By Rex Ryan Believes In Mark Sanchez And Won’t Speculate On Starting Tim Tebow
October 2, 2012 – 6:30 am by Steven Cuce
The New York Jets are a mess right now. There’s not a ton Rex Ryan can say. But after an embarrassing 34-0 loss to the San Francisco 49ers at home, the Jets head coach wasn’t afraid to speak his mind after the game.
Darrelle Revis is gone for the year and now Santonio Holmes could be gone for some time with a foot injury. Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum sure hasn’t surrounded Mark Sanchez with a ton of weapons offensively and this defense cannot stop the run. The starting quarterback position should be the least of the Jets’ worries right now.
Rex Ryan joined 98.7 ESPN New York on The Michael Kay Show to discuss his claim in training camp that this was the most talented New York Jets team he ever coached, not being disappointed in Mark Sanchez’s play, the chances of Tim Tebow being the Jets starting quarterback, not seeing enough of Tim Tebow in the Wildcat formation and the possibility of the Jets trying out Chad Johnson, Terrell Owens or Plaxico Burress.
In training camp you said this was the most talented team you ever had. Do you still believe that?
“Well, I mean, I would like to get that talent on the field together. It’s been tough. Quite honestly when you go into three-wide set when you have Jeremy Kerley, Santonio Holmes and Stephen Hill with Dustin Keller, I don’t know if we had that group ever out there for a day of practice. That’s kind have been frustrating. You had Stephen Hill out with the hamstring. You lose Santonio Holmes. You’ve had Dustin Keller out with a hamstring. It’s just kind of frustrating. I think when we get our pieces out there we will have a talented team and I think it will be very talented, but right now it seems like we’re snake-bit a little bit.”
Are you disappointed in the play of Mark Sanchez?
“Well I was disappointed in a lot of our guys and our team. When you look at it as a unit, you don’t look at one individual specifically. I think you have to look at the group. Were there things we could have done better in the passing game? Absolutely. Were there things we could have done better on the defense? Of course. Those are the things we are really focused on and I am not going to put it on one guy. Mark Sanchez would be the first guy to tell you he never really had a strong game, but I certainly believe in the young man and he’s done a lot of good things for us since he’s been here. And I know how competitive he is and I’m sure he is looking forward to Wednesday and putting this thing behind him and moving forward.”
Is there ever a point where you go with Tim Tebow?
“Well, see, again, I am not comfortable talking about the what-ifs and what if this and what if that. I can say this, I am happy we have both of those guys and that we have Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow. I’ll just leave it like that, but to speculate if this or if that? I am not going to do that.”
Why haven’t we seen more of Tim Tebow in the Wildcat formation?
“Well it’s one of our personnel groupings and if we feel we would be better off in a different personnel grouping then that’s what we’ll do. Again, I said we’ll do what’s in the best interests of our team. Clearly, when you look back at this past game, it was hard to get anything going, but again we just take a hard look and obviously we have to get a lot better. We certainly plan on it.”
We don’t know how long Santonio Holmes will be out. Do you give Chad Johnson, Terrell Owens or Plaxico Burress a look?
“I think right now, with the way Mike Tannenbaum is and the scouting department, we look at all the possibilities and things, but I think the big thing, hopefully we can get Stephen Hill back soon and we think he is player with a bright future. We gotta get him back on that field. I like the way Chaz Schilens is playing. You look at Clyde Gates. Clyde Gates is learning the system and I think he is going to give us a little more and there’s a guy with world-class speed and I like the way Jeremy Kerley is playing, too. Hopefully we can get Stephen back soon and hopefully we get Santonio Holmes back sooner rather than later and I’ll feel good about it. I think we’ll all feel good about our receiving core, but certainly we look at every possibility.”
Listen to Rex Ryan on 98.7 ESPN New York here
Tags: 98.7 ESPN New York, Jeremy Kerley, Mark Sanchez, New York Jets, NFL, Rex Ryan, Santonio Holmes, Stephen Hill, The Michael Kay Show, Tim Tebow
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