Defensive coordinator Chuck Bresnahan spoke to the media after practice.
Q: [Michael] Huff is a guy you were moving around a lot last week in the lineup and in the slot. Is there any one role you want to see him?
Coach Bresnahan: He's actually in just two positions. In the nickel position, he played our nickel and in the base, he plays our safety. So, he's going to get more and more comfortable there but he brings a whole other level of versatility at that position when we come to third down. We are looking forward to seeing him progress as the year goes on.
Q: How did you evaluate the two halves that you played? The first half, you were getting off the field, making tackles before the first down stripe and almost everything you wanted to do. Then, it was almost the polar opposite in the second half.
Coach Bresnahan: Well you know, I look at it this way. Hue [Jackson] just talked about the consistency and I talk about the history of the Raiders -- the commitment to excellence, poise under pressure, pride and poise, and our philosophy now of getting the job done and we didn't do it for two halves. It's that simple and that falls back on me; I'll take full responsibility for it. We've got to come out in the second half and do what we did in the first half, and finish the games. It is that simple and there is no explanation for what it is. We have to go out and put it for 60 minutes. The game of football is 60 minutes, not 30 and you can't rest on your laurels.
Q: What part of that owes to the fact that you had a huge lead at the half [and] what you were doing was working, then, they came out in the second half and they were doing these quick, short passes?
Coach Bresnahan: When you look at it; that was a good point to bring up, there was not a pass over 19 yards. But when you don't control that intermediate passing game, that is where we have to turn our attention to right now. Other than that, we have to make plays when we have the opportunity to make the plays but we have to finish the game. That falls on me and I have to have our guys prepared to play 60 minutes.
Q: What did you see from the guys this week and what was the bounce-back like from that?
Coach Bresnahan: It is like any professional. I think we have a good group of pros in the room and when you set out to stop the run, and you don't stop the run, you walk into the room, there's an attitude. There's a chip on the shoulder, so again, they handled it well, it showed in this week of practice, and I'm excited.
Q: What was the deal with that intermediate stuff, can it be helped by if you do stop the run so that they are not in 3rd and 4's?
Coach Bresnahan: No question. That is big and when you stop them on 1st and 10, that is a huge down and distance even in this game because of the field position war. We have to win on first and 10 and we didn't do that by letting the intermediate passing game open up the running game as well. It works both ways.
Q: What do the Jets like to do on offense?
Coach Bresnahan: This is a team that runs the ball extremely well since Rex [Ryan] has been there. They have been the leading rush team since he took over as head coach, but they are a team that, Brian [Schottenheimer] does a great job of mixing in their play-action passes to match their run game. It's going to be a challenge for us but the initial goal every week, or objective, for us is to stop the run, and force this to be a one-dimensional team, and we'll do that.
Q: At the same time, will they try to spread you out a little bit too more like Buffalo did?
Coach Bresnahan: Would you? It's funny because it is a copycat league and when you watch Buffalo's offense and then you go back and look at the Jets, who have gone to the AFC Championship game two years in a row, it is very mirrored to what they did. So, we are expecting some of the same things, but I do know Rex's mentality is a physical, no B.S. type of deal and they are going to establish the run game as well when we're here.
Q: It seems like you love that approach to have a team that is going to try to break you down on throws, like a 'mano-y-mano' type of thing. As a defensive coordinator, do you get up more for those types of game?
Coach Bresnahan: You can't. To be honest with you, I have to be like a cornerback because when something doesn't work in a game like last week, you have to put it behind you and move on and get the confidence of the team back, the unit back and they have done a fabulous job of that. So, you have to stay balanced.
Q: How has Chris Johnson done putting last week behind him?
Coach Bresnahan: Oh he's fine. You can't point the finger at Chris Johnson and we had multiple plays during the game to get off the field. It is a collective loss. I'm taking the blame for it because I didn't have us ready to play like in the first half in the second half. End of discussion.
Q: He was so hard on himself after the game and he kind of pointed the finger at himself. Did you have to pull him aside?
Coach Bresnahan: Absolutely not, he's a pro. I expect him to be that way.
Q: What else are the keys when you have an attack like the Bills where they were hell-bent on not letting them get to Ryan [Fitzpatrick]. Do you drop the ends back into coverage?
Coach Bresnahan: There are things that we can improve on, but when you look at the opportunities we had to get off the field it could have been a completely different game if we finished the plays. You can go back and watch the game tape and you'll see what I'm talking about without pointing to individual plays. We had our opportunities, even with what happened, we had our opportunities to get off in four of the five series in the second half and we didn't get it done.
Q: Are you talking about possible interceptions?
Coach Bresnahan: Any of it. You can look at missed tackles, dropped interceptions, a penalty on a key third down, it was everything. It was like dropping a deck of cards on the ground and trying to pick out which reason you didn't get off the field. We have to get that corrected and we will.
