Rex Ryan On The QB Situation

Rex Ryan spoke to the media today about where the Jets stand.  He discussed the 3 and 6 record, if he thinks he is going to get fired and the quarterback situation.  Here is what Rex had to say about Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow:

On his belief in Mark Sanchez and whether he is hesitant to insert Tim Tebow if a game is out of hand for fear of creating a controversy…
I believe in all our players, but again, if there’s any player in particular that we feel could help our football team, then we’ll look at that. Maybe it’s a (certain) role, when we put Tim in, we know it’s because he can help. There are some things that we thought that we could do with Tim back there that would give us the opportunity to be successful. That’s why we put him in several times in that game. It’s not just to run it, but there are some opportunities that maybe it presents from a coverage standpoint that will help you. That’s why we look each week at how we can utilize our roster to help us win. Obviously, we’re 3-6. It hasn’t been as effective as we want (it to be), but we’ll continue to look that way and try to put our players in a position to be successful.

On if he told Mark Sanchez before the season that he would be the quarterback all year…
No, I (have) never had (a) conversation like that with anybody.

On if he might give Tebow reps with the first-team offense…
We always give Tim reps with the first offense.

On number of reps Tebow has been getting with the first-team offense…
He had more last week. He was going to be a bigger part of our package this past week and we gave him several reps.

On taking Sanchez out after his 32-yard completion to Dustin Keller…
We did that because we thought we were getting a certain look from Seattle, and we did get a certain (look) from Seattle that (we) thought we could do some things (against). Whether it was a run-pass option (or another play), we liked what we were seeing and that’s why we did that.

On whether taking Sanchez out in that situation affected his rhythm…
I don’t think there was a whole lot of good rhythm throughout that game, so when you look at that, I’m not sure about that. If we think we have a certain look, and you might want something on an earned first down (where) we like what we’re getting from a defense, a particular thing, then we’ll make that adjustment. That doesn’t necessarily have to do with Mark Sanchez. It’s mainly a certain look that we’re going to get. In that situation, you’ll go into things with an earned first down, or a second-and-medium. You go in with a game plan thinking specifically we think we’re going to get this (and) we like this matchup. That’s why we would call that.

On if switching quarterbacks could give the team a spark…
It’s easy to say, ‘Look guys, if it’s just one position, than that’s what the entire focus would be,’ but there are a lot of things. Is it getting separation on our routes? Are we catching the football on a consistent basis? How about the protection? There are a lot of things that go into evaluating a quarterback. If it was just one guy, than that’s easy to do. You just focus on this, but collectively we have to get better.