Jim Mora Press Conference - Tuesday, October 25

[Guest Moose Knuckle Ball Four]

Jim Mora: I haven't looked at the tape or the stats. I went home and watched "Be Cool" with John Travolta and Vince Vaughn and Andre 3000. Andre was there last night. Burt Reynolds was there last night. He wasn't in that movie, but he could have been (laughs).

 

 

Q: You had to be pleased with the way your team stopped the run.

Mora: I said it last night. I didn't get the feeling early that they were really trying to establish the run. I think it was a bit of cat and mouse where they probably read so much about our emphasis on the run defense that they figured we would be in a lot of 8-man fronts and they could take a shot at our corners. When they did try to run the ball we were fairly successful against them. I didn't get the feeling that they came in saying let's test this run defense.' I think that they came in saying that they could go after the corners because they are going to be in 8-man fronts and we held up okay. We didn't give up many big ones. DeAngelo guessed on one and he was going for a pick and it got behind him a little bit. But other than that, the short stuff outside doesn't really hurt you if you tackle, and we tackled well. If you hold a back like Curtis Martin to 2.0 yards per carry, that's much improved. We'll take that.

 

 

Q: Are you a team of playmakers?

Mora: I think we definitely have our playmakers, but the way I define our team is that we play well as a team. When you watch us, yes Warrick breaks out and makes some runs and Mike does some things, and obviously Rod does things, but our guys just know how to win. Guys step up and make plays. Antwan Lake stepped up and made plays last night. This is a guy that finds out than 1 hour and 25 minutes before the game he is going to be starting and we had to get Darrell Shropshire out from the pregame warmup that the inactives have to go through, and we have to pull him off the field and tell him that he has to suit up, and he played well. I think our guys are pretty unfazed. They roll along, but we certainly have some playmakers.

 

 

Q: You had a lot of young guys who stepped up.

Mora: When Brady Smith went out and Chad Lavalais was hurt we were down to six defensive linemen playing, and three of them were rookies. And Antwan Lake is a second or third year guy so he's still young. If Lavalais would have played that is a second year guy. We started Michael Boley, DeAngelo Hall is a second year guy. We have the youngest starting 22 in the NFL, and we've gotten younger because Boley is starting now, too. It's a young team, and guys have to step up and they did. Chauncey (Davis), (Darrell) Shropshire, Antwan Lake, Michael Boley and DeAngelo all made plays. It is great to see. It kind of follows the Bill Walsh theory that you draft a young because you think he has talent, so put him in and let him play. They don't learn from the bench. It's good to see our guys doing some good things, especially those young guys. It says a lot about our scouting department. We are starting guys that can produce.

 

 

Q: What happened with Chad Lavalais?

Mora: Guys go out on the field early and go out and warm up. He was down working with Antwan Lake at about 7 p.m. and he was just coming out of his stance. They were just working on get offs'. It wasn't pre game warm-ups. His lower back grabbed on him. He had Antwan stretch him out, and then he came in and our doctors worked on him and they couldn't get it to release. It was just really tight. He couldn't bend over and touch his toes, and he couldn't get himself back up. Playing the position of nose tackle, taking on double teams the whole game, the best thing to do is have a healthy body in there. So we got Darrell up. We don't want to put Chad in for one play and say that he can't go. So now you are down to six and losing Brady would have put us down to five people and we'd really have been behind the eight ball there. But he should be okay. He has muscle spasms in his back.

 

 

Q: That Rod Coleman sack and strip of Testaverde, it seems like he was playing nose tackle.

Mora: What happened a few times last night is that you always set a solid call, where the tight end is, and you line up your front off of that call. A couple of times they came out of their huddle not real organized, which I'm sure was on purpose, and we had to change our solid call and that means sliding your interior linemen. If you have time you just get up and flip it, but if not you just slide over. They had a new center and a new guard and maybe they had a miscommunication when we slid, and we were able to pop a couple guys through inside. Rod is not our nose tackle, but he might want to get some snaps there now, though.

 

 

Q: Were Vick struggles due to the Jets defensive play calls?

Mora: A little bit. On third down they were showing a lot of guys down and moving around and bailing out a bit and playing some Cover 3 and Cover 2 and I think I saw, and this is just observations from the game, that they were playing a bit more of a traditional Cover 2 which means that your two curl players run with your middle two inside receivers and your middle linebacker plays shallow. What people are doing now is playing Tampa 2, which is where the middle linebacker plays deep and the two outside guys stay shallow. I didn't get a feel that they were doing anything that they hadn't already showed on film. I just don't know that he found a rhythm. They have an outstanding front seven, and a really strong front four. And they play aggressively. (Defensive coordinator) Donnie Henderson does a really great job with them, and Jonathan Vilma, we saw last night why he was the Rookie of the Year last year. The guy just makes plays all over the place. He's fun to watch. If you appreciate watching good defense, which I do, you just love watching that guy play ball.

 

 

Q: People point to how Vick wins ball games.

