On whether he was disappointed with the game’s outcome…
It’s disappointing for everyone across the board – except for the defense of course. I think our defense did a really good job today. It was a great effort. They held them to nine points and we need to help them out on offense. That starts with the quarterback. I can’t give them picks like that. I was happy with the decisions but the throws have to be better. It was a poor performance by myself and it’s tough to get an offense going when your quarterback isn’t playing well.
On slow first-half start…
I think some passes got away from me. The good thing was that I was making the right decisions with the ball – I just wasn’t putting it in the right spot and I have to help the receivers out. When I’m not playing well, it’s really hard for Schotty (Brian Schottenheimer) to make the right calls. It’s hard to get the running game going when we’re not getting completions and we left a lot of completions out there today. It’s just a poor job on my part.
On whether he thought WR Santonio Holmes’ dropped ball would have been a touchdown…
I think so. I just have to get the ball up – a foot, foot and a half – and it’s an easy catch for him and he’s gone. It’s a bad job by me.
On poor first-half accuracy…
It’s tough to pinpoint. I’m going to go back and look at the film. I felt good in the pocket. I thought our offensive line did a good job and gave me plenty of time. Sometimes you just have days like this. When we’re playing poorly like that and their defense really gets after it and takes two picks that makes it hard on us. I just have to get better. Whatever it is, I have to identify it and get better.
On whether the wind contributed to his performance…
There’s no excuse for the wind. I was throwing the ball well in pregame and it was windy in pregame. The wind was not a factor in my opinion.
On interception by Packers CB Charles Woodson…
I think he made a really good play. It was a pretty good hustle play and he finished the play really well. If I could have it back, I’d try to just put it another six inches inside and maybe Dustin (Keller) catches it even easier. He just made a good veteran play.
On whether he felt the loss was just a bump in the road or a step backward…
With the kind of players we have and the coaching, this is definitely just a bump in the road. It something we’ll be able to battle back from. It’s too bad because we got a great turnout from our fans. We came back fresh and ready to go. Rex (Ryan) gave us a long bye week. We got a chance to get home and see our families and we come back and have a poor performance on offense. There’s no excuse for it, but we know we can get better and the mistakes out there were physical today, not mental. Guys were running the right routes. I was throwing the ball to the right guy. I just need to be more accurate. We can correct physical mistakes and that’s a good thing.
On being comfortable in the pocket…
I felt good in the pocket, standing in there. I knew they had a great edge pass rush. I thought our offensive tackles did a great job of pushing them and letting them run by me, and getting me a chance to step up in the pocket and see plays down the field late. Hitting J-Co (Jerricho Cotchery) down the middle a couple of times, I felt solid in there. I just couldn’t hit anything in the first half. There’s no excuse for it but it just needs to get better. That’s something I’ll work on this week.
On playing against Don Capers’ defense…
They did a great job of mixing up their calls. We had opportunities but we just didn’t execute. We caught them on zone blitz with (Packers linebacker AJ) Hawk running down the middle with Jerricho (Cotchery). That’s the deep one we hit. Then, we’re rolling. That’s almost a 50-plus yard completion. On plays like that, we just have to capitalize. We had drives going, and then I throw a pick on two different drives. That just can’t happen. That’s where his defense will really get you. It wasn’t that we were confused, we just shot ourselves in the foot at some times and two of those big ones were my fault.
On attempting to convert the third-down to Cotchery…
I think that if I was smarter, I would have ran it on the third down myself. Just get up in the pocket to get a few yards back, so that it’s fourth-and-manageable so that it’s not fourth-and-10 or fourth-and-11. It’s one of those plays that if I could have done it all over again, I would have tried to find somebody else underneath or try and run it myself.
On his frustration with dropped passes…
I just need to be better with my accuracy. With every dropped ball today, I think there were twice as many poor throws on my part. Nobody’s pointing fingers. We have a great group of receivers and it’s my job to get them the ball. I just need to get better.
On the loss being motivation to come out better next week…
I think for every guy, when you don’t play your best game, win or lose, you’re not going to try and do anything extra special or change up your routine. You’ll just get back to work because you know how to play. That’s my plan. I know everyone in there, especially on offense, we looked at each other and said that we didn’t have our best day. We’ll come back and have a real good one next week and that’s it.
On what head coach Rex Ryan said to the team post-game…
I think he was disappointed because he knows the effort is there. He knows our effort is always there, we just didn’t finish plays. It’s hard on him when the offense is playing so poorly, the defense is keeping us in the game and at the end, we have to win that game. In some way, shape or form, we have to win that game. I can’t throw up balls. I can’t be 15-for-whatever I was. It was a terrible line for a quarterback. I have to be more accurate. I think that’s why Coach is angry. He knows that we have good players in the right positions. The coaches worked all week to get us in the right positions and we were there or either I didn’t make the throw or I threw it to the other team. So that’s not good.
On remembering the last time he was shutout as a quarterback…
No, I can’t. I cannot. It’s not a good thing, though. We need to get back on track and we will.
On the bye week affecting the outcome of today’s game…
Not the way we practiced all week. Even on Monday when we came back, we looked at the film and thought that we were doing really well for a Monday after a bye week. Usually guys are jet-lagged, or tired, and their legs are dead. But guys were flying around, we could have practiced twice as long on Monday. All week long, guys were fresh and excited to get back on the field. The effort was there, it was just poor execution so I don’t think it had anything to do with the bye week.