Rex Ryan: “There’s a Lot of Things that we Need to get Better at.”

Sep 7, 2014; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Jets coach Rex Ryan greets fans before the game against the Oakland Raiders at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

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Yes, the Jets won the game on Sunday. They beat the Oakland Raiders 19-14 to open their season at 1-0, as they head off to Green Bay to face the Packers next week. However, it wasn’t all good, and Rex Ryan was completely thrilled with the performance. You had the missed opportunities, the penalties, ..etc. The Jets could have won this one by a lot more. Rex talked about the good and the bad when he met with the media yesterday:

You’re in a great spot, especially when you’re coming off a victory, that (if) we get these things cleared up, how much better it could have been and not leaving ourselves vulnerable like that because quite honestly, if you watch the tape we dominated the game. It’s almost three-to-one in yardage. (We) dominated upfront, I thought (that) was where it started. Quarterback, there’s so many positive things when I look at Geno (Smith) and what he did. Obviously, (when) you throw 80 percent completion rate, we’ll take that. I don’t know how many times that’s happened, but I can’t remember it happening with me being a head coach, anyway. Then we had a couple of throws that I think were there also for us. But taking care of the football is something that we talk about. Obviously, we have to do a better job of that. And then getting take-aways. And looking at that tape, we had a couple opportunities where the ball was right there. Even Mo (Wilkerson), Mo almost had two of them which obviously would have been great. It’s something we’ve just got to keep working and get better at and keep stressing it and hopefully we’ll start taking the ball away.

Rex also talked about it being good that Geno Smith runs, but he has to be careful:

Sometimes you’re trying to create some things on the run. But again, I don’t mind a quarterback running. I’d rather him run for first downs and touchdowns and when that happens, sometimes you’ve got to go for it. But there are other times when it’s better off just to slide, protect yourself that way. So it’s something that we’ll keep talking about for sure. We don’t want our quarterback taking unnecessary hits.

Coach Ryan loves to use the big guy, Chris Ivory, late in the game:

That’s when you love to pound him. Even on the sideline, I kept saying, ‘Just keep hitting it in there, because it’s getting ready to break.” And really both of them. I thought Chris Johnson was just a little click away from busting one and then with Chris, you’re right. That big power back that at the end of the day, man, that is tough. And especially if it’s not going your way. You love just handing it to the big back and let him roll. You can always say that’s not the case, but it is. Especially when you’re tired and all that, this guy’s fresh and here he comes. That’s great for us.

There were some good things, but Rex knows there were some bad as well. They need to clean those up before the game on Sunday.

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