[Editor’s note: Jets G.M. John Idzik conducted a midseason press conference on Monday. Before taking questions, he engaged in an extended monologue regarding the team’s 1-7 start. His comments appear below, directly from the transcript provided by the Jets.]
Good afternoon and thank you for coming. I’m here to recap at the midpoint of our season what has transpired so far and our outlook going forward. Needless to say, we’re extremely disappointed in our 1-7 start. I search for words to describe how we feel, what we’re going through, knowing what we put into it and the results that we’ve achieved. It’s a struggle. I don’t know words to describe it. It’s gut-wrenching. It’s brutal. You feel like you’ve been punched in the face. It’s painful. It’s painful. It’s particularly painful for our fans because we’re in a business where our actions affect so many. Our actions affect, in our case, Jets nation. And I’ve said it before, we have generational fans. You go to the games, you go through the player walk, you see jerseys like (Joe) Namath, (Wayne) Chrebet, (Chad) Pennington, (Joe) Klecko, (Marty) Lyons, (Sheldon) Richardson (and Muhammad) Wilkerson. They span decades. We go out to camp and we invite people in here and we meet fans and I’m meeting fans from a little one wearing a green jersey, five, six years old, through their granddad or grandmom that’s 70 years their senior and everything in between. It goes back to my years here with the Jets alongside my father with the Jets. Somebody not too long ago in the media just as an aside said, “You know what, don’t take things personally.” This is very personal. This is very personal for me. The Jets are my team. The Jets are our team. By our team, I say it’s Jets Nation, and us in this building, and me, it’s very personal with us. Everything we do is very personal. So when you start out 1-7, you start out in front of our home crowd 1-4 at MetLife (and) you start out losing seven consecutive games. That’s very personal. It is. When someone you care deeply about hurts, it hurts you two-fold. I’m sure you’ve experienced that in some way. We experience that right now. It hurts us to be 1-7. But more importantly, it hurts our fan base, the people that mean so much to us. And we vow to give them what they deserve. They don’t deserve this. They don’t deserve 1-7. We vow to deliver to them.
When you talk about responsibility and where it lies, I’m the general manager of the New York Jets. I am responsible for the football operations of the New York Jets. Ultimately, I’m responsible for the performance of our team, the product that we put on the field. That lies with me. The buck stops here. I’ve been around this league a long time. I’ve grown up in this league. I know this league. The harsh reality of the National Football League is you are what your record says you are. There’s no such things as, “You know, we’ve had five single-possession games. We’ve had possession of the ball with the chance to win or tie.” In the end, did you win or did you lose? That’s what it’s about. That’s the ultimate measure in the National Football League. That’s what makes it so competitive. That’s what makes it so difficult to win. That responsibility lies with me. A 1-7 start? We own it as the Jets. I own it as our general manager. There are no excuses. My performance to date is unsatisfactory. It’s a direct reflection of our record.
With tough times, I can guarantee comes a lot of introspection. I tend to do that anyway. (There have) come a lot of days and nights when you spend every waking moment thinking and re-evaluating what you’re doing. How can you do better? What can you do to improve this team? I can assure everyone that’s been done by yours truly. And I can assure everyone that that sentiment is shared in our building for sure.
That’s another reason that our 1-7 start is disappointing, so disappointing. Because I know of the quality of people that we have in this organization and it starts right at the top. It starts with our owner, Mr. Woody Johnson. He cares deeply about the Jets. He cares deeply about our fan base. He cares deeply about our community. He knows what responsibility we have as the New York Jets. He affords us every resource that we need in order to be successful. We’re sitting in one right now. We enjoy a fantastic stadium that we experienced yesterday. And it’s not only the physical resources, it’s the human resources too, the people in this building and their commitment to the Jets. It extends to our president, Neil Glat, and the business operations side. I see what they do (and) how diligently they work in trying to bring us closer to our fan base and our fan base closer to us as a team. I see what they do for the gameday experience. I see how hard they work to make it right for our Jets Nation. It certainly extends to my side of the house in football operations. Once again, I’ve been around a lot of football teams. I’ve been involved in various aspects of football operations and I would say our football operations staff here, they’re second to none. Ask our players. They want for nothing. We have it here. The player programs, our medical and training staffs, our strength staff, our equipment staff, our security staff, we have it right here. There’s a reason for that – to elevate our players.
Certainly, our commitment certainly extends to Rex Ryan and our coaching staff. Frankly, I spend more time with Rex than I do with my wife and my family. I’ve gotten to know Rex very, very well these last 20 months or so. And the last time I checked, all the traits that make Rex Ryan our leader, our head coach, are still intact. He’s an excellent football mind. He’s a teacher. He’s a coach. He’s a motivator. He’s a mentor. He’s able to adapt. He sees both short- and long-term vision. He’s a competitor to his soul and he will never quit. It comes as no surprise that our players want to play so hard for Rex Ryan and his staff. (It is) no surprise to me. I support Rex. I continue to support Rex and our coaching staff. Our commitment extends to our players. We have a very resilient, committed (and) unbelievable group of guys. They’re very unified. You go through tough times, there are forces that want to pull you apart. That has not happened in the Jets locker room. We’re a very confident bunch. All that said, we’ve got each other’s backs. That’s easy to say, but we witness it every day. I wish our fans could see what I see every day. I wish our fans could see how Eric Decker tries to prepare himself to practice so he’s ready for the game. I wish our fans, they see on a hot day out in San Diego and we’re getting shut out 31-0, they see Damon Harrison go back in on a sprained ankle (and) play the last series like it’s the first. But do they see Sheldon Richardson taking IV’s? He’s cramping up and he plays the last as though it’s the first. David Harris takes a shot to the shoulder that would have labeled a lot of players down for a week or two. David Harris hasn’t missed a beat. Those are your Jets.