Mora: He's a leader. He's got an intangible quality about him that they just believe in him. Probably what it is, is that this team has seen him pull it out so many times that they just have such great faith in him. It goes back to his demeanor on the practice field and meetings, and his work ethic. He's a guy that is one of our hardest workers. He's here and committed in the off-season. He's a leader on the field during practice. They know he's in the boat with them. He's not a Prima Dona that is playing the quarterback position and doing things that doesn't relate to the team. He's really a team guy. All Mike cares about is winning. Sure, he wants to be efficient and have good games and be recognized as a great player. But the bottom line for that guy is: did we win? He's a great leader.

 

 

Q: The team never seems to get down with Vick in the game.

Mora: Our guys stick with each other. They hold each other accountable, but they have each other's backs. That is what I think. There is a strong peer-to-peer accountability. When we are in a game together and we are fighting to win it, they all have each other's backs. That is what you want. You don't want a team that bickers. You want a team that holds each other accountable and demands that the guy next to him gives his best. But you don't want a team that bickers at each other, and our team doesn't. We have too many good guys for that to happen. Mike is just a winner. Mike does a tremendous job keeping his poise when things aren't great for him. Whether it is a receiver dropping a pass, or someone running the wrong route, or he's getting hit all the time, or he's just not throwing it accurately, he just keeps his poise. On the sideline he talks to Greg (Knapp) in a rational way, he understands what is going on and he doesn't get flustered. I think his teammates see that.

 

 

Q: Your third down conversions were excellent through the first half.

Mora: He has (made more). If you go back to last week to New Orleans in the second half, he made a bunch of those with his legs, running and diving. We'll take them any way in which we can get them. I looked at the board and I think we were four for six at one point. I know when you flop on fourth down at the end it doesn't help your percentage. If we get to 3rd-and-1 and don't get it and go for it and get it, then we have converted the drive. I look at that as well as the 3rd-down percentage. Are we converting the drive? I'll tell you what, when you are trying to call a defense on 3rd down and the quarterback keeps making plays, it is a tough feeling for a defensive coordinator.

 

 

Q: What's your schedule going into the bye?

Mora: They are off today. Tomorrow they will be in and we'll watch the film and get a workout in. We aren't going to go on the field. They are going to run. Then we have a Life Skills seminar, the NFL Player Programs has these great seminars and they bring in these acting groups and (emulate) real world (scenarios). Then I want them to spend four days just resting actively. Resting doesn't mean sitting around with a bag of Doritos watching Oprah, but just get up. Some of them will play golf. Most of them will work out. If they aren't injured, they can go home, and maybe go to a college football game or something. But we'll be back at it on Monday. I get to veg', but they don't.

 

 

Q: What happened with Brady Smith?

Mora: Brady dislocated his toe. It was kind of ugly, but they got it back in. It's his big toe. If it wasn't his big toe I don't think it would be as serious. So we'll have to see where he is. It really helps to have the bye. If he can get himself healed up that would be good. Chad Lavalais should be fine. Michael Jenkins has a slight ankle sprain and I would think, right now without talking to Ron Medlin, that he would be okay for Miami. We expect T.J. back. He's moving around fine. He had that ankle brace on, but not a boot or anything. Allen Rossum cramped up on that punt return, and then his wrist was bothering him, so we really didn't go to nickel. We stayed in base (coverage) and we put Leigh Torrence in a little bit. I think Rossy is fine, just cramps. Todd Weiner started the game, and he has a consecutive starts streak going. We wanted to respect that. So we played him and then pulled him. As a matter of fact, he said he felt better yesterday than he did the week before. So he'll be good to go when we get to Miami. Patrick Kerney played and he is fine. It's painful, that thing he has got in his lower back and hip. But he sucked it up and played so he's fine. If Michael Jenkins can't play, we sat down Dez, and Dez had a great week of practice, and he went in and did the scout team stuff and did it with a lot of intensity. He didn't sulk, and he challenged our defensive backs, and now if Mike gets dinged, Dez might be right back at it. I think we're in decent shape, physically, other than the fact that we have lost our starting middle linebacker and our first two nickels, and our backup linebacker.

 

 

Q: Would you feel more comfortable having Dez out there in the event that Jenkins is unable to go?

Mora: It's too early for me to say that. I haven't gotten that far in my thought process. Roddy (White) made a couple of plays last night. I thought on that sprint option that Mike had where he threw it a little bit high and inside I thought Roddy did a nice job of snatching it and making a nice catch. He hasn't broken out yet, but he will. At least he's catching the ball clean.

 

 

Q: Did you like what DeAndra Cobb did in the kick game?

Mora: No. Not really. He knows that. I didn't dislike it. I wanted to see him hit it a little harder. You always say that from the sideline. I don't know what he was seeing. I have to see the endzone film. I don't think he was hitting it hard enough. We'll see if he even gets another shot, I don't know. T.J. is up, so I don't know what happens there. We feel fine with Rossum. The Jets did some things on their kickoff coverage unit similar to a blitzing defense where they attack and we didn't want to put Rossy in there with that, and we wanted to give Cobb a chance since he was up.

 

 

Q: Seems like without Duckett you weren't quite able to punch it in with Justin on the goal line.

