Manish interview with Keller

Discussion in 'New York Jets' started by displacedfan, Feb 2, 2012.

  1. displacedfan

    displacedfan Well-Known Member

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    Interview Manish Mehta posted today. Most of the topic is Sanchez, but Keller makes some good points. The part with Tom Moore quote is great too.


    Dustin Keller defends Mark Sanchez and disputes teammates' criticisms of quarterback
    BY MANISH MEHTA

    INDIANAPOLIS – A few weeks after several key Jets players and members of the organization made critical comments about Mark Sanchez in a Daily News report, one the quarterback’s closest friends on the team disputed some of the claims.

    Tight end Dustin Keller said on Thursday that he firmly believes that Sanchez is the team’s long-term solution at quarterback. He also took exception to one player’s claim that Sanchez was “lazy and content” on the practice field because he knew that Rex Ryan would never bench him.

    “The truth: 100 percent… he is the hardest worker I know,” Keller said. “You tell me. If we’re going thru 9 on 7, we go thru 7-on-7. And in between all these team segments, he’s over there throwing (passes) and he’s getting guys from here and there… You tell me who the hard worker is. He’s the hardest worker we have. He gets to the facility earlier than everybody. He leaves later than everybody.”

    Keller believes that Sanchez unfairly shouldered the bulk the blame this season even though there were plenty of other elements in play.

    “I was talking to Coach (Tom) Moore,” Keller said about the team’s offensive consultant. “He told me, ‘Dustin, you have to realize every time Nolan Ryan would go out there, people would expect him to pitch a no-hitter. In baseball, the only factors are the pitcher and the batter. There’s no other factors. The quarterback has to worry about getting knocked on his ass from his blindside. He has to worry about the safety cutting the route, worry about this guy running the right route. But yet people still expect him to pitch a no hitter. … That’s opened up my eyes. If a guy’s getting beat on the offensive line, that’s one thing. If a guy’s not running the right route, that’s one thing. If the guy doesn’t catch the balls, that’s another thing. There’s so many different things like that. We need to be more consistent for him.”

    “He’s one of the most consistent guys on the team,” Keller added, “But he won’t get that recognition until he’s surrounded by guys that have that same mentality and that know their jobs inside and out every single week.”

    The seemingly dysfunctional relationship between Sanchez and wide receiver Santonio Holmes bubbled to the surface as the season went along. Keller said that he’s spoken to Holmes once since the season ended. The tight end has also spoken to Sanchez. Owner Woody Johnson told reporters on Thursday that he will be having dinner with Sanchez next week.

    Keller isn’t alone in his public support of Sanchez. All-Pro center Nick Mangold has also made it clear in recent weeks that he believes that Sanchez is the right man for the job.

    “Who would know better than the guy that spends the most time with him in the offseason and the guy who Mark has his hands on his ass every single snap?” Keller said. “These guys know best…. I’ll go out there and say it: Mark is the hardest worker on the team. I work extremely hard, but I went out and worked out with him in California (last offseason) and I never saw a quarterback that got down like that. He’s the guy I want to be the quarterback throwing to me next year. I’m so confident in him.”

    “The perception of him not being a hard worker and him being a lazy guy… completely untrue,” Keller added. “Anybody who has to say that would have to (be) anonymous.”

    Keller told me that he’s not concerned with the anonymous criticism in the News report.

    "No, because the guys that have strong opinions that don’t have to keep (themselves) anonymous, those are the ones that matter,” Keller said. “As long as they think highly of him, we’re all good to go. Mark’s the guy for the job. We have his back 100 percent. I know a lot of people from the outside looking in, you see completion percentage… or whatever happened during a game and you want to point the finger at Mark. That’s not the case. He’s actually one of the more consistent pieces of our offense. The only problem is that we have some pieces around him that weren’t as consistent. He needs to rely on all 10 guys around him."

    “These are grown men,” Keller added. “I guarantee you if he said that to (the Daily News)… but I bet he’s not also saying that to Sanchez. That’s where the problems come… I come up to him and say, ‘Look. You need to step it up. You need to this better, you need to do that better. It’s confrontational. But that’s fine. That’s healthy. But when a guy is going to the media and saying those things instead of going to him, that’s where your problem comes.”

    Former teammates LaDainian Tomlinson and Damien Woody have since said that they believe that the organization has babied Sanchez.

    “Rex says he’s our guy – Ok, a guy could possibly be comfortable because he knows his job is safe,” Keller admitted. “Maybe in that respect. But how do you think he feels right now when you’re hearing all these rumors about somebody coming in…. Obviously he’s not going to be as comfortable as everybody thinks he is.”

    So how do you fix the divided perception of Sanchez?

    “You can’t have those type of guys,” Keller said. “You replace them with guys with a positive attitude. The whole thing of Rex’s way of playing – of him saying we’re going to win the Super Bowl, we’re going to do this, we’re going to do that -- the only way that that works is if you have 53 guys that actually buy into this, hard-working guys that have that same mentality. Clearly we don’t have that. Guys that would never go out and say that anonymously to the media that they would not say to Mark.”

