Here are some New York Jets Quotes for 11/20/13:

Head Coach Rex Ryan:

Opening statement:

“I was really pleased with our practice. I liked the intensity of practice and for a Wednesday, sometimes that’s hard to do. And the reason I say that, a lot of times you have a lot of new stuff going in – new plays, new coverages, whatever it is and sometimes it’s hard to be aggressive and physical when you’re thinking out there too much. I was really pleased with the intensity and how physical our practice was. I guess there’s only two more days of pads for practices so you can’t waste them and certainly today you could tell we had pads on. So, I liked that intensity. As far as the injuries (are) concerned, we had Santonio Holmes did not practice with a foot and hamstring. Garrett McIntyre with a knee did not practice. And then two players were limited. Jeremy Kerley was limited. He was out there in a red jersey, but he was out there in a limited capacity and Kellen Winslow with his knee was also limited. Everybody else was full, so that was encouraging.”

Whether playing Baltimore still has any added meaning:

“I think right after that loss to Buffalo I was like, ‘It doesn’t matter who we play. It really doesn’t because we have to move on and we have to go.’ But, the reality of it, yeah of course. I had a great experience there. I spent 10 great years there, but this is my team. This is my team. I’ll always cherish my years I had there, without question. (I’ll) look (back) on them with, I had a lot of fond memories there. But, right now I’m focused on building those memories here and that’s what it’s about. There are a lot of people in that building that I learned a lot from and some of those (are) guys that helped me get in this position today. So, I’ll always be thankful and grateful for that.”

On Geno Smith facing adversity early in games:

“I think, when we look at it, if you just focus on a couple of those, it’s easy to say he doesn’t handle it well because he didn’t come out of it. Some of those games kind of got out of hand and things. I don’t know if we handled it well as a team collectively. I think the young man’s resilient. I don’t think there’s any doubt. Hopefully we don’t major in that. It seems like we’ve been making, in some games, we made some critical errors early. But, we just have got to understand that hey, it’s about the next play and focus that way.”

How different Baltimore’s defense looks without Reed and Ray Lewis:

“You do notice that (because) those two guys have been there for years, 10, 12 years there together, I think. So, that’s going to look different. There’s no question. Haloti (Ngata) wasn’t in there last week, so again, there’s no question he shouldn’t play this week (joking). But I think you still see the pride that defense has. You see the intensity they play with and that was something we built the foundation (with). I was part of it, building that foundation and certainly you see that pride and the effort and the enthusiasm that a Raven defense always plays with. Are they as good statistically as they’ve been? I don’t know, but red zone, I think they’ve only given up one rushing touchdown. They lead the league in red zone defense and I think that was a big part of their championship run last year is how good they played in the red zone. And they still play with a great deal of pride and you can see that.”

Quarterback Geno Smith:

On whether Ed Reed and Coach Ryan have given him any advice on the Ravens’ defense:

“Not really. I watched film as I’ve always done every single week. Basically, when you watch film you can pretty much off the bat tell what kind of defense they are, very physical up front, guys that fly around in the back end, very talented and athletic in the back end, so it’s just another challenge for us, just like every other week. So we just have to continue prepare and come out with the right mind set. It’s now or never for us and we just have to win.”

Whether he feels it’s a must-win game:

“Of course, we do every single week, but at the point in our season right now, it’s kind of a little make or break. So we have to go out there and we have to win. I’m pretty sure they have the same mindset, so they have it. It sets up for a really good matchup, two physical, tough teams and pretty much the more physical team is going to win.”

On preventing himself from pressing to not make mistakes:

“I think the more you think about it, the worse you’ll do. The best thing for me to do is just wipe it out of my mind (and) just play with a clean slate. I pretty much do that every week. I’m not out there thinking about what happened three or four weeks ago when I’m playing, but when you make mistakes over and over that can accumulate and we can start talking about where you were headed Week Three and how you’re doing. You want to see progress. So in that area, I just have to continue to work at it and I know it’s going to get better. That’s not my nature as a quarterback or player. I think it’s just a matter of me growing as a quarterback, so I just have to continue to get better and not worry about the mistakes I made in college.”

Whether it is tough to play at M&T Bank stadium:

“Yes, we’ve had our share of struggles on the road, so it’s going to be a huge test for us. It’s pretty much going to tell a lot about this team and our character. I know one thing, last game has been put behind us and we’re ready to go out there and fight come Sunday. ”

On what Ryan’s message to the team was:

“His message was we’re going to play a physical, tough Baltimore team and be prepared to go out there and play. I may have to use my legs a few times, but the key is to stay on the field and move the chains.”

Linebacker Calvin Pace:

On the challenges of playing on the road:

“We have to know how to start faster. When you play on the road, it’s basically you against the road. The crowd is against you, most of the time the home team gets some of the calls, everything is against you. You have to start out a lot faster, you have to take that away from them. We just haven’t been able to do that well this year. There is no feel them out period. Sometimes at home you can kind of see what a team is trying to do, when the team is at their home, they have all of the momentum. We just have to do a better job of when we get momentum, keep it and push forward.”

The similarities and differences between the 2009 defense:

“That’s two totally different teams in my opinion. Both defenses are good but there was a lot more veterans guys versus this year we’re a lot younger. It was different, two different scenarios.”

On Ed Reed:

“He’s still that guy. People put way too much emphasis on age, people don’t throw to him. If you look a lot of times they just don’t go his way. I think certain times you build up a reputation, people just don’t even try anymore. Nobody is asking for him to go out and makes plays outside what his job is. I think when he gets the opportunity, he’s going to make some stuff happen. I think his presence, it’s done a lot for him on the field.”