The New York Jets completed their mandatory mini-camp Thursday at the Atlantic Health Training Center in Florham Park. Coach Rex Ryan said after the final workout that he liked what he saw as the team works to improve upon last season's disappointing 8-8 season, during which the Jets missed the playoffs.
"I'm excited about where this team is. I really am. I think anytime you put in a brand new offense or brand new defense or, in our case, a brand new offense, I'm excited about how far we've come. All the formations changed; everything, the motions, the tempo, the verbiage and all that kind of stuff. Are we there yet? No, but we are way ahead. We've made strides." said Ryan. "I like it. I like the fact that our guys say that ‘I have to come back in shape in the summer because I have to work at this kind of speed.' This is what we expect every day. We want to be a great fourth quarter team. To do that, you have to be in shape. I think the way the offense practices is going to prepare the defense as well. Hopefully that will help us in those fourth quarter games."
Ryan hopes that the team has begun building better chemistry than the fractured 2011 Jets, a team which Ryan admittedly lost touch with.
"I don't think it was as bad as some people say it was. But, there were certainly some issues that we had to get corrected. When I look at it, we had a fresh start," Ryan said. "I don't know how many wins we'll have, but I know we'll have that corrected. We will have a close football team. We're not going to beat ourselves with some of the in-fighting or all that other stuff. That's a thing of the past."
Jets fans can only hope that Ryan is right.