Head Coach Doug Marrone
Monday, December 8th, 2014
Q: Injuries?
A: Scott Berchtold: The only injury coming out of the game was Da’Norris Searcy with the hamstring.
Q: What’s the other move to make way for Deonte Thompson?
A: Talking with Doug [Whaley], that’s going to come out later today officially.
Q: What’s Mike Williams’ injury status?
A: I think it’s going to be related to that, as far as his injury and what he’s actually put on. That’s what they’re going through now. We’ve already talked to Mike about it. It’ll be that situation, but it’ll just be a matter of how Doug [labels] it.
Q: How big of a disappointment has Mike Williams’ production been?
A: When we made the trade for Mike, obviously Sammy [Watkins] came on board after that and Robert [Woods] has stepped up his game. They’re the two outside receivers. It’s not frustration when other people are stepping up and you feel like you’re putting your best players on the field. Obviously, for Mike, I’m sure it’s a frustration. I’ve talked to him about that quite a bit during the year. He’s worked extremely despite that and has done everything he can to get back on the field.
Q: Will Kyle Orton be the starter for the next game?
A: Yes. We start the players that we feel give us the best chance to win.
Q: Why do you feel he gives you the best chance to win?
A: I just think that he’s the best player that we have at the position
Q: Is it too early to say whether Searcy will miss some time?
A: Yeah, I think that’s going to be going through the week.
Q: What was your reaction to the referees fist bumping and what was your reaction to your players’ reactions?
A: Two things. Yes, I did see that and yes, I did see the NFL statement on that. Any type of feelings I have I’ll address with the league. Obviously, that’s not public when it comes down to the officials. Two, I told our team that when you look at that game, our level of frustration led us to make many mistakes and it starts with me. I can’t show that level of frustration on the sideline that my players see me going through. Then, it can transfer to them. It starts with me. I addressed it with the players today. We can’t have that in order to win games. What’s done is done, whatever it may be, and you need to move on and keep your focus. I’ve got to do a better job of that. That’s my responsibility.
Q: Is your team undisciplined?
A: To sit here and say, ‘No, we’re not undisciplined,’ would be speaking out of both side of my mouth. I think that the frustration causes us to make mistakes, which is not a form a discipline. That’s all me, there’s no doubt about it. Don’t blame the players. Don’t blame the coaches. That all falls on me as the head coach.
Q: What are your thoughts on the inconsistency of the offense?
A: I think that when you’re playing games and you’re not winning, there’s going to be a level of inconsistency. When you’re not scoring points, there’s obviously a level of inconsistency. I’m not going to sit here and say there weren’t some good things. I think you say that there were some good things. But, to be able to sustain drives, to be able to make plays when they count, to be able to keep drives going, that’s been a thing that we need to keep working on. Until we get that level of consistency, I’ll be answering these questions every week.
Q: Did you know that Jerry Hughes was mostly keep out of the game after his penalty?
A: He’s in a rotation with the defensive line. I knew originally, after the penalty. I know we talked on the headsets about bringing him off to the sidelines to make sure he cooled down. Afterwards, when I was asked a question, I was told that he only played three snaps or a very limited amount. Someone said he hardly played or maybe didn’t play. I didn’t know about that. I wasn’t aware of that. Looking back, obviously, Pep [Pepper Johnson] played [him] 12 out of the last 36 [snaps]. I’ve told the coaches, reiterated it. Again, it’s my responsibility that if something is going to change in the rotation of rotational players to make sure that I am aware of it. Then, obviously, I have the final decision. I trust our coaches to make the right decisions and I back them up quite a bit when they make those decisions. That’s a decision that needed to be brought to my attention that wasn’t and that falls on me as the head coach.
Q: Can you understand why people may not understand that move?
A: Yeah, I could understand that.
Q: It’s not a first-time thing with Jerry. How much is that behavior a concern for you, as he may be targeted for these penalties because of his reputation?
A: Jerry and I talked about that. I think, what you said before, you don’t him to be targeted that. I think that’s important. At the end of the day, you see that level of frustration out of other players too, which you don’t want to have happen. I think Jerry’s an outstanding football player that plays with a lot of emotion, that has to learn to control them at times and realize that – same with myself – whatever happens, we’re not going to be able to change that by voicing our decision.
Q: Who made the decision on Jerry’s snap count?
A: That was Pepper [Johnson].
Q: How long of a leash might Kyle Orton have?
A: You look at a lot of things. I’m going to play the players that give us the best chance to win, until they prove otherwise. Like I’ve said with that position, they always get too much of the credit and they always get too much of the blame. There were a couple of really good throws and there were a couple that you’d like to have back. There were a couple things that were done on the perimeter that we need to do a better job of. That wasn’t all Kyle’s fault. I think all of those things get taken into consideration and we look at that in all the positions we evaluate. For me, the most important thing is getting ourselves ready and putting the players out there that give us the best chance to beat Green Bay.
Q: Did you consider going to EJ [Manuel] yesterday?
A: No.
Q: What was your view of the third down play that Kyle slid on?
A: They were pretty much 100 percent man coverage in that situation, so we ran a play for man. They played us in zone. We came across and we still could’ve gotten a wall by one of the receivers that would’ve gotten us a free shot. When they covered the plays, I think that what Kyle said yesterday was exactly right. It was a poor decision, meaning that if you throw the ball away and no one’s open, we’re okay with that because we know he’s not someone who’s going to be able to run and get the first down. In saying that, my conversation with Kyle, if the decision is made to go and run for the first down, you need to go and get that. He wasn’t the only player yesterday. We had a couple times, with some of the receivers, that had the ability to get the first down and wound up losing some ground and coming up a little short. It’s something that we’ve got to get at. Consistency and awareness; we all have to do a better job in that.
