As is his ritual on Thursdays when he meets with the media for his weekly press conference, Jets offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg opens it up with a look back at the previous game before taking questions about the upcoming game.
Four days removed from the Jets 49-9 blowout loss to the Bengals, Mornhinweg began Thursday by saying, “All right, quick wrap-up from the last game … ’’
Pause.
“All right, let’s get to New Orleans,’’ he went on.
After his dry-sense-of-humor monologue, Mornhinweg then went on to criticize himself and the offense after the loss at Cincinnati.
“Look, we took some steps backwards,’’ Mornhinweg said. “Now we’ve got to take some steps forward, it’s just that simple. I’ve got to do a better job, period, of putting the guys in better spots.”
The whole offense, including Geno [Smith] and myself, we took a couple steps back now. That was not good what happened on the field and we’ve got to take some steps forward this week.’’
Mornhinweg was particularly disturbed with the poor start on offense as the Jets quickly fell behind 14-0, which took them out of their game plan.
“The first part of that game was important, the way it ended up,’’ he said. “We needed to generate something and we just didn’t. We take great pride in the start of games. That wasn’t good. So I’ve got to put the guys in little bit better spots to get things going. I really think this: If we generated anything at all, our defense would have certainly fed off of us. We were completely out of the plan pretty quickly.
“I was disappointed the way we operated at that point in the game.’’
One of the things Mornhinweg took himself to task for was not designing more plays to go to receiver Stephen Hill, who has only 10 catches for 104 yards and no touchdowns in the last five games.
“That’s my responsibility,’’ Mornhinweg said. “I’ve got to do a better job there, get him the ball a little bit.’’
The players who did not practice Thursday were RG Willie Colon (calf), TE Jeff Cumberland (concussion), WR Santonio Holmes (hamstring) and RB Alex Green (hamstring). Those who were limited were Hill (foot), C Nick Mangold (ribs) and WR David Nelson (quadriceps).
Colon said he “plans’’ on playing.
It appears Holmes and Cumberland will not play. When asked about his status, Cumberland said, “I ain’t allowed to talk. Not cleared yet.’’
“Al these guys concern you when they don’t practice,’’ Jets coach Rex Ryan said. “It wasn’t like we were just resting somebody, so all those guys concern you. I’m not going to say that all of them are out, but anytime guys can’t practice it concerns you.’’
Jets defensive coordinator Dennis Thurman was frank on Thursday when speaking about the decision to bench rookie CB Dee Milliner last week, saying, “Sometimes you can look at an athlete in his eyes and see he’s having a tough time. Sometimes it’s just a feel thing. You go with your instincts; don’t second-guess it. That’s what we did last week. With Dee, it’s a matter of continuing to work and catch up. The young man is behind.’’
Milliner was replaced, as he has several times this season, by Darrin Walls.
“You’re still trying to win the game, and you want to go with guys that you feel at that point you feel can help you win,’’ Thurman said.
Ryan said this week Milliner will start Sunday against the Saints, despite his struggles.
Asked why Walls does not start, Thurman said Milliner “has got to go play.’’
“Our expectation is that he’s going to play at a level that’s satisfies our team and if it’s not happening, then we make a decision to remove him,’’ Thurman said.
Thurman bristled a bit when asked if “draft status’’ had anything to do with the fact Milliner continues to start and not Walls. “That doesn’t have a damn thing to do with it,’’ he said.
Thurman described the overall performance of the defense this season with the words “growing pains.’’
“We have the right people, [but] we’re not always doing the right thing,’’ Thurman said.
Only two Jets players dressed up for Halloween Thursday — Mangold and kicker Nick Folk. Mangold dressed as the lead character from the movie “The Big Lebowski,’’ wearing a smoking jacket, plaid shorts and sun glasses. Folk dressed up as Santa Claus.
“The dude abides,’’ Mangold said. “It’s Halloween, baby.’’
When it was pointed out only he and Folk dressed up, Mangold said he was “very disappointed that’s all we got.’’
Folk, who said, “You can dress as whatever you want on Halloween,’’ added his get-up was a leftover costume from a party his wife threw last year. “We had a dress as your favorite Christmas character party,’’ he said.
CB Antonio Cromartie, who has been struggling this year after having the best season of his career in 2012, refused to speak to reporters, as required by league rule. When a team official asked him to be available for a couple minutes, citing the league policy, Cromartie barked, “I don’t have to. [Beep] that policy.’’
The Jets will conduct a retirement ceremony Friday for former guard Brandon Moore, who will lead the team on the player pregame walk before the Saints game at MetLife Stadium. … On Monday, the first day of the Jets’ bye week, the team plans to make general manager John Idzik, who is rarely available to the media, available to speak about the team and the season.