I thought they ran the ball hard, (but) we kind of blew a couple of assignments on a couple of their big runs.  Really, the last one at the end of the game, we were just trying to create something there.  We pulled the safety out, brought him over to the open side (and) were trying to force a turnover.  We thought the only way to win the game was a turnover.  You’re down by six points and they’re in field goal range, you try to do whatever you can to disrupt them and they popped the big run on us there for a touchdown.  (Brandon) Jacobs had a big run there on the outside.  He broke our contain, our force player, he was outside of that and those are things that we have to get corrected, but to his credit, he made a big run.

On if there is anything he has been disappointed in offensively…

Definitely, I think producing more big plays down the field.  I think that has to be an area of concern.  In the past, we’ve been able to hit some big plays in the passing game and we haven’t been able to do that this year like we’ve done in the past.  I think that’s the big thing, offensively.  It’s hard to drive the ball 15 plays to go down and score.  It’s easier if you can get some chunk plays.  Look at the Giants.  They lacked consistency, but they hit a couple of big plays on us, four big plays on us.  I think that’s kind of been a thing, a common theme, that’s kind of missing from our offense this year.  Then, consistency on defense in putting teams away, I think, is an area that we have to get better at.

On if he thinks they have the personnel to make plays down the field on offense…

I definitely think we have the personnel.  I don’t think there is any doubt, but you have to give opponents credit. Sometimes, they’ve had a great pass rush, a blitz or whatever, and different kinds of coverages to prevent you from throwing it down the field as much.  We still have to try to find ways to get it done.  If there is one area that I can point to, I think that’s the area.

On if he has any response to Brandon Jacobs’ post-game remarks…

No, to me, I talked about that after the game and I said it was a private conversation that we had and I really have nothing else to add to it.

On if he regrets what he said last week leading up to the game because it might have fired the Giants up…

I think the day I walked in here, when I came in, I felt that I didn’t want to be the little brother or whatever.  That’s who I am, so do I regret it?  No.   Did it work out?  Nope, it never worked out, but I’m never going to say I regret anything that I believe in my heart.  I’ve always said, from day one, I’m going to be true to myself and when I leave this job 10 or 15 years from now, I’m going to be true to myself.  Maybe it’s not the traditional way of doing things or whatever, but for me, this is who I am.  This is how I believe and I made the statements.  Like I said before, I’ll stand by everything I said.  Did it work out?  No, and I’ll be the first one to say it never worked out.  I’m responsible for that and, obviously, the Giants were the better team that day, without question.  I deserve the criticism that I take for it.  I definitely deserve it.