Brandon Jacobs says Plaxico Burress wanted to sign with the Giants as a free agent this past offseason, but he ended up with the Jets. Asked if Burress had his heart set on returning to the Giants, Jacobs said Tuesday, "Oh, no question, I know he did. I know he wanted to come to the Giants. We just didn't think it was going to be able to be done financially. But he may be (back) next year, who knows?" Burress signed a one-year, $3 million contract with the Jets. "I don't see him back with the Jets next year at all," said Jacobs, who speaks with Burress regularly. "I don't know what he's thinking, but I don't see that. They've got a lot of things going on over there, and I don't know if he wants to be part of that."

Rex Ryan doesn't think he did a good job of managing his team's locker room in 2011, but he promises that the Jets will improve in all facets. "Our locker room wasn't as close as it's been in the past, obviously, but one thing we know is we're going to fix it," Ryan said in an interview with ESPN. "We might have been knocked down this year but we're not knocked out. We're going to be swinging, and there's no doubt about it. But I can't wait. It's about moving forward, put that stuff behind us. But there's things we're going to learn from. This past season, 8-8 clearly is not good enough. We did have some issues where, obviously, I never did a good enough job of recognizing it and fixing it, but we're fixing it right now. There's no doubt about that." A few anonymous Jets have said they think the way to fix the team is to get rid of Mark Sanchez and replace him with Peyton Manning, but Ryan reiterated that he's behind Sanchez. "I can't talk about Peyton Manning. He's on some other team right now," Ryan said. "But Mark Sanchez is the future of the Jets. He's a great quarterback and again, I can't wait to get it going. You look at it: 4-2 in the postseason, 28-20 in the regular season over the three years that Mark and I have been together and we're going to be together a long time."

Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis, commenting for the first time on the team's locker-room turmoil, said Thursday the problems went "real deep." He suggested a clearing-the-air session when the team returns for the start of offseason training, according to an ESPN.com report.

Joe Namath continues to have sharp opinions about the Jets. On Wednesday, speaking after the premiere of the HBO documentary, "Namath," at the HBO Theater, he expressed some regret about criticizing his former team, which he's done often over the last few months but insisted he's just telling it like it is. "I feel awful about it, I feel awful about my relationship with the Jets right now," Namath said, referring to owner Woody Johnson, general manager Mike Tannenbaum and coach Rex Ryan. "I don't want them upset with Joe, but damn it, I have to say what I see, what I think, what I feel. I think they can do some things better, no doubt."

The Rams have hired Brian Schottenheimer as their offensive coordinator.

Jets coach Rex Ryan says he will now think twice before making bold statements. Ryan guaranteed a Super Bowl last offseason and New York finished only 8-8. "I thought it would put pressure on me," he said. "Clearly, when you have a team that went to back-to-back championship games, what else is there to go for? It's Super Bowl or bust. Well, we busted. "When I guaranteed we'd get it done this year, I thought the bull's-eye was going on my back. That's where I wanted to place it. What I didn't anticipate was, I put added pressure on our players when I wanted to put the pressure on myself. That's something I obviously have to learn from." Ryan said he received some insight during a call to ESPN analyst Steve Young, who made critical remarks about the coach's bravado. He said the Hall-of-Fame quarterback explained that brash comments generally aren't appreciated by offensive players because they fire up defenses. "I have to take a good, hard look at it, because I don't want to fuel the fire," Ryan said.

Jets owner Woody Johnson says that wide receiver Santonio Holmes will return to the team next season. "[Holmes] may be one of the best players we've ever had here," Johnson said. "You could look at his talent level and he's extraordinarily talented." Johnson is confident that Holmes and quarterback Mark Sanchez can repair their issues. "Absolutely I'm concerned, but I'm confident that it can be [repaired]," he said. "They've won a lot of games together and one is good for the other. Santonio makes the quarterback a lot better and vice versa. They have a good reason to iron this thing out and I think they can do it." Asked what makes him believe that they can do it, he said a "gut feel."

Jets owner Woody Johnson says Mark Sanchez “is our guy,” but also wouldn’t rule out the possibility of pursuing a veteran such as Peyton Manning if the Colts QB became available. Meeting with beat writers for the first time since the Jets failed to make the playoffs, Johnson says in a 30-minute far-ranging interview Thursday that “barring whatever” Sanchez would be the team’s starting QB next season and in the foreseeable future.

Jets running back LaDainian Tomlinson has come out in defense of quarterback Mark Sanchez. "There are a lot of things you can say about Mark Sanchez, but to call him lazy is a bit much," Tomlinson said on ESPN. "This is a guy that has worked very hard off the field, in the film room. I've seen it, in the weight room, putting in extra time with the coaches early in the morning after practice when everybody is gone. He is putting in time. So, he's not lazy." Tomlinson, whose contract with the Jets is up, said he believes the root of the problem is between Sanchez and his wide receivers. "I think some things that happened in the locker room between obviously him and the receivers," Tomlinson said. "I think that's where this is coming from. Some of the disconnect that happened throughout the year. Maybe, some of the arguments that you guys heard about throughout the year. So, I think that's where this may be coming from."

The likelihood isn't great, but Eli Manning says it would be "fun" if his older brother, Peyton, played for the Jets next season. "It would be fun," Eli told WEPN-AM. "We could probably commute to work maybe, and, you know, come home, eat dinner together and have the kids be playing." He continued to muse: "Twin beds ... we could share notes on opponents and watch some film together." Lost in all of this are the Colts, who hold the cards and could keep Peyton and Eli a redeye flight away for as long as they'd like. "I don't know what's going to happen in that situation," Eli said. "So, would it be fun? Yeah, I think it would be interesting to have your brother in the same city playing football together. I don't think we would see each other that often, just 'cause I don't think our schedules would be a whole lot different, probably just talk on the phone more than see each other during the season, but, you know, it would be interesting. "I'm not saying it's gonna happen or I want it to happen, but to have your brother that close to you and playing in New York would be very unique."