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Here are some New York Jets Quotes for 10/31/13:
Head Coach Rex Ryan:
Opening Statement:
“Everybody, happy Halloween. I figured I’d drop that one in there on you. Practice today, really really good practice, both sides of the ball, (the) communication is excellent, so that’s encouraging. (We) still have a lot of guys out. Willie Colon is still out with a calf. (Jeff) Cumberland (is) out with a concussion. We had Alex Green out with a hamstring, so that’s a new one, and Santonio Holmes with a hamstring. Guys that were limited today, Stephen Hill with a foot, Nick Mangold, ribs and David Nelson with a quad, he was limited today.”
How practice has been the last couple of days:
“It’s been good. I think the concentration’s been great. I think the communication, as I said, has been good. Obviously, this team is very challenging that we’re getting ready to play. (They have) a lot of personnel groupings, formations and talent, to boot. (Drew) Brees is a guy that really they want to push the ball vertically, so we have to be on top of it and we’ve done a decent job in practice.”
On how he would characterize the pass protection this year:
“I think we do a good job in pass protection. I think the numbers, as you said, I think the numbers sometimes, it doesn’t appear that way. I think we’re 30th in the league or something. But again, this is not a whole lot different. When you have a young quarterback, sometimes they have the tendency to hold the ball a little bit longer. And I’m not putting everything on Geno (Smith) because that’s not it, but that’s part of it. The one thing I will say is he’s protecting the ball better. So that’s encouraging. But I think our protection has held up pretty well. We’ll be challenged, certainly this week. But even when you look at them when we had the eight sacks against Buffalo, it’s a rookie quarterback, and again, they don’t want to make the mistake down the field, so they have the tendency to hold (the ball) a little bit longer.”
The difficulty in facing the Saints pass rush:
“It’s difficult. There’s no doubt. And you’re right, he’s (Rob Ryan) getting pressure from a lot of different guys. (He is) very multiple in what he does. I think my brother is the only one without a sack on that team. It is impressive that he has that many guys. It just shows that it’s really about the team, it’s not just trying to set up one individual, even though the one kid (Cameron Jordan) has six sacks for them. But again, the pressure comes from everywhere.”
On whether the team wants to exploit the Saints’ low-ranked run defense:
“We want to exploit it anyway we can, run, pass, you name it. I know the numbers. My brother in the past (has been) willing to give up some run yards and then set you up on the pass. We’ll see how it plays out, but I understand where you’re coming from. It’s weird. When you look at them numbers-wise, everything is near the top and then here’s the run defense that’s down at 32nd. But some of that is you get big leads on people as well and you’ll concede the run.”
On the struggles on offense last week:
“I think you have to give the opponent credit. They did a lot of good things defensively against us. But I think the game kind of got out of hand in a hurry, so it kind of took us out of really our natural flow or our natural game plan.”
His assessment of the defense so far:
“Right now, it’s incomplete. There are so many areas we can improve in, and we have to improve in them, and we have to do it in a hurry, especially with this opponent coming in. We’re doing a decent job, but we know we have to do a much better job. Really, it starts with fundamentals, techniques and communication, all that. (The) communication is getting better, it’s just fundamentally and all that, especially with some of the young guys, we just have to get a little bit better. I think when we do, much greater things are ahead of this group.”
Linebacker Calvin Pace:
On how he would assess the defense up until this point :
“I mean I like it. I think we’ve done some good things, we’ve done some bad things, but the thing that I like the most is that we keep progressing forward. Even with a game like last week, you can’t dwell on it. We got beat so bad, you really (just need) to remember to move on. I like it, I think we handle challenges well. Obviously we have a big challenge this weekend with a super high power offense and an elite quarterback. It will be a challenge.”
Which of the younger players on defense have impressed him:
“They’re all young, Sheldon (Richardson), Mo (Muhammad Wilkerson), Quinton (Coples). They’ve all done well, they’ve all had their moments. They’ve all had some situations where they haven’t done well and they learned from it, but they have all done well.”