Buffalo Bills Wednesday Media Comments

Buffalo Bills Head Coach Doug Marrone

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Opening Statement:
Did not participate in practice: Thad Lewis with sore ribs, Freddy Jackson with knee, Kyle Williams with the achilles which is normal and Stevie Johnson with his hip. Limited in practice was EJ Manuel, C.J. Spiller with an ankle, Marquise Goodwin with his elbow, but he really did mostly everything. Manny Lawson with his hamstring and Kraig Urbik with a knee. That’s where we are. I know you guys have a lot of questions.

Q: Are you at the point with quarterback where you just spin the wheel now and pick a guy?
A: Challenging is a word we use. It’s challenging and I really, to be honest with you, obviously EJ was cleared to go on the field today so we’re working with him. He’s not going to play. The doctors haven’t cleared him. Thad is truly right now 50-50. Obviously we’ll know more. Then today was the first time that I saw Matt Flynn really out there a little bit, he took some reps. Then we have Jeff Tuel. I think that if you look at it anywhere or any way else you could talk yourself in to making excuses. I think it’s a great challenge. I think pick it up, we’ll do whatever we can if we have to go with either Jeff (Tuel) or Matt (Flynn) and do the best job for them in putting them in to position to win and for the team.

Q: Is the rib injury from the first hit he took?
A: I don’t know if it was a hit, it was a couple. I’m being honest because the x-rays came back negative so it’s just more the doctors call it a contusion and I think in layman’s terms I call it sore.

Q: How do you balance out the reps this week knowing that you have to get one guy ready to play?
A: Working them rep by rep just trying to figure it out. Same way, just trying to do it. It’s challenging, it’s difficult.

Q: Where is Matt Flynn at in terms of catching on to the offense?
A: He’s smart. It’s just a matter of going out there and seeing. I think we could bring a lot of us in to a room and learn it, but then going out on the field and doing it.

Q: I asked Matt if it felt like a quarterback competition this week. Is that how you see it?
A: I don’t know right now. I want to see where Thad is first. I’ve got tomorrow to really look at that. That’s the way I’m looking at it. Obviously I feel better about Jeff right now because I know Jeff. That’s not to say Matt’s not good enough, I just haven’t seen enough from Matt to really say it’s a competition yet.

Q: You excited about the new analytics hire?

A: I’m big into that and I always have been. We use it quite a bit, but we use it every day really for a lot of different reasons even more so from outside of third down or things like that. There’s a lot of other things that we’re researching and trying to get ourselves in to. I had talked about it to Russ (Brandon) when the interview process was on and Mike Lyons is coming aboard so I’m really excited about that. The people that I’ve dealt with in the past on it have been MIT grads and that’s one of the things I told Russ. The guys I dealt with before have been from MIT and those guys that I have dealt with have been off the charts amazing. I think it’s something when you look at, it can just really give you information maybe to make, in football, make better decisions but it’s really information for the whole organization. Stephen Brown has been doing it with me for a while now so I feel great that we have someone in there. The other thing that I feel good about is it’s not, and we talked about this in the interview, it’s not something where we’re going to borrow other peoples programs or productions, we’re going to be doing that ourselves. That’s one of the mistakes sometimes people make with analytics. They go out and buy programs and then try to feed information to it. My experience is that you have to build from scratch what gives you the best information.

Q: The approach you’re using right now, is this what you did at Syracuse and how is it phased in?
A: I’ve always done it as a coach. Meaning I think you do it naturally and I’ll give you an example. Two minutes before the half, two minute at the end of the game with a three score, a field goal or a touchdown, teams may change and look at percentages of coverages. I told you the other day, when you game plan you look at percentages of coverages. 60 percent is cover two, 40 percent is cover one. If you have ten plays, six of them are going to be against cover two and the other plays will be against cover one. You balance yourself out on stuff like that. I think we’ve always used it and I’ve used it to other extremes of third down situations is it better 3^rd and eight or is it better 2^nd and 18? What are the percentages there? We do around with a lot of, we do it with the team every week. I don’t know if they know that, but when we talk to them about the things that we do as far as what it takes to beat a team and we try to keep those private. Those come from a lot of analytics.

