Sports Radio Interviews

Rex Ryan: “That is four games this year that we have lost on the last play of the game.”

Rex Ryan and the Jets started off the season as the feel-good story of the NFL. With a rookie head coach and a rookie quarterback in Mark Sanchez, the team started off 3-0 and it looked like the Jets defense was going to light it up this year. Since their great start, they are 1-5 in their last six games and are coming off of a loss where they gave up almost 350 yards of total offense to the Jaguars. The Jets are a team that prides themselves in stopping the run but they let Maurice Jones-Drew run all over them for 123 yards and one touchdown. By the way, he should have had two touchdowns had it not been for Jones-Drew taking a knee at the end of the game to let time run out. As bad as things look after the Jets’ latest loss, the opportunity for the team took a turn for the better with the Patriots’ collapse in Indianapolis that night.

Rex Ryan joined 1050 in New York to talk about some things that jumped out at him after watching the tape from Sunday’s game, the players saying after the game that they came out flat, whether giving his team six days off during their bye week was the reason for the loss, and the Jets defense not being as good as his defenses in Baltimore.

On some things that jump out at him after watching the tape from Sunday’s game:

“Just disappointed with the way that we started the game; I mean clearly I expected that we would just come out playing our tails off.  You have got to give Jacksonville all the credit.  They came out and intercepted the first pass of the game and then converted it for a touchdown with five straight running plays.  We pride ourselves in being able to stop the run and they stuck it to us.  Really the first half they were in control of that whole tempo and then I was proud of the way our guys responded.  I think in the second half we stepped it up.  On defense I think we had five three and outs in a row on them.  That was great to see that our guys are obviously not going to quit, the task was tough, but they were hanging in there.  We had opportunities right at the end.  We take the lead and then with five minutes left we let them drive the entire field and waste up the whole clock.  Obviously that is disappointing and that is four games this year that we have lost on the last play of the game.”

On the players saying after the game that they came out flat:

“I know one thing, Jacksonville came out…I don’t know if we were flat but I will say this; it was clearly that they were more effective than we were.  We had missed tackles.  They had some big runs against us so we came out flat.  Clearly we played a lot better in the second half but for whatever reason…if anything for a team to be as fresh and ready as we were, we had great practices during the week.  For us to not get it done;  if they are saying that we came out flat that is crazy.”

Whether giving his team six days off during their bye week was the reason for the loss:

“Well I don’t think that was the reason but every year is different.  You have got to look at your situation and where the bye is and all of that kind of stuff.  The fact that we never got the victory sure it is easy to say well we should have come out at this time or we should have given them this time off and not six days or whatever it was.  I really don’t believe that.  That wasn’t the issue.  You have got to give the opponent credit.  They came out with a good game plan.  The kid was running hard.  You can’t go live tackling.  You do all the drill work you can and all of that kind of stuff to play against a guy.  Maybe it is different when you get out there.  We tried drills specifically.  We had tackling circuits and we had all kinds of stuff.  This was clearly our worst tackling performance of the year.  We had fifteen missed tackles.”

On the Jets defense not being as good as his defenses in Baltimore:

“Well yeah I think you could think of it that way.  I think statistically it depends on how you are going to judge a team.  I just assume judging them on wins and losses and that would put us in the mediocre right now but we are much better than that as a unit.  Again the facts are that team had 250 yards at halftime against us.  A lot of times teams will just give in to those circumstances of 500 or 600 yards of offense.  To our guys credit they went five three and outs in the second half and I think that speaks volumes about him but at the end of the day you got to find a way to get it done.  We had our opportunities to get off the field but Jacksonville converted.  The biggest thing to me is that we had…  Mentally at the of the game you have got to be your sharpest and we had two mental mistakes that absolutely killed us.”

Rex Ryan joined Michael Kay on ESPN Radio in New York to discuss a very difficult Jets loss

Tags: AFC East, Jets defense, Jets lose to Jaguars, Jets offense, Mark Sanchez, New York Jets, NFL, Rex Ryan