Jets Postgame Quotes (Preseason Week Three)

Head Coach Robert Saleh

On the performance of the first team offense and defense…
Yeah, it was good. The first drive was set back on the personal foul. Cobby (Randall Cobb) was probably a little excited to be out there, but I felt really good about the way both units, and special teams for that matter, played.

On his thoughts when Isaiah Simmons came around the corner on the Jets opening drive…
It was good for him (Aaron Rodgers). He needs a little bit of that action. It was good to show that he still has mobility. He still has legs. We’ve been seeing it all camp. You can blitz him, but he still has plenty of movement to be able to get out of the pocket and create off-schedule.

On the Jets opening two drives, specifically the second one (Garrett Wilson touchdown)…
I felt like the first drive was going to score, too. Obviously, we got set back on that personal foul, but just the way he (Rodgers) works at the line of scrimmage. Garrett is a special football player. Obviously, he trusts him. It’s a start. It doesn’t mean much. We just have to continue working and continue to play football together and see where it goes.

On whether he got what he wanted to out of tonight with Rodgers…
Yeah. We wanted to get two or three series. Have a first series, come back, get some adjustments, go back to the… and it was good. Just listening to the offensive staff talk about the adjustments, because it wasn’t much of a game plan at all. To be able to get the adjustments, Wink (Martindale) has an array of coverages and pressures that he can call, which he did, which challenged us, which was awesome because it forced us to communicate on the sideline and come up with adjustments. It was a really productive day overall, not only for the first team offense and defense and special teams, but for the coaching staff and the way they communicate.

On the flow of the offense with Zach Wilson…
I thought Zach was awesome. I’m proud of that kid, man. He did such a nice job all camp. To be asked what he was asked to do with regards to taking a step back and learning all over again, and today I thought he commanded the huddle. I thought he dropped a dime on that deep ball to Mecole (Hardman). I thought he was really, really good.

On if he feels the Jets are ready for Buffalo…
Coaches never feel ready. We have to prepare. Buffalo is a really, really good football team. We’ll take it one day at a time and prepare our best.

On if it was planned for the starting defense to play only a few snaps…
No. I just saw the first couple of series and they’re ready.

On how he feels about the Jets running game…
Would have liked to see more, obviously, but with what the Giants presented with all the zero pressure, it’s kind of dumb to run into a zero pressure look like that, sometimes anyway. It would have been good to get more of a run game going today, but once we get Dalvin (Cook) back and Breece (Hall) into the fold, it’s going to take time to mesh all that together, new o-line and all that good stuff. I have confidence that watching Keith (Carter) and (Nathaniel) Hackett and all of them work together and the o-line and the way we’re talking and the way we communicate day-to-day and the things that they’re teaching, I have faith in the fact that we’ll get it going sooner rather than later.

On if he got what he wanted out of Mekhi Becton tonight and throughout preseason…
Yeah. With the program that everybody was on with regards to trying to get him back to having that confidence in the knee, he still has work to do. There is a maintenance part of it that he has to stay on. He can’t get satisfied with it. He has to stay diligent with making sure he is staying ahead of the chains with regards to rehab and regen and all that. He’s doing all of the right stuff. He has a lot of energy. He’s speaking the right language. He has a lot of positive self-talk. He’s in the training room every day working on that knee and making sure that it’s always fresh and ready to roll. He just has to stay on it and he can’t get complacent with where he’s at now. He has a lot to play for. He has gotten better every single day. He has gotten more confident in his knee. He hasn’t played in two years, so for him, it’s just a matter of mastering his techniques and getting himself back into the flow of the game.

On if Becton is the starter at right tackle…
As of now yes. He is our starter.

On if Hardman suffered an injury tonight…
He’s fine. He’s fine.

On if he feels better about the offensive line…
Absolutely. Like I said, we feel good about the collective whole of the group individually. It’s just a matter of getting five guys on the field, getting healthy, and work together. If Mekhi is playing to his best, with AVT (Alijah Vera-Tucker), that right side is pretty good. Then you have a lot of experience on the left side with Laken (Tomlinson) and Duane (Brown) coming back. Obviously, Connor (McGovern) is really sharp in the middle and then you still have (Joe) Tippmann who made a late surge. (Wes) Schweitzer is a really good right guard and he has something to say about whether or not he can get on the field. I feel really good about the individual pieces. It’s just a matter of us getting on the field and playing together.

On if Hardman will miss practice time…
I don’t know that. I didn’t get a report. It’s like a finger. He’s fine.