Q: Can you talk about your offensive line? Where do you think they are right now?
A: I think they’re working hard. I think there are some things that we’ve struggled with at times. I think there are some things we’ve done well. I think we have to get that balance, I think you’re right. When people start to come at you, you have to show you can make plays. What it does, is it puts everyone individually truly one on one in what you’re doing. I’ll throw some analytics; there is more of a percentage of a breakdown. They’re working hard. You see it and it goes from week to week. Sometimes we have great challenges with the different types of players that we’re seeing. The challenges of the one on one battles have been good as far as being able to hold for most of the game. We’ve made mistakes in that where we need to do a better job along with everyone on the team of just being smart and saying, ‘Hey listen. This is what this guy does, this is his favorite move, I’m not going to let him beat me with this move; I’m going to make him beat me on a counter move. Here’s the down and distance, here’s the situation, this is how that guy goes.’ Things like that where I think we lose sight of some of that during the course of the game.

Q: To the naked eye, Cordy Glenn seems to be having the best season of the five guys. What has he been able to do?
A: Really Eric Wood is playing really well on the inside, but if you look at it from the standpoint of maybe the one on one battle that people can see on the two edges, I think Cordy has done a nice job. He has a great challenge; both of our tackles have an unbelievable challenge this week.

Q: What are your thoughts about Stevie’s status for Sunday?
A: I talked to Stevie today. He told me he thinks he’ll be ready to go and be out there tomorrow limited.

Q: Is Stevie one of those guys who always wants to go? Even though he was limping pretty badly in the game, he wanted to stay in there. Do you have to be careful with him?
A: I think you have to be careful with all of them. You know what you have to guard from? You have to guard from the player wants to go in there and don’t get me wrong, I’ve said a million times I appreciate that, but then we have to look at it from a production standpoint where what can you get out of it?

Q: How about C.J. Spiller?

A: I’m probably still going to go day to day. Take a good peek tomorrow; I’m not ready to really stand on the table one way or the other.

Q: Was Thad Lewis not well enough to go out and watch practice today?
A: We just thought that we film it, so we thought it would be better to lay down and rest and there was a little bit of a flu virus too.

Q: He’s obviously your most experienced quarterback in the system, if he could be able to practice Friday would you feel good about him playing?
A: It would depend on how he practiced that Friday, it really would. Like I said before, each player is different. That’s not discounting Jeff and Matt Flynn with those guys putting the work in. Those two guys have been told to prepare like they’re going to be able to start this game. We’ve got Thad being ready, obviously we’re preparing mentally and then we just have to make sure physically he can play.

Q: EJ Manuel hasn’t been cleared, but to get him back out there how did he look?
A: He looked good out there.

Q: What are you looking for specifically between Jeff and Matt that would make you lean one way or the other?
A: I would probably look at it with the game plan and what we’re doing and who is best to win the game for us.

Q: How much more confidence do you have in Jeff given that he struggled against Cleveland?
A: I think the Cleveland game, and I’ve said this before, is probably the worst situation you could ever have. He’s a rookie free agent, we all know that. We do like what he does and we like the tools and we really in a perfect world would love to have him on the practice squad and working with him, there’s no doubt about that. He’s in this situation now where he has to make the best of that opportunity. I feel better, I really thought last week and I said this Jeff and I said this to other people in the organization, that he had an outstanding week of practice. He really did. Threw the ball better than I’ve ever seen him throw the ball. Really on target accuracy-wise and all that. I was very pleased with the way he practiced this week knowing that a situation like this would happen with Thad. Really with Matt, I can’t speak a lot about Matt because today was the first time I saw a couple plays and I’ve got to see more before I make or put an opinion out there that is going to get written about on the kid.

Q: Can you give us a characterization for how the first half of the season went?
A: Disappointed in our results being 3-5, but excited about moving forward.