I see the commitment. I see the resolve. I see the toughness. We witness that every day. I believe in our locker room. I believe in our players. I believe in their ability. All that said, we are 1-7. We own it. I own it. We work hard. We prepare. I’ve got news for you, Kansas City is working hard and they are preparing too. It is not enough to work hard and prepare. It is essential, but it is not enough. What we do during the week, what we do in the offseason, what we do in preseason training camp must apply on game days and it must apply on a consistent basis. I believe that is what we are experiencing right now as a club. It is not a lack of ability. We have proven capable to sustain long-scoring drives. I think we may be among the league leaders in 10-plus play drives. We have proven the ability to start fast against capable opponents, scoring three touchdowns on our first three drives in Green Bay, scoring on our first five drives against New England. Two pretty good opponents. We have proven our ability to do it. We don’t do it on a consistent basis. There have been times that we can’t convert a third down with great field position and an opportunity to change the game. We don’t do it consistently. We have proven the ability to control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. That is Jets football, control the line of scrimmage. We have proven to be able to run the ball. An adjunct to that is time of possession. When you control the line of scrimmage and you can run the ball, you control the clock, to the tune of 41 minutes to 19 up in New England last Thursday. We have proven the ability to do that. We don’t do it on a consistent basis. Defensively, we have proven that we can stop the run. We’re physical, and again, we will we command the line of scrimmage. We have proven that we can pressure passers. We have proven to do that. We don’t do it on a consistent basis.
The other aspect, if I can sum up two things that we need to work on, I wish it was as simple as two facets or two things, but to sum it up I think it is that lack of consistency, that we do it, but we don’t do it all the time. And our inability to finish, finish drives, our red zone efficiency, finish stops, red zone efficiency both offensively and defensively, we must improve. I am not big on stats (to) explain things. I think sometimes it can come off as excuses and we aren’t about excuses. But there is one telling stat that we all know holds true in our league and it governs or significantly effects the be-all, end-all stat and that is the score. That is turnovers, we are dead last in the league in turnover ratio. We stress it. We preach it. We study it. We practice it. We need must apply it. It is no more evident than yesterday, turning the ball over six times. We turned the ball over four times and we still got it within a score. Not good enough. We know it, we need to do it now. I guess what I am saying is, we have done these things in spurts. It is not enough to do them in spurts in the National Football League. You need to do it continuously. That is habitual. That is something that you learn on Monday, you apply it on Wednesday and (you) take it right into Sunday.
I know our guys are unified. I don’t ever doubt the desire, the effort, the competitiveness of our players. I don’t doubt that for a second. But we need to consistently finish games. As I believe in our staff and our players, I also believe in our underlying plan. I have been a part of this plan. I have experienced this plan. I know it works. I know it works. Our plan is not only to win now, it is to win into the future. Easy to say, harder to do. Those are not two mutually exclusive time periods. Now and the future are the same when it comes to our decision making. When we make decisions, we make decisions that are going to benefit the Jets now and into the future. We will draft and develop players. Developing players takes a lot of effort, it does. Sometimes you have to run through some rough patches to get to the other side. That is what it takes. We will acquire players in any manner possible. By all means, we will acquire players, draft and develop players who fit what we believe to be a Jet. By that, we will be able to mold them into a cohesive unit. Again, sounds pretty simple, sounds pretty textbook, but harder to put into place. That is what we will do.
We have been asked about our salary cap room this year, quizzed about our salary cap room and how it impacted 2014. I look at room as a plus. I look at room as our ability to be flexible and maneuver, not only in free agency, but throughout the year. Our room is really a byproduct of us being relatively young. We have young players at impact positions on their first NFL contract. It stands to reason that we will have room. We won’t always enjoy this type of room, so that room to me is not savings. Room again is a tool. It can be used now, and it can be used in the future. We can flip room if we need to. We will use our room wisely. Now, spending in this league doesn’t translate to winning, wise spending in this league translates into winning, now and in the future.
We have also been asked about particular positions, most notably (cornerback), and how we have addressed it and how it impacted 2014. I can tell you that every decision that has been made along the way has been geared to succeeding in 2014 and going forward. When we entertain players in free agency, when we entertain doing an extension, it is being done now and for the future. It must fit for us. That way we believe, I believe, that it maximizes chances for the club and the player to be successful, now and into the future. 1-7, it stings. 1-7 is disappointing to our fans, it is disappointing to us. We are disappointed, yes. We are not discouraged. We are not disheartened. There is a lot of heart in our locker room. There is a lot of heart in our locker room. There is a lot of resolve. There is a lot of confidence. You are going to see that. We have eight games to play here. We have half the season in front of us. You’re going to see that starting this week. Our focus is on Kansas City and how to beat the Chiefs. That is who we are. I believe in our people, I believe in our plan.