On if he has ever seen anything like Rodgers tutoring the other quarterbacks…
I’ve said it before, knock on wood, I’ve been part of teams that have had some good quarterbacks. Schauby (Matt Schaub) was really good in Houston. Russell (Wilson) was still a baby when I was in Seattle. Jimmy (Garappolo) was still trying to get his feet underneath him in San Francisco. We had Blake Bortles in Jacksonville when we drafted him. I’ve always been part of the young crew. The oldest would have been Schauby, but he was still kind of young and trying to get his feet on the ground, too. It was his first year starting. To see this in person, you hear about it, but to see it in person and the way he operates and the way he communicates every single play, and it’s not just with the quarterbacks. It’s with the o-line. It’s with the receivers. It’s with the tight ends and the backs. He’s so deliberate and thoughtful in his words and the way he communicates. He’s been above and beyond what has been advertised.

On how much the two series Rodgers played tonight may have a positive impact against Buffalo…
It all helps. As much as we felt like it would be good for him to get out there with the new colors on, new stadium, all of that stuff, it was just as good to get his teammates in that same huddle action and his procedure, the pace he has in and out of the huddle. I felt like it was for everyone to get to the sideline, make some adjustments, come back to the field and see some of those adjustments come to fruition. It can only help. Does it answer all of the questions leading into September 11? No, because we are still a new staff, still a new quarterback, still a lot of new players on the football field. It at least puts us a step in the right direction.

On Rodgers exchange with a Giants player after getting bumped late…
Did that happen? I wouldn’t be surprised. He talks way more crap than most people.

On how he feels going into Tuesday and the decisions they have to make…
That’s the crappy part about this entire thing, especially with how long we’ve been in camp, having the Hall of Fame game. You just draw a connection and an appreciation for all of these guys – the way they go about their business and the way they’re fighting for jobs. These are the hard ones because some of them, you’re not saying goodbye forever, but some of them, their careers are ending. These are always the hard ones.

QB Aaron Rodgers

Video: Here

On how he feels about what he accomplished in two series…

Yeah, got in, didn’t get hurt, scored. It was a good night.

On how much his chemistry with Garrett Wilson has grown this offseason…

A lot of conversations on the field, off the field, text messages, those sorts of things. It’s nice to be able to have them show up in a live situation like today. There are still things to work on. We held back a lot of things. Wasn’t sure what Wink (Martindale) was going to throw at us and it was eight guys up on the first play and eight guys up on the second play, but I love that about Wink. It’s good, but it tested us and we did some good things picking up some things in the protections and some good adjustments and obviously Garrett made some nice plays.

On his touchdown pass to Wilson…

Yeah, it was a run play to the right and Connor (McGovern) actually made a nice call up front. It was a zero-pressure look again with Garrett with an adjustment on the back side and it’s something that we actually hit against Tampa in the joint practices where I threw kind of more of a back-shoulder ball where he made a nice release on the right side on field one. This time he just outside released, didn’t waste any time. He’s pretty easy to throw that ball to.

On if his touchdown throw is trusting himself or trusting the receiver…

Both. I’ve made a lot of throws like that over the years, but he does a good job, late hands I think is important because the DB (defensive back) is just waiting for him to just put his hands up, so I think he probably had some good late hands, but he naturally creates a lot of separation, so he makes it pretty easy to throw to.

On how ready he and the offense are for the opener…

I think we’re ready. I think next week will be an important week. Obviously, there will be some tough decisions with the roster, but just to work in some other things as we transition now to the final 53 that we’re going to be doing every single week. We’ve held back a few things that we’ve been taking notes on, kind of, in the quarterback room, so if we want to put them in the next week coming up, so we’ll put kind of the final touches of the offense, I feel good about where we’re at. Obviously, we still have Duane (Brown) to come back and Breece (Hall) to really fully come back and Dalvin (Cook) hasn’t practiced yet. So those are three impact players for us that we’re going to want to see on the field and get in the mix. Might be a slower start for some of those guys, but got to get them going with what we’re doing.

On where the team has grown the most since training camp started…

I think offensively we’ve just been doing a better job of alignment and assignment stuff. This offense stresses the defense, but also stresses our guys because we put a lot on them to be able to adjust quickly on the fly, to be able to read the coverages and I think tonight you saw some guys take a jump. I thought 82 (Xavier Gipson) really took a big step forward in his attempt to make the team. He had multiple plays where he was short of the sticks on a lot of catches and made guys miss and, obviously, he’s done a good job returning. I thought Alex (Erickson) had a great night as well, two touchdowns. He’s a really smart guy, he’s always doing the right thing. And that’s the beauty of camp is you never know what’s going to happen when it’s live and guys separate themselves. Guys who might look good in practice might not play as well in the game. Guys you’re not quite sure about can jump out sometimes in these live situations. So, I’m proud of the young guys. I’m really proud of my quarterbacks. I thought Zach (Wilson) had a really nice preseason. I think he grew in a lot of areas. I think his footwork has been fantastic. I think Tim (Boyle) has had an excellent camp as well. I think Tim is such a steady, steady guy and tonight he made a couple checks against empty, he made back-foot throws against zero pressure to the back of the end zone to Alex. He’s done a really nice job.

