New York Jets defensive lineman Kris Jenkins addresses the New England media during his conference call on Tuesday, November 11, 2008.
Q: Can you talk about the anticipation of Thursday night's game?
KJ: It's a very big game. It's going to be a big battle back and forth between both teams. I know both teams are ready to go. I'm looking forward to getting out there tomorrow and getting to Thursday and getting to it.
Q: How has the transition to the 3-4 defense been for you?
KJ: It's been work. Honesty they've made me earn my keep around here and it's been a big adjustment. I know a lot of people look at it and wonder how do you do it coming from a 4-3? It's just taken time. It's been a lot of time and it's been a lot of hard work to catch up.
Q: Where do you feel you're at in terms of your progress?
KJ: I don't know. I guess I'm where I need to be right now. I'm going to always work to get better no matter how long I continue to play this position I'll still have to constantly police myself to become a better player. That will never change, so I guess I'm doing ok.
Q: What was your reaction to the Ty Law signing?
KJ: I was actually surprised because I didn't hear about it after practice when most people did. I had some extra work to do and after that when I got finished with that work everybody else was gone for the most part. I actually saw it on TV last night. I've known Ty [Law] for a minute and I think he's definitely a good addition to this team.
Q: What surprised you that Ty came to New York or that the Jets where even interested in him?
KJ: You don't hear about to many teams signing guys in the middle of the season so just that fact that they decided to sign somebody in the middle of the season was a surprise. That was it but it's good for him to be here. He's over in his locker now getting bombarded by media as we speak. I think that he'll be fine here. I think that he's definitely what we need as far as being in the defensive backfield. He's a veteran and he has a lot of years of experience, he can help the young guys out.
Q: Does he look like he's in shape? Is he ready to roll?
KJ: I don't know. We'll see at practice today.
Q: You guys are ranked high in the league in strip sack and overall sacks. Is that one of the goals or priorities for you, when you get to the quarterback try and strip that ball loose?
KJ: Honestly we try to do whatever we can. It's getting to that point in the season that I think it's going to be the type of game that it's going to be on Thursday. We're just going to have an open mind and do the best that we can and take what we get.
Q: Do you look at it like whoever wins this game is going to win the division?
KJ: I think it's definitely a step in the right direction. It doesn't end the season. There's still a lot of season left to be played but it's definitely the biggest game so far.
Q: You guys came out of the gates a little bit slow. What was the mood of the team at that point and has it changed?
KJ: We've been going through our bumps and every team, every season has some of those bumps. Sometimes they reflect wins and losses, some teams they happen to play above that. It's been something where we've been working on the mindset. I think the only thing that's changed out here is the mindset. We've got the same players, the same talent. We have a lot of guys that are working smarter now.
Q: Was there any trepidation on your part when you came here, having never played the nose [tackle] in a 3-4, that it was going to be too big of an adjustment?
KJ: This is my eighth year and I do understand what it means to be a professional. It was a lot of work ahead of me but I figured hey if you have a lot of guys out here that can play 3-4 nose and they can excellent at in then guess what I can as well. I didn't think it was something that was impossible I just thought that it was going to take some time and some hard work and extra dedication.
Q: Vince Wilfork played an up field attacking style at Miami said that when he got here the toughest thing was to fight that urge to get up field, was that tough for you?
KJ: Yeah. I've had some times where I've had to deal with that as well. I can definitely relate to what Vince [Wilfork] is saying. Vince is a very good nose tackle. To be honest with you there have been some times when I've had to look at some of his film, in the offseason, to get a couple of pointers of things to do. That was one of the first challenges that I had was to sit back and be patient because when you are in a 4-3 you just want to take off and disrupt but you can't do that anymore. It takes an adjustment.
Q: What did you pick up from watching Vince [Wilfork]?
KJ: How to be stout. He's very stout when he gets in there and if you notice that about the way he plays, it's very hard for offensive linemen to move him. He stays very low to the ground and he has a great center. That's basically what you look at when you're looking at anybody. If you notice from the good nose tackles like him and Jamal Williams and Casey Hampton they all have this low center of gravity and they just know how to play very stout and very aggressive with that. That's what I had to adapt.
Q: What did you learn from playing against Matt Cassel the first time and have you seen anything from him in the last couple of weeks that I guess you can make adjustments for this game?
KJ: I'm not going to tell y'all that. That's a secret. We still have to go play, I can't tell you everything.
