NYJ Preseason Week 3 Post Game Press Conference

by k1ngm0j1 | 4 years ago | 0 Comments

Well I am already getting tired of doing these press conferences & having to announce injury news to a key member of our offense.  So I will start there, TE Chris Herndon has suffered a torn Abdomen Muscle, the same injury La'Mical suffered last week. We expect Chris to be out 4-6 weeks. He will go for an MRI tomorrow to confirm & then we will get him with the team doctors & started on the road to recovery. 

Other then that hanging over our head I was pleased with how we played, I think for a dress rehearsal it went well. I think the starting unit was really sharp on Offense. This was probably the best version of Sam we had. He went 10/15 for 133 & 2 touchdowns. We finally got through without any Interceptions, so we can finally check that box.  I think its just night and day since we switched play calling up for him 2 weeks ago. He is really starting to take strides towards being great. By the time we got the ball back the defense already put us up 7-0 & Sam was able to lead a nice drive & cap it off with the strike to Crowder who ran a really clean route to split the safeties & score from 21 yards out.  Sam did a great job looking off & holding the safeties before coming back to beat the cover 6 right down the middle. 

Going back to the defense, man how good were they today? Intercepting Rudolph 4 times was great to see. They were all over the field today. Mosley had 2 interceptions, including the pick 6 on the first drive.  That play really seemed to fire the team up. Pittsburgh was on a long drive deep in our territory until Mosley made that play. It seemed to be the play that woke us up & we kept rolling from there.  Was nice to see Earl Thomas come up with a pick as well. We haven't been giving Earl a ton of reps because we trust him to get himself ready & there is no need to over play him & risk injury, but it was nice to see him settle in & make a play during his time out there. Nate Hairston also come up with an interception late in the 3rd quarter.  

I was very very pleased with the play of the Dline in this one as well. 3 sacks on the board but they really made life terrible for Rudolph. I know 3 of the interceptions we got were directly caused by the dline. We hit or rushed Rudolph a lot in this game. We have been rotating things a ton trying to generate pressure & it finally worked.  Quinnen Williams started it off with a big sack early in the game & hit Rudolph on the pick Earl made.  Q has been great so far this preseason, he is really developing as a pass rusher for us & that will be a huge boost for this team. 

We did give Hauschka the start in this game at Kicker and he rewarded us going 2/2 on field goals & 3/3 on extra points. A decision on Kicker is going to be made before we leave for Philly this week.  With that I open it up to questions.

Hey Coach Moji, It seems to everyone that QB Joe Flacco has been struggling. He seems to be getting the least amount of playing time & he has not played well while in there. Is there going to be a move made for QB depth? Or are you happy with Joe & rookie James Morgan on the roster?

Its kind of a mixture right, sure Joe has not been getting a lot of playing time, but at the same time hes also a longtime veteran.  He is a former superbowl champion, I think guys like him or Frank (Gore), they have been professionals for so long that missing reps in preseason in their late 30's is not going to make a huge difference. Its important for guys like Morgan to play while they are young & trying to adjust to the speed of this league.  I am very happy with how well James Morgan has played this preseason. He has opened a lot of eyes around camp so far. That being said as guys get cut & all of the roster cuts happen, we will be looking to upgrade at every position, if possible.  I am always tinkering with the roster looking to find the best combination of 53 that we can find. Depth is a huge part of a team & as you can see we are quickly turning into the walking wounded here, we need to have quality backups & that includes the QB position. So yes moves are a possibility.

With this being the "dress rehearsal" for the regular season, do you expect any starters to play next week? And if so for how long?

We will see, I haven't decided yet.  I want to get with the coaching staff, go watch the film from this game & then make a decision on who needs more work next week & for how long.  I know most of the older vets will not be playing, your ET's, Mosley, Peters' etc.  Those guys will for sure be out. Some of our younger guys like Mims, Davis, Cashman, they may see some time.  I don't anticipate it being very long.  I know regardless of what we see on film, Le'veon Bell will be sitting.  Hes having way too good of a preseason & is a major part of our offense. We need him 100% ready to go for week 1.  

Obviously you don't want any players getting hurt, but you could say Herndon going down is not a huge deal for this team. Ryan Griffen played all last year with Herndon out & it seems him & Sam still have great chemistry.  Do you think the offense will miss a beat with Herndon out?

Ryan Griffen is a terrific player, and he had a career year last year with Sam. It seemed they clicked from day one & with Herndon serving the 4 game suspension & then getting hurt in week 6 he really was the #1 TE all year.  Him & Chris are such different players it allows me to call different stuff & use both of them. With Chris on the shelf for a few weeks it will change things but Griff is such a good player & really pays attention to details.  That touchdown he had today was just a result of great chemistry between him & Sam.  Play action on the goalie & the whole defense is expecting run, Sam makes a great fake & has to get rid of it quick because of all of the guys in his face. He knew exactly where Griffen would leak out in the back corner & hit him for a really easy touchdown. Both guys are just on the same page.  I will have to adjust some things but again this is the importance of depth. I think Griffen will allow us to keep clicking on offense but there is no doubt we would rather have him & Chris both out there. 

There was a lot of "Chatter" that this secondary is going to struggle with the departure of Maye & Dessir.  Sure Earl Thomas is here but its still a new defense he has to learn & there are some young guys in that secondary. After seeing how they played tonight do you think they are going to be missed or will this unit be fine?

There's no doubt losing two really good players hurts us, but I am confident in the guys we have.  We are working on different coverages & finding what works for these guys. The young guys have really stepped up & played well so far. 2nd year corner Blessaun Austin has been really impressive & will be our #2 guy week 1 against Buffalo. He will start opposite Poole.  Hairston & Wilson are still battling for that Nickle spot.  I know they are young & we will break down the film because plenty of mistakes were made tonight, but they did a good job tonight.  I am not worried, I know with a young group there's going to be growing pains. I think that is something we have prepared ourselves for. They will continue to gel as a unit as the year goes on & I truly think we will be okay. 

Alright everyone, thank you for coming. I will see you guys next week in Philly for the preseason finale.