Q: The Chiefs a model at what can happen in this league or are you amazed that the team you’re watching on film could go 0-12 in the AFC last year?
A: I wasn’t there last year, so it’s hard. I think they’re the last unbeaten team, they’re 8-0, they’re plus 12 in turnovers. Their defense, who I’ve personally worked with defensive coordinator Bob Sutton and the linebackers coach Gary Gibbs, are not good coaches, but they’re outstanding coaches. I don’t know Coach Reid personally, but I’ve competed against him and know what they’ve done. They are playing, defensively they are playing outstanding. When you think about it, you think about a team that’s been able to hold teams, and there’s articles about the scoring is up and total yards are up and all those things are going up in the National Football League, and here comes this team in the Kansas City Chiefs and they’ve given up 17 points or less a game. When you look at the modern age of football and you look at the 1977, that’s when I really started getting in to football, I remember the Atlanta ‘Gritz Blitz’ Falcons and what they were doing. They were number one at nine games in a row. I think number two is the ’71 Dolphins and number 3 at eight, which they just tied, I’m just going with a little history, a little trivia, I think the next team was the 1970 Minnesota Vikings. What they’re doing and you know what they’re hot. They’re playing extremely well. They take the shots when they need to take their shots and Coach Reid is always going to do that. They’re blocking well up front, positive yards, not making a lot of mistakes. Taking advantage of the turnovers. 38 percent of their total points are scored off their turnovers. Field position, they’re averaging the 34 yard line, the opponents are averaging the 22 which is 7.2 points per game if you look at it that they’re getting just in field position. They have a lot of things going which is going to be a pretty big challenge for us. How’s that for analytics right there.

Q: Does what they’ve done in such a short span in turning around, does it encourage you to show that teams can turn things around quickly?
A: That’s not really a decision for me to make or really a question to answer. I don’t know what the situation was there. I think that when you play, I will say this though, when you do play on Sunday everywhere I’ve been in this league you have a chance to win. How do you go about the following week and how do you go about the preparation and how do you go about your mental state, I think everyone is different. You do have the opportunity in this league to get on a roll just like you do in any other sport. We see it in baseball all the time. You see it in this league a lot. You rarely see the good teams losing two games in a row.

Q: Any inkling that Thad will be able to practice tomorrow?
A: 50-50. Thad’s sticking with the doctors.

Q: Does Dennis Dixon factor in to the quarterback equation at all?
A: No.

Q: What do you think about facing a defense like this when you have a lot of injuries?
A: I think it’s a great challenge. I do, I really do. I think it’s a thing where we’ve got to put our players in good position. The things that we feel that we can do well during the game, we have to do well. You’re not going to be able to go to a lot of different things. You’re going to have to have one heck of a game plan and you’re going to have to execute really well. You’re going to have to do that even with those other guys there. I think it puts more of a burden on all of us. Usually you don’t like to say, and I’ve said it before, ‘Don’t worry about Thad Lewis, worry about yourself on the field.’ I really believe that. At this point in time right now, it’s too early for me to say that. Right now I’m feeling the onus on us and making sure we’re putting them in the best position we can. That’s’ not a coaching line, that’s how I feel today.

Q: With Thad, do you gain some admiration for the fact that he played every snap in the New Orleans game?
A: It’s interesting. When I was a player, and it was a very short time, I remember watching Dalton Hilliard early on and I remember him coming up near the sideline because I was sitting on the bench and people were tackling and hitting him in one of these physical games. I remember thinking to myself that this is a physical game and how physical it is. I keep saying the same thing and John Anselmo just had this conversation. John, he’s been at Nassau Community College, he was with me at Georgia Tech and he’s come here, he was with me at Syracuse. I was telling John because we were talking about practicing and shoulder pads or shouldn’t we go with shoulder pads and I said it’s getting this point in the year where we don’t need to go out there today at this point and time, we don’t have any issues to tackle. He says, ‘You know what? Years ago I would have said that’s crazy, but when you go out there on Sunday and watch those guys play and how physical a game it is, it’s truly amazing.’ I think that until you’re really on that sideline and you can really hear what’s going on out there and how physical a game it is, I think you have an appreciation not just for Thad, but for all those players that are out there. It’s an extremely physical game. Any time and John probably said it best and maybe I don’t appreciate it as much because I’ve been in the league before, is that any one of those shots can hurt someone. To say the same thing, I used to go out to a local restaurant because I can’t say bar and you’d have my friends in there and they’d say, ‘I wish they’d pay me a million dollars, I’d get in there with Mike Tyson.’ When I was a little kid, I used to go to those Golden Glove fights and when you get those heavyweights in there and you’re next in the ring and you see those guys and when they hit each other you’re like ‘Oof.’ I said, ‘You go in there with Mike Tyson for a million dollars, you might not be able to spend it because you wouldn’t be able to go out there.’ It’s the same with this game. I think you have to have a great appreciation for how physical it is and what these players go through.

