Some highlights of Rex Ryan's news conference yesterday:
On when he knew he was going to name Sanchez the starting quarterback…
We get volumes of information from the minicamps, the OTAs, the training camps, the meetings, and the preseason games. So, I have plenty of information. I talked to people that I really respect in this business. It certainly helped me make my decision, but at the end of the day I’m going to rely on my instincts and just a gut feeling that I have because I don’t think there was a clear-cut winner statistically. Statistically when you look at them, they are very similar whether you’re tracking throws in the preseason game or whether you’re doing it on the practice field.
On specifically why he chose Sanchez as the starter because during the Baltimore game he looked shaky…
That’s true. It’s not going to go perfect every week. There is no question it’s not. I’d rather not get into specifics. I don’t think that’s fair to Kellen or anybody. I’d rather not do that. I’m happy to have both these young men as quarterbacks on this football team. I just feel very comfortable and very confident in my decision to go with Sanchez.
On if Clemens never got going even after being in the system for four years…
I see it like he does have a great grasp of this system. Mark, if anything, he closed the gap which you would expect. He’s going to learn that system. He has to learn it or we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. It would have been totally the other way that we would have gone straight with Kellen. Mark is getting a good grasp of the system. Does Kellen still know it better than Mark does? I would say that’s a true statement but I know Mark is working hard and he’s trying to learn it like Kellen does. And I think Kellen is helping him as well. Just to say he won it by default I think is being way too disrespectful to Kellen.
On if it would have been tougher for him to give the quarterback job to a rookie if he didn’t feel as good about the run game and the defense…
That’s a great point. It really is. That’s a very valid statement but I know what our defense is going to be. I know what our running game is going to be. I’m looking at all kind of different scenarios. I just see that we’re going to have a football team that can run the football. I know we’re going to have a defense that’s going to be one of the top defenses in the league. If we were a different team or our M.O. wasn’t like that then maybe you’re right but it is like that. That’s part of the reason why I’m so comfortable with this decision.
What you take from this is the Jets fell in love with Sanchez when they worked him out prior to the Draft. They never loved Kellen Clemens that way. Everything the team saw in camp and preseason only reinfornced these feelings.