Brian Duker - Defensive Coordinator, jets Event: Press Conference | Date: 2026-09-10 | Full transcript (primary source).
On September 10, 2026, Brian Duker, Defensive Coordinator for the Jets, addressed the media in a press conference ahead of the team's first game of the NFL season. Duker discussed the team's preparation, training camp, and the challenges of facing a new opponent with a different coaching staff.
Transcript
Duker: Yeah, just looking forward to, obviously, first game. Feel really good about the prep that's been put in. Feel good about the training camp process. Feel good about how this week's gone, or so far at least. So just looking forward to getting out there, man. Looking forward to the competition.
Duker: We're going to see him from Cam Ward. From Cam? Yeah. Good quarterback. He's obviously a good player, number one overall pick for a reason. You can see the guy processes really well. He's got strong arm, accurate arm. Does a good job in the drop back game. He's a good player.
Reporter: Considering David Bailey's first game, how much realistically can you put on his play throughout the season?
Duker: I have no expectation. You know, just kind of expect him to go out there and do his job as far as how that manifests itself. You know, like, expect him to execute his job every play, and he'll do a good job with that.
Reporter: What's it like preparing for week one? Obviously, they've got a new coaching staff. When you're looking at the table specifically, how do you go prepare? Because you're not showing too much in the preseason as far as the known game plan.
Duker: Yeah, the week one, especially with new coaching staffs, are really hard. You certainly just got to kind of rely on a little bit like your fundamental stuff and like your approach, kind of your base defense needs to be able to handle the majority of things. You know, you kind of just lean on your base stuff. I think really week one, you're taking your best guess, but you just don't feel really confident in what you see. So there's a lot of unknowns.
Reporter: What's a lot to do on your tape?
Duker: Certainly, you know, we try to watch everything you can for those guys. So, you know, whatever tape we can get our hands on, we're watching.
Reporter: What kind of summer is Damario had and, you know, what have you learned about him?
Duker: He's a great summer, obviously. What have I learned about him is I heard about what kind of guy he was. I just hadn't experienced it. So he learned as more just he lived up to his reputation and I thought he was going to be great and he's been great.
Reporter: Brian, after obviously you weren't here, but the defense going through last season without an interception, with how much has been made about that, what do you think it would mean to especially the returning guys to get one early here in the corner?
Duker: You'd have to ask those guys. I'm sure they'll be excited to get interceptions. We like takeaways. We'll continue to emphasize that, but you'd have to ask them on that one.
Reporter: What kind of challenge does the combination of Ridley and Cardinal Tate present for your secondary?
Duker: I think you left a few guys out there. They've got a very good receiving core. They certainly present plenty of challenges. Obviously, those guys are very good players. Those guys don't have a good track record. Wandell easily throw in there as well. They've got several other good receivers. They're a good group and they'll be a challenge for our DBs. It'll be good.
Reporter: I spoke entirely about David and he's done so far. What have you seen? What impresses you from the time you got here to now?
Duker: His approach, which I know has come up before, but he really just goes about his job in a really professional manner right away. He wasn't supposed to work. He's a little bit loosey goosey and you got to kind of show him the right path a little bit. We have good vets, which helps with that. The guys figure it out quickly, but he didn't, to be honest, didn't need this much that. He came in, was a really good pro. His approach was really good. He's super coachable also. He just wants to get better. So you go talk to him. He's very absorbent, almost appreciative of the information. So he's been great.
Reporter: Everybody good? How do you deal with the ability of this quarterback to run around and create a second play and how does your coverage unit deal with that as far as keeping their eyes on him and also keeping their eyes on who they're covering?
Duker: Yeah, certainly you kind of talk about plastering, essentially. So there's two elements to that. Obviously, the first part is upfront is how do we rush such that we keep him in the pocket? And the second part of that really on the back end is if he does get out against our wishes, then we got to do a great job plastering. So really finding guys to get attached to and kind of taking away all the space on the extended plays are really almost like your zones turn into man's at that point. You find somebody to guard.
Reporter: How would you say DeAngelo Ponzos is not in charge of catching up? I've seen this a lot of times in the injury, but he's back to the mix now.
Duker: Yeah, he's doing well. I mean, the mental side of it was obviously we're trying to stay on him while he's not getting the physical reps. You just got to keep staying on him with that. And he's been really good with that. So I feel very good, but where he is mentally.
