(Opening statement) “Let me say, it was a good win. The team, like I said before, guys that have been around on a daily basis, I like the way the team’s been going to work, working hard at practice, working hard at meetings. I think they were ready to go to a certain extent. We got the ball, offensively, Leonard [Fournette] starts us off with a big run. We get down there and wind up scoring, which was big, and then we missed the extra point. Then do a good job on special teams, get them down to the 5 [yard line] and I’m thinking to myself, ‘Hey, we’re going to stop them here, get the ball back, we’ll be able to go up one or two scores.’ And they drive down the field and score, 95 yards. I thought it was a battle. I think that Gardner [Minshew II] did a nice job. He made some plays. We did better on third down. He kept his eyes down the field with the big play to Chris Conley. That was a big play in the game. I think we’ve got to get better. When we had the ball on the 36 [yard line] and we turned it over. That’s a chance for us to get three points and go up by two scores there. That would have been a big point in the game. And then obviously, settling for a field goal at one point instead of getting a touchdown kept the Jets in there. Credit to them. They did a good job. Defensively, we got after them pretty good. We had about eight sacks. We have a good defense, but Sam Darnold now, he just stood there and kept fighting, fighting, fighting. I give him a lot of credit. We can sit there and look and these quarterbacks that get hit and get sacked liked that and it’s hard to come back. They kept fighting. They kept doing a good job. Defensively, they are good up front. Their safeties made plays on us. I think there’s a lot of room for our improvement, obviously, still in the red zone, we’ve got to do a better job. It’s frustrating. Obviously, the penalties at times. We can’t stop the clock with a holding call under five minutes. At that point, that’s our opponent at the time. I think there’s things like that that I discussed with the team afterward. We’re going to work really hard and try to get better, obviously, throughout the week. We’ve got a long trip. At the end of the game, I don’t want to run the extra plays getting ready for the trip across the pond and playing a division opponent. We took the knee and had the game under control and got out of there. I think we’ll be OK injury-wise. We’ve got some bumps and we’re banged up, but we’ve got to get those things treated because it’s a little bit more of a challenge with the long travel schedule this week.”
(On the savvy and instinct Gardner Minshew II showed today) “He’s been really good [with] touch. I kind of go back and forth. Sometimes I look and you’re like, ‘That’s a veteran move. That’s a veteran player.’ You are able to see that, and you go. And here’s my problem. This is all me now. I can’t get over that we gave away three points. So, for me, it’s like, ‘He should have hit Leonard [Fournette] in the flat. He should have hit the crosser.’ Now that’s unfair to him. You know what I’m saying? That’s unfair of me to ask all of this from him, but that’s what on my mind right now. So to answer your question, to get away from a player and to keep his eyes down the field, to get a roughing the passer where a guy hits the crap out of him and he gets sacked and be able to come back and be able to run, get a first down, keep his eyes downfield…I’m always looking for the whole game, so I’ve got to kind of overlook that because he made plays that made up for that. That’s what he’s been doing. He does not play like he was brought into this league, a sixth-round draft pick or something like that. He doesn’t play like that.”
(On the last touchdown) “We go down there. We get close. We almost score. They call a toss play. I’m on the phone because I’m like, ‘My father-in-law is here. He’s going to kill me if this play doesn’t score.’ I’m serious. You think I’m bullshitting. I’m dead ass serious. I’m like, I know better than to toss the ball at the goal line. I know better. [Offensive Line Coach George Warhop] ‘Hop’ is like, ‘That’s my fault. I put it in there.’ Gardner [Minshew II] bailed us out on that. We can’t miss opportunities like that. You know what I’m saying? We really can’t. We can laugh about it because Gardner made a play. I can tell you the truth of exactly how it went down with me saying that. At the end of the day, let’s make no mistake about it, that is my responsibility. I know everything that is in the plan. Sometimes I think that I probably don’t know as much as I think I know and at that time, I think I knew exactly what I should know. I’ve got to do a better job with that, same with the red zone.”