Q: It sounds like as a team and an organization you wanted a better analytics department that may someday help you with challenges?
A: Absolutely. I think it’s one of those things like when you look at, let’s say you take all the challenges for 2012 or 2013 and you combined them. You say to yourself what was challenged and then you look to yourself, right off the top of my head I would bet and I don’t know this, this doesn’t come from true information, I would bet when you’re challenging a spot in the field, I bet you it’s less than six percent at best as far as when you’re challenging a spot on the field. Now I bet when you challenge a foot on the line, you’re probably hitting some high grades there. I think that’s a way to get information to see what are your percentages to challenging what could at times be crucial challenges. Especially the spot one.

Q: Was it just a rest day for Kraig Urbik or did he tweak something?
A: He was out there and he was limited going in to practice. We just want to limit his reps.

Q: So you expect him to play Sunday?
A: Yes. Absolutely.

FS Jairus Byrd

October 30, 2013

Q: I would guess you’re not surprised you’re still here since no one makes trades in the NFL anymore.

A: Yeah, anything can happen but I am not surprised at all.

Q: You said Monday that you weren’t worried about it or thinking about it but are you glad that day is out of the way now and you’re here for the rest of the year?

A: Yeah, definitely. I am glad it’s over, behind us and now we can just work on winning games.

Q: Any whispers that there was talk?

A: I don’t want to get into that. I am here, lets win.

Q: Are you glad you’re here?

A: Yeah, lets win.

QB Matt Flynn
Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Q: Did you get sound reps today?

A: Yeah, I got a few, which was good. That was my first rep since I’ve been here. It was good to get out there and call the play and just go through the mechanics for everything. The plays we’re running is the same stuff, everyone everywhere kind of has the same concepts but it’s just a matter of getting the operation down, getting the communication down with the line and letting them hear your voice, things like that.

Q: What can you say about how the adjustment process has been?

A: It’s definitely been an adjustment. I’ve kind of been through the process before. I kind of have a routine down that helps me. One of the biggest problems of learning a new offense is forgetting your past offense. That’s a step you have to get past. The people have been great, the coaches, players have been great. Sitting down with guys talking to them about the game, the protection schemes, routes, how they have been doing it and what adjustments they are making. They really have made it easy on me, this is my job. This is what I do. I have been spending a lot of time in the playbook. I feel like every day I have been getting more and more familiar and comfortable with what I am doing. It was good to get out there today and put that on the field, communication wise.

Q: Do you feel like you’re almost in a quarterback competition with (Jeff) Tuel this week?

A: I don’t see it that way. To me, I am in a competition with myself to learn the playbook and get myself as ready as I can. That’s the nature of the beast of the NFL, especially at the quarterback position. If you’re not that starting guy, you have to be ready no matter what. I have been in that situation plenty of times before in the past. It doesn’t matter if you are the first guy or the fourth guy, you have to prepare yourself like you are up there playing. You owe it to yourself, your teammates, just in case you get that call, whatever happens. You can’t control it what everyone else does, all I can control is how prepared I am.

Q: At this stage do you feel confident?

A: Yeah, absolutely. I feel very confident. I know that schismatically it’s a West Coast system, I have been in a West Coast system since my rookie year with the football portion of it. To me football is football. It’s just a matter of learning how to call it, how these coaches are calling it and getting familiar with the receivers.

Q: Does the pace make it a little harder that they do it full speed?