On if he felt nervous…

Yeah, I had some butterflies for sure. I think that’s always normal. First time I strap it on, it’s kind of the standard whether I’m in year one playing the San Diego Chargers or year 19 preseason number four, there’s always some butterflies when you step out there for the first time, but I loosened up pretty good when I got the ovation when I took the field. That was a special moment just to have that kind of support, taking the field for that TV timeout, that was pretty special.

On what it will feel like in Week One compared to today…

I played in a great spot for 18 years. We had a great homefield advantage and the place was always sold out and still is for the next 30 years probably, but I’m expecting a big crowd, expecting a loud crowd. It’s going to be electric. Monday Night Football, last game of the first week, so it will be a pretty special moment to take the field against a division rival and great quarterback, really good football team. It’ll be a really special environment to start off my career with the Jets.

On how Mekhi Becton played…

I just told him I loved him. He’s come a long way. I’m really proud of him, as much as anybody on the team. The way that Mekhi has grown this month has been really spectacular. I don’t know if you guys get the chance to talk to him a whole lot, but I just feel like his head is in a really good spot and he feels like he’s part of it. He’s been playing well. I’m not sure what the film’s going to show, but it felt like out there that he protected well. He’s a mountain of a man. He leads us on the field. It’s like old school battles where you send your biggest guy out first and there’s Mekhi leading us on the field, it’s pretty cool, but it is amazing to see when you empower people and when you encourage people and you wrap your arms around people, you see their personality start to come out, you see the confidence start to grow and I think that’s what we’ve tried to do with Mekhi and make him feel like he’s a part of this and make him feel important and he’s returned that love and trust and support with a lot of really good play.

On Jihad Ward bumping him…

I kind of bumped him too. Wait for Hard Knocks. There’s some good content.

On why he is confident the team is ready…

Leadership, definitely. Right from the top. I think Robert (Saleh) has done a fantastic job of setting the goals for training camp, for each day kind of bringing things back home and giving us some little tidbits to take with us, whether it’s a story about eagles and crows or something about his family or something about challenging the line and, really, the offense the way we practiced against Carolina. I just think he’s been really savvy about what to say and when to say it and then the best teams are player-led teams and that’s the one thing I was asking in March when they came out and visited. I was interested in what the leadership was like. There’s a lot of great guys who lead by example. Some of them are long-time vets and then there’s a lot of guys who step up and have their moment whether it’s before the game or on the field when we take the field. I think the leadership is in a really good spot, especially on defense with our captain on defense, C.J. (Mosely). Offensively, obviously, they’ve given me the opportunity and I’m trying to make the most of it and lead these guys by example, by how I work, by being vocal, in the meetings and as you saw tonight, guys hadn’t seen me play and didn’t know that I’ve got some fire left in me, but I’m going to bring that every single week.

On Randall Cobb’s decleater…

I couldn’t believe it. I’ve been around Randall Cobb forever. We talk about smart players and doing smart things on the field. I don’t know what was in that. I was watching that in slow motion going, ‘No, no, no, Cobby, what are you doing?’ We were laughing because that wasn’t a penalty when we started playing, but it’s been a penalty for a while, so not the smartest play. I said, “Bro, you’ve got a third kid on the way. You just took money out of your pocket. You’re going to have to buy Aiyda something nice for that,” but yeah, I love playing with Cobby and I’m proud of him. I’m really proud of Garrett. Garrett’s such a special player, so it was fun to be out there with the guys and I can’t wait for the season.

WR Garrett Wilson

On the touchdown and what he saw from his perspective…

Just a great throw from Aaron (Rodgers), he’s so precise and has an answer to everything we see. So, just have to do my job at that point and make the catch.

On the chemistry with Aaron Rodgers…

Just the way we go about our business during the week. Every rep is important, every rep is magnified that we get as far as out on the practice field and I know he approaches it the same way. So, eventually we want to be able to do stuff like that on the field when it matters on Sunday.

On Xavier Gipson, Jason Brownlee and Alex Erikson…

He is so fun to watch. Every time he gets the ball, he knows what to do with it when you put the ball in his hands. Great player, on and off the field. I’ve really enjoyed getting to know him the last few months. JB (Jason Brownlee) is a guy that can go up and get the ball – he is physical and I love him and then Alex (Erikson) is the OG out there balling. Every day, it’s like he knew the offense longer than us some of the time. He came in day one and was on his details and a great guy to have in the room. I feel like I can ask him anything. They all bring something special to the table. I’m excited to see how stuff plays out and hopefully, we can keep them all here, but yeah, that’s how I feel.