    Sanchez, who has a sponsorship deal with Pepsi, is not at Super Bowl week events for the first time in his career.

    “I wouldn’t want to (come this week if) I were him,” Keller said. “I wanted to see if this stuff would die down a little bit and move on. But it hasn’t…. Eventually he has to come out and talk about these things.”

    http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/je...-disputes-teammates-criticisms-of-quarterback
     
    #1 displacedfan, Feb 2, 2012
    Last edited: Feb 2, 2012
  2. laxin

    laxin Active Member

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    Consistency is key. From everybody at every position. The Jets as a team weren’t ever consistent and struggled to put all 3 phases of the game together on a weekly basis. Thats why this team went to shit at the end.
     
  3. jets_fan_in_fishtown

    jets_fan_in_fishtown Active Member

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    good stuff......made me like dustin a little more.
     
  4. displacedfan

    displacedfan Well-Known Member

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    Agreed. Dustin seemed very straighforward with his answers
     
  5. fenwyr

    fenwyr Active Member

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    Woody going to dinner with Sanchez + Keller trade rumors due to the new OC = Me not surprised

    I hope all the sentiment was 100% true of course.

    LT is no longer with the team? I need to check this forum more often...
     
  6. abyzmul

    abyzmul R.J. MacReady, 2018 Funniest Member Award Winner

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    What's the tally on players that have come out for Sanchez now? Somebody is keeping score, right?
     
  7. Cman68

    Cman68 The Dark Admin, 2018 BEST Darksider Poster

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    Mark Sanchez has certainly taken a lot of time away from the Jets so far this offseason or he's doing it on the downlow. Not so much as a single statement in public since the shit hit the perverbial fan except a rather cryptic "I'll make it work with Santanio" weeks ago. Now? he's skipping the SB. WTG Captain! That's being accountable and outfront alrighty. Maybe his Pepsi endorsement has something to do with it?

    Keller can and should be candid at this juncture as I suspect he already can feel the change in the wind and its blowing his way. If Sparano can't use him in the GnP, Keller will be gone at the end of the 2012 season if he's even on the roster this upcoming season assuming Tanny doesn't trade him. Either way, Keller has nothing to lose by giving the interview. It could be construed, just like LT's and now Burress's, an exit interview.
     
  8. nyj62

    nyj62 New Member

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    The way I read this , He was saying that the people around mark,were doing the wrong thing half the time. Look nobody liked shotty,but at time his offence worked. and when it didnt it was horrible . We know that it was a very hard offence to learn, maybe just maybe mark was on the right page and our not so great recievers were lost.Come on there is no way you draw up plays where all the recievers run into each other,or wind up in the same place..that happened to often. maybe that is why he dumped it off so much or why keller was our only legit threat.Funny how keller and sanchez were the only two to take the time and work out together . I guess that shows who really cares.
     
  9. abyzmul

    abyzmul R.J. MacReady, 2018 Funniest Member Award Winner

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    Two things stand out to me when reading this bolded part and the other article where Keller is talking Holmes up. He is talking about Burress, and maybe Hunter.
     
    #9 abyzmul, Feb 2, 2012
    Last edited: Feb 2, 2012
  10. RobertTheJr

    RobertTheJr Member

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    pretty much how i read that.
     
  11. TheCoolerGlennFoley

    TheCoolerGlennFoley Well-Known Member

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    It's a shame because I like Keller but I think his value lies in being traded.
     
  12. jets_fan_in_fishtown

    jets_fan_in_fishtown Active Member

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    Mangold, Cro, Slauson, Revis, Keller, Dixon,Pouha, Hunter, O'connell (Lol).

    those are the ones that come to mind. i might have missed a couple
     
  13. jets_fan_in_fishtown

    jets_fan_in_fishtown Active Member

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    Hunter has a positive attitude. he just sucks.

    definitely burress though
     
  14. Mambo9

    Mambo9 Well-Known Member

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    “He’s one of the most consistent guys on the team,” Keller added, “But he won’t get that recognition until he’s surrounded by guys that have that same mentality and that know their jobs inside and out every single week.”
    That's the key right there. Sparano's easier system will allow people around Mark to make less mistakes, thus also helping him out. We should have some confidence in our QB, it's not like he's never won games for us!

    As for Sanchez not beign at the Pro Bowl I can see why... he's under intense pressure and scrutiny for most of the season, he just wants to get away from this shit and I don't blame him!
     
  15. abyzmul

    abyzmul R.J. MacReady, 2018 Funniest Member Award Winner

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    I'm not sure why Hunter gets a pass for the fight in the huddle. Even though Santonio was dogging it and acting like a prick, you don't do that in the huddle during a drive. You do it on the sideline so you don't completely submarine any chance that drive has of succeeding by taking your entire huddle's heads out of the next play.

    I think it was more than just Hunter sucking.
     
  16. RevisIsland18

    RevisIsland18 Well-Known Member

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    good interview...i'm glad dustin was straightforward. i enjoyed the "the guy who Mark has his hands on his ass every single snap?" hahahah
     

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