Mora: We still ran it. Warrick is still convinced he scored, and he's mad at me because I didn't challenge it. He's mad because I didn't see the ball. Did you guys think he was in? When Warrick went in there was a guy on his back, and you couldn't tell where the ball was. I couldn't challenge it, because we had already used a timeout, and I didn't want to lose another timeout. If I couldn't tell, then they couldn't tell. It helps to have 250 pounds (T.J. Duckett) running downhill with 235 pounds (Griffith) blocking. Warrick is a good inside runner in the red zone. He's a better goal line runner than anyone will give him credit for because of his size. He will find a crack in there, and we'll get back to normal.

 

 

Q: Warrick Dunn seems to have an innate ability to convert on third and short.

Mora: He finds the creases. That is how he pops those long ones. He goes under the guy and he just finds things.

 

 

Q: The special teams tackling didn't seem that great.

Mora: Tackling and also our lanes. We got out of our lanes a little bit. We had some new guys in there, but that is not an excuse. We weren't consistent with where we have to be. There were missed tackles. Michael Koenen did a nice job yesterday. They were rushing the heck out of him. We actually busted one of those and the guy got free and Koenen got it out. I think the guy got free too fast and ran right past him. But Koenen got it out of there, so he did a nice job. But one thing I do know is that our coverage unit is good. We have been the best in kickoff coverage, statistically, and I think in the Top 5 in punt coverage. Joe might have come in here last night after the game.

 

 

Q: What led to the decision to punt instead of kick on the first drive?

Mora: Tough decision for me right there. It was 52-yards and it was 4th-and-10. If it was 4th-and-4 or so we'd have gone for it. But on 4th an-10 I didn't think (we'd be able to convert). If you kick the long one and you don't make it and it was in between Todd and Mike then you giving the Jets good field position. We opted to punt it and we put it right there on the 10-yard line. I don't like feeling un-agressive, and I felt stuck right there. But in retrospect it was the right decision to make, but it wasn't a comfortable decision for me to make. We had the ball on the 35. How can you punt from the 35? But the situation dictated that we punt, so we did. Then we got the fumble. It was just in between Mike and Todd and I didn't feel like we wanted to put Mike out there yet. I didn't like it, but it was the right decision.

[jackie sherrill 0]

Q: Seems like without Duckett you weren't quite able to punch it in with Justin on the goal line.

Mora: We still ran it. Warrick is still convinced he scored, and he's mad at me because I didn't challenge it. He's mad because I didn't see the ball. Did you guys think he was in? When Warrick went in there was a guy on his back, and you couldn't tell where the ball was. I couldn't challenge it, because we had already used a timeout, and I didn't want to lose another timeout. If I couldn't tell, then they couldn't tell.

I thought he got in too. I couldn't believe there was no mention from the announcers that it was at least questionable. I thought it looked like he definitely got to the plane.

[RonMexico 0]

Anyone just watch the Mora bit on PTI with him sniffing smelling salts. The dude is nuts - I like it.

[Skanker 0]

Anyone just watch the Mora bit on PTI with him sniffing smelling salts. The dude is nuts - I like it.

I saw that but it's not like you have to be nuts to do that, smellings salts aren't really harmful.

[FantasyChick 0]

Q: Seems like without Duckett you weren't quite able to punch it in with Justin on the goal line.

Mora: We still ran it. Warrick is still convinced he scored, and he's mad at me because I didn't challenge it. He's mad because I didn't see the ball. Did you guys think he was in? When Warrick went in there was a guy on his back, and you couldn't tell where the ball was. I couldn't challenge it, because we had already used a timeout, and I didn't want to lose another timeout. If I couldn't tell, then they couldn't tell.

I thought he got in too. I couldn't believe there was no mention from the announcers that it was at least questionable. I thought it looked like he definitely got to the plane.

I think he was in too. I was also very surprised the announcers didn't even make a judgement call. It sure looked like he was in to me. I had Vick and Dunn going so either way I got the TD.

[RonMexico 0]

A head coach sniffing smelling salts like he was - yup I think that qualifies as nutty behavior.

[Guest Swoboman87]

I lost by five points last week. If Dunn just has 1 TD I would have won. I wanted them to challenge so bad.

[OMN 0]

Q: Seems like without Duckett you weren't quite able to punch it in with Justin on the goal line.

Mora: We still ran it. Warrick is still convinced he scored, and he's mad at me because I didn't challenge it. He's mad because I didn't see the ball. Did you guys think he was in? When Warrick went in there was a guy on his back, and you couldn't tell where the ball was. I couldn't challenge it, because we had already used a timeout, and I didn't want to lose another timeout. If I couldn't tell, then they couldn't tell.

I thought he got in too. I couldn't believe there was no mention from the announcers that it was at least questionable. I thought it looked like he definitely got to the plane.

I think he was in too. I was also very surprised the announcers didn't even make a judgement call. It sure looked like he was in to me. I had Vick and Dunn going so either way I got the TD.

I thought he was in too one of those days I wish I wasn't too lazy to get Comcast out here with a DVR.