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And just like that, the question surrounding the New York Jets resurface in the wake of their 37-16 loss to the rival New England Patriots in Week 10. Winners of their previous three, most pundits and fans thought the Jets would get the better of the Patriots, who were reeling from consecutive losses to Pittsburgh and the New York Giants. But Tom Brady returned to form and had his way with Rex Ryan’s defense, throwing for over 300 yards and three touchdowns without turning the ball over. It’s back to the drawing board for Ryan and the Jets, but they won’t have much time to regroup, as they play in Week 11 on Thursday night against the suddenly resurgent Denver Broncos. And oh yeah, Ryan will have to spend at least part of his week explaining his outburst to a fan at halftime rather than immersing himself without distraction on Thursday’s game.
Ryan joined ESPN Radio New York to talk about what went wrong in the Jets’ Week 10 loss to the Patriots, how the clock mismanagement before half was his fault not Mark Sanchez’s, his defense not being able to respond to New England going no-huddle offensively in the second half, if he thinks he and the Jets coaching staff maybe were too cautious with Mark Sanchez after the Jets marched down the field with the passing game on the game’s opening possession, why the loss doesn’t in any way make him think that his team might not have what it takes to win a Super Bowl this season, having a short week to prepare for the Denver Broncos, what mistake he thought was most critical in the loss, how he let his emotions get the best of him during his outburst at a fan while leading his team into the tunnel at halftime, and the multi-faceted rushing attack that the Broncos deploy with Tim Tebow at quarterback.
How he’s doing on Monday after the Jets disappointing loss to the Patriots Sunday night:
“I’ve been a whole lot better, let’s just put it that way.”
On what went wrong in the loss to New England:
“Well yeah, I was down and all that. It was a huge game. We thought we’d play way better than we did. I say you have to give them credit for what they did. They were clearly the better team that day without question. But as far as what went wrong, I mean, what went right? We missed a 24-yard field goal, we fumble a punt, we have the timeout, we handled that poorly, we threw a pick for a touchdown, turned some guys loose in coverage. I mean I don’t know where to start.”
On why his defense was not able to respond to New England going no-huddle offensively in the second half:
“Well it’s something they do a great job of. You wait — they’ll run guys to the numbers and then they bring guys back on, a lot of different things. And in that situation, you don’t want to make a call too early because they run multiple personnel groupings in; and in that case they stayed in the same, they brought a guy over, we’re trying to match in a man-call, and we don’t get set. That was something I talked about that was disappointing as well. Even though you think you can get things done with your headset getting the call in, sometimes it’s harder to get it out to everybody. And our fans were awesome, they were loud and it’s great, but if there is one negative thing, it’s sometimes trying to get that call out to your guys. But that’s no excuse. I’d much rather it be like that, and I appreciate our fans for everything they do for us.”
If the coaching staff purposefully kept the training wheels on Mark Sanchez after he led the Jets right down the field with the passing game on the game’s opening series:
“No, absolutely not. We are a ground-and-pound team, we pride ourselves in being able to run the football and we were running it fairly effectively I think. In the second half obviously we never ran it enough, but no, we never put limitations on X amount of throws or whatever.”
If he’s ever though that his team might just not have what it takes to be a legitimate contender this year:
“No, I don’t feel like that. We certainly weren’t good enough last night, there’s no question. You make that many mistakes, you know, that was brutal. We just lacked consistency, and at times, like you said we moved the ball really well, and other times we bogged down, we got sacks and turnovers and all that. At times, we made New England go three-and-out five times; well, that never happens, you know what I mean? But then there were times when they drove down the field. And the takeaway killed us, and the time out killed us.”
Is it good that the Jets have a short week to prepare before playing the Denver Broncos on Thursday night:
“Uhhh, I just want to win. I think it’s good because we need to put this game behind us obviously and we have to move on. We have Denver in front of us — they’ve won three of their last four and they’re feeling good about themselves; they ran the ball 55 times yesterday and only threw eight passes. So sometimes they spread you out, sometimes they go with huge people — it’s going to be a challenge.”
Which of the Jets’ mistakes does he think was the most critical:
“Well the one that affected the game the most was clearly the timeout in my opinion, because it gave them enough time to not only go down the field and score, but they took away the momentum that we had established. I think that was the biggest mistake that we made.”
On the YouTube video circulating of him cursing out a fan as he and the Jets walked into the tunnel at halftime:
“Yeah that’s true I guess. I was mad about the timeout obviously, we gave up a touchdown, it was right before the end of the first half. And I’m as competitive as anybody in this league — Belichick, anybody — and quite honestly my emotions got the best of me. I know I represent the NFL, I know I represent the Jets, and I shouldn’t have said it. It’s as simple as that.”
On how much of a long shot it will be for the Jets to win the AFC East at this point:
“Well it’s going to be a long shot at best for us to win the East, I don’t think there’s any doubt. But I still think there’s seven games left, and obviously it’s easier if you can play a game at home, win your division and all that. But even if we do that, the goal has never been to…we only have one goal and that’s to win the Super Bowl. So again, would we have won the Super Bowl playing like that? No, of course not. It’s a loss. But our goal has never changed.”
If he’s had much time to prepare for Tim Tebow and the Broncos varied rushing attack:
“It was amazing, I mean, you talk about a team committed to running the football. They’re running all kind of different options — they’re running speed options, load options, read options. You know, Tebow had more rushing attempts than he had passing attempts, so it’s a total different challenge that’s for sure.”
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