Q: Did that loss of a yard impact your 4th down decision?
A: We were thinking about it. There were discussions about it.
Q: Some of the players said that Jerry Hughes was a marked man in the eyes of the officials. Do you agree with that?
A: Probably a better question for the officials. I wouldn’t know that.
Q: Did you speak Jordan Gay about his struggles yesterday?
A: It’s tough, you know–he’s a young player, so you don’t know if the nature of the type of game is the reason. He had the two mis-kicks and he had the poor onside kick. We have to see how he comes back from that. You really don’t know. He really hasn’t shown that before, outside of one here or one there on multiple-kick games. To have him perform like that in that type of game is disappointing.
Q: Why did you choose to not have Dan Carpenter do the onside kick?
A: He’s the one that’s been working on it, so we just stuck with the player that we’ve worked on it with. He was short on that one. That’s not exactly what we had. We went with that one after we lined up the first one. We went with the bunt because that’s where we had the numbers and it was a poor kick. We didn’t have an opportunity and you don’t want to do that to yourself.
Q: How do you make sure this loss doesn’t linger?
A: I think I addressed the point of frustration with the team — whether it’s the officials or the lack of execution – and to try to learn from those things. We worked our way into some situations this year. We’ve also worked our way out of situations this year. Our preparation and focus is extremely important for this home game. I think it starts with my message to them and, when they come back, they need to brush it off and get prepared for this big game we have this week.
LB Nigel Bradham
Monday, December 8th, 2014
Q: Do you take any solace in the fact that you stopped Peyton Manning’s streak?
A: It’s all good to do that. That’s a credit to our defense, but at the end of the day it’s not going to be talked about because we still lost.
Q: What’s the mental outlook this week?
A: We’ve just got to limit the penalties. Eliminate those, execute and make plays to be able to win the game.
Q: Is there anything you can build off of last week in preparation for Aaron Rodgers?
A: Go out there and play our defense. Just be sound in everything that we do and continue to be physical.
CB Stephon Gilmore
Monday, December 8th, 2014
Q: What are your thoughts on the officials’ fist bump?
A: Saw it. You never know what they were doing it for, but it’s kind of a bad look. We can’t get into it as players. We’ve just got to play the game.
Q: Do you feel like officials have unfairly targeted this team this season?
A: I think so, but at the end of the day you’ve got to make plays. When they do make those calls, you’ve got to step up and make plays. Even the ref came up to me before the game saying, ‘I’m watching you,’ as far me holding and stuff like that. I’m like, ‘Why’d he come up to me?’ You’ve just got to put it behind you and play.
Q: Did you feel like he singled you out?
A: I think he did single me out. It is what it is. I went out and played the way I normally play.
CB Corey Graham
Monday, December 8th, 2014
Q: Nice interception.
A: It was all right. I was able to make a good play on the ball. It hung up there a little bit and I just tried to make a play.
Q: What’s the sense of the team after keeping Peyton Manning out of the end zone, but still losing?
A: As a team, we lost. There’s no consolation in losing. We lost. We didn’t find a way to get the victory. We’ve got to go out there and find a way to make more plays and get the job done.
Q: Is the defense frustrated with the offense’s struggles?
A: I wouldn’t say frustrated. I don’t feel like we’re doing enough. Those guys still scored 24 points and still had three rushing touchdowns on us. When you look at it that way, we didn’t do enough. We can’t let guys run the ball all over us like that. You can’t sit there and put it all on the offense, saying they’re not scoring enough points. If those guys don’t score any points off of us, we don’t lose.
RB Fred Jackson
Monday, December 8th, 2014
Q: What are your thoughts on the offensive performance?
A: Anytime you’ve got a defense playing as good as ours did, you want to go out there and return the favor and do some things on offense. We haven’t gotten that done.
Q: What’s your impression on the officiating?
A: It’s definitely something where we think that there are some calls that haven’t gone our way. There’s definitely some calls that we felt should be going the other way that we haven’t gotten, even here at home. Rightfully so, with all the Twitter chatter. There are things that are out there that people see. Again, it’s just another obstacle that we have to try to overcome. We’ll continue to come to work and reach our goal of getting into the playoffs.
Q: Why was getting to the red zone so difficult for most of the game?
A: You’ve got to give those guys credit. They did things to make plays on defense, so you’ve got to give them credit. Penalties are something that stall drives. And turnovers. We can’t have turnovers. Anytime you turn the ball over and have penalties against a good team and a good defense, it’s going to be a struggle.
WR Sammy Watkins
Monday, December 8th, 2014
Q: What does the Bills rookie receiving record mean to you? How do you balance that with the disappointment of losing?
A: It’s a great accomplishment to have the most receptions as a rookie. It’s hard. The game I do get 100 yards, we lose. The other games, I’ve gotten 30 yards and we’ve won. It’s hard to really balance and look at why that happened, but overall I think we played hard as a team.
Q: Talk about the mood in the room.
A: We’ve got to win out. We’ve got to finish the season 10-6. We’ve got to beat Green Bay, we’ve got to beat the Raiders and we’ve got to the Patriots. I think everyone knows that. We just have to keep fighting as a team and as a unit. That’s going to make us grow together.
Q: What do you take away from a game like yesterday and how your defense played?
A: Those guys have been playing well all season. They’ve basically been the heart of our team and we commend them for that. Holding one of the greatest quarterbacks to zero touchdowns is something that they can hold onto. At the same time, the offense, we’ve got to make more plays. Like I said, I think we played as hard as we can. Everybody fought. We’ve just got to get ourselves going earlier in the game.
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