(On the performance of the defense) “We knew coming back, despite all the noise that was out there, the one thing about New York, the one thing they show is they fight their ass off. We felt from a skill-level standpoint with Le’Veon Bell, [Jamison] Crowder, [Demaryius] Thomas, [Robby] Anderson, we felt like from top to bottom they had a lot of good skill. We knew that up front they were playing hard, but it’s always difficult when you have those type of injuries hit you on the O-line and you have guys going in and out. We’ve been there before, so we know, last year. I think we did a good job of stopping the run again. We did it last week against a real good running back in Joe Mixon. I think we did a hell of a job against a great running back like Le’Veon Bell. Then we’re getting into where it was a little bit more one-dimensional where the throws are starting to go. Now they are going to take shots down the field. Now the rush is getting to them. It’s hard to call plays when you are getting to their quarterback. I give him credit. He just kept getting up. He kept throwing and making plays. He did things that got us out of press a little bit, were able to get a couple of plays on that last drive out onto the perimeter, get some balls, keep it in front of us. At the end of the day, under pressure and duress we were able to make some plays on the back end with Tre [Herndon] and with A.J. [Bouye] due to those types of things. At the end of the day, I thought we did a good job. Especially for us, if we can get the run game stopped, it’s always helped us. The main thing I don’t want to lose site of is the turnovers again. Every game we’ve won we won the turnover battle. I think that’s important. What were we today? Plus-two? So, we’ve turned that around in a short period of time where we were battling. Like I said, we talk about it and we’re trying to do it. Some of the penalties we’ve got to do a better job of. We are going in the right direction. We’ve just got to do a better job of it. So, leaving here, it’s a great win. I’m happy for the players, happy for the fans, but we’ve got a lot of things to get better on. We’re not sitting here going, ‘We’re on our way.’ We’re fighting our ass off.”
(On if given all the recent injuries and trades, if he has to work to keep players focused for the game in London) “People will talk about, ‘Hey, the head coach did this and the head coach did that.’ That’s all bull. The team has done a great job with themselves. The assistant coaches have done a great job keeping everyone focused, keeping everyone in. I’m just along for the ride. I really appreciate what those guys are doing. To answer your question, if it wasn’t coming from the players, if it wasn’t coming from the assistant coaches, yes, I don’t think I’d be able to do that on my own, but since it’s coming from the players and coming from the coaches, I do think we have a good chance for the players to stay the way they are. They are practicing hard. They are communicating well. It’s a good group. There’s a lot of energy in that locker room in a good way. It’s not childish or anything of that nature. So, I’m proud of the players, and I’m proud of the coaches, and I’m just happy to have the opportunity to help guide them.”
(On if Gardner Mishew II’s performance will make the upcoming starting quarterback decision difficult) “[New York Post columnist] Mark Cannizzaro today was here earlier walking around the hallway. For those who don’t know, Mark was there my first time in the NFL. He was a beat writer for the Jets. He’s in the hallway, and I always say it, they can’t help himself. [Media members] are great people. You guys are great people, but when you have an opportunity, you just can’t help yourself. So, we’re in the hallway and he asks me the same question. ‘Hey, what are you going to do?’ I told Mark, I got this question in a press conference and I know that people who don’t know me, it’s hard for them to believe, but why would I go through scenarios in my mind and waste my time with scenarios when I have to get ready for another game. This is what I told him. You can ask him, and he’ll tell you. I said, ‘If we didn’t have a bye after the Texans game, I think somewhere along the line next week, I would start going through that in my mind.’ Does that make sense to everyone? Because I’m going to have to make a decision, but since we have the bye, there’s so many things that can happen between now and then, whether injuries come into play with either quarterback or whatever may happen, so for me, I’m not going to waste my team. And that’s probably my strength and my weakness. My strength is I can focus on something, but my weakness might be down the road, if you don’t see this thing coming. To answer your question, I really haven’t thought about it. The reason why is because I don’t have to, and I don’t want to. I’ll deal with it when it happens. And that’s the truth. Everything I say is the truth.”
(On if he’s pleased with being 4-4 given the circumstances around this season) “No. I haven’t done a great job. If I could have done a better job, I think we’d be in better shape. We’re 4-4, and I look back and I regret not being able to push this team over in some real close games. I’m not pulling my share of it.”
