1495 Sports is proud to bring these New York Jets quotes from Cortland, NY. Included are thoughts from CEO and Chairman Woody Johnson, head coach Rex Ryan.

Johnson had these thoughts on being in camp:

“You can’t get this kind of team building other than coming to a place like Cortland. Cortland is key to the New York Jets, really. All the things that Coach (Ryan) wants to do, I think this place helps him do it.”

On when he arrived in Cortland:

“Last night.”

On if this is his first practice and his thoughts so far:

“Yes, this is my first. Seeing all you guys (laughing). No, it’s good, I’m encouraged to talk to the coaches. I talked to Rex, Mike (Pettine), some of the other coaches, Tony (Sparano). Last night we had a walk-through. It gets cold here at night, I forgot how cold it gets, but now it’s great. They’re very confident (in how they’re) putting in the plan. A lot of the rookies are overwhelmed, but the vets (veterans) are getting it. It’s a different language, but it’s the same thing, so they’re learning that, and I think they’re pretty confident.”

On his expectations for the new offensive system:

“I think the guys are taking to Tony. Tony has a different system, but it looks like he’s a good teacher. He’s a great teacher, from what I can gather. The players seem to be doing well with him.”

 

On his expectations for the team as a whole:

“They’re the same every year. We want to go all the way. We want to do well. My expectations this year are just the same as other years.”

 

On if he feels that last season didn’t end well:

“I’m not even focusing on then. We’re looking forward from this point. We always want to do better every year and this year is no different. And I think we’re equipped to do it.”

 

On if last season can be used as motivation:

“Coaching is all about teaching. Coaching is another word for teaching. Teaching is motivation. You have to get your students, if they’re learning something complicated, to get motivated so that they’re enjoying themselves as well. If you enjoy it, it’s easier to learn.”

Coach Ryan had these opening statements:

“I am glad we are playing somebody else on Friday.  It will be good.  It’s that time of the year.  You have already had your scrimmage and when you come back, it is not uncommon that guys are chippy.  They still want to hit, and you see that, but my big thing is protecting your teammate and don’t do anything selfish.  I think sometimes you are trying to be physical, but being physical is one thing, going past that is something else and that is what I didn’t like.  That’s why we stopped and we had to remind guys that the enemy is not in green and white, so that is what we did.  Other than that, I think that practice was good.  I think that Mark (Sanchez) threw the ball well.  David Harris made a great play on him in the red zone for the interception, but I think Mark really threw the ball well at times and we had a backed-up situation.  It was tough sledding initially for the offense but I like the way the offense responded later in the same drill.  They came back and popped some first downs through there, so that was good to see.  You have got to be able to run the ball and I have always said you have to be able to run the football when that other team knows you are running it. If you can and you are successful that way, it is going to be a long day for that other defense so I saw a little of that today.  Bilal Powell is a guy that continues to impress.  He made some great jump cuts, he did some different things and he has really been impressive to me.”

 

On if he said anything to the team yesterday:

“No, I think yesterday was chippy, but it was physical.  Yesterday, I thought was really physical.  We had the one skirmish in front of everybody, but that was kind of the main thing.  You always have a few things going on but, I think that was it.  Every camp (has this).  Don’t think this is the only one.  This is mild for what we have had in the past.  The first year we were here was kind of like, “Wow,” but everybody again, the message you’re getting is, we’re going to be physical, and it’s kind of a fine line.  Once they figure it out, they can be physical, but I can still take care of my teammate.  It’s just finding that.  Here we have a new offensive scheme and a coaching staff that’s trying to do the same thing we did three years ago when we tried to put in a defense.  So sometimes that’s habit.  You want to finish and be that guy that gets the last shove.  Sometimes that leads to (fighting). We just have to understand this is who we are, we’re going to be physical, but we still have to take care of each other.”

On what made him feel so strongly about the fighting:

“I guess the big thing is I just felt it needed to be (ended).  No question, I just thought it needed to be (ended).  The point I wanted them to understand is that I’m serious about it.  I think a lot of times, guys will fight and they’ll do all that type of stuff, and as a coach, sometimes you want that out of your guys.  You want them to be over the top aggressive because you can always rein them in.  Sometimes if they don’t have that, then you kind of wonder.  Clearly, I don’t question the guys’ toughness, I don’t question the guys’ courage.  Now was the time to rein them in, and that’s what we did.”

 

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