A: I don’t think so. It makes it a little simpler to call the plays. You are calling them shorter terminology, than the actual huddle call, calling everybody’s route, everyone’s protection. I guess the normal West Coast offense is pretty wordy, so I had to take a step back learning the terminology and the shorter verbiage.

Q: Has there been any one on one time with Coach (Nathaniel) Hackett?

A: Yeah, there has been a little bit of one-on-one time. It’s kind of tough right now coming in the middle of the season because the offensive coordinator is busy game planning and all that stuff. Every time I can find a moment, I am up there trying to pick his brain and figure out the nuances and ins and outs of the offense. It is tough right now.

Q: To this point, how much time have you had with the receivers?

A: I haven’t had a lot. I have thrown a little bit of throwing routes vs. air in practice. Other than that there hasn’t been a lot until today. Today I felt that I got a god amount of throws with them. I’ve been watching them closely every day. Watching how they come out of the break, how they run their routes, their speed, how smooth they are because everybody is different. I’ve been trying to watch them as closely as I can and take as many mental reps as I can. I feel familiar with them but still throwing is obviously nice.

Q: What was your initial reaction when Doug (Marrone) came in and said it could be anybody?

A: To me, I am going to prepare every week like it could be anybody. No matter what happens. When I was four years in Green Bay, Aaron (Rodgers) was obviously the starter, so I prepared every week like I could go in and be the starter or I could play. So when he said that, it’s just something that I would not prepare any harder than I would have already.

Q: How much do you have to keep your emotions in check, given that your road where you have gotten to this point being the starting quarterback, not the way you drew it up but to be on the verge?

A: Definitely. What’s happened in my recent past hasn’t been the highlight of my career by any means. I have always been a confident person. I am not going to let whatever happened in my past effect how I go about my business and how about I go playing the game. I have a lot of confidence in myself, call it stubbornness, competitiveness, or whatever you want to call it. But I have always just believed in what I can do so if I get an opportunity, whenever, however it comes, I am going to be ready and be excited. Whatever has happened, I am not going to go out there and play scared. I am going to play my game and let the 10 guys around me do what they do best.

Q: How much are you somebody who would like to go out there and show people they’re wrong?

A: I think that’s kind of a slippery slope to get into to, trying to go out and prove people wrong. People talk about chips on their shoulder and stuff like that. I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t anything deep down but it’s one of those things that you don’t go out and try to impress too much. You don’t go out and try to throw 10 deep balls in a game just because you want to prove people wrong. You have to play the game, play the system, read the defenses and just do the right things. If that opportunity ever comes, I am definitely going to be emotional very ready.

Q: The opportunity to play against an unbeaten team, how does that crank your juices in some way?

A: It’s a great opportunity. No one comes into the NFL wanting to play bad teams. Kansas City, they have proven they’re a good team right now. If an opportunity comes of any reason, what an amazing opportunity to play against one of the best teams.

Q: Knowing that your teammates don’t have a book to go on what you are capable of doing, how do you take your confidence and put it on the 10 guys in the huddle come Sunday? If you are in fact the guy, where they feel they are going to be okay.

A: I think for the 10 guys on the field to have confidence in their quarterback and the play that is being called, especially in a short time where they really don’t know me that well and I am coming in just off a couple short weeks, as long as I exude confidence and know exactly what I am calling, I am very confident in the play call and MIC declaration, how I am signaling things and how I am going about my business, staying calm, don’t look around and act like this is too big for me and what’s going on. As long as I don’t seem like a deer in headlights, hopefully they will respond well. But I don’t have any worries about that.

RB Fred Jackson

October 30, 2013

Q: You’ve gone through a lot with this team but could you imagine your situation with quarterback this season being any worse?

A: No, it’s tough. It’s a tough part of our game, when you don’t have consistency at a spot like that it makes it tough. We have had guys come in here and step up and give us an opportunity to win football games and that’s all we can ask them to do. Whoever it is this weekend, that’s what we will do.

Q: This is a team you have beaten up on the last couple years, and now they’re 8-0, what do you see on tape that is different this year?

A: They’re creating turnovers. That’s the one thing they’re doing. Any time you can create turnovers and their offense has some playmakers on there and they can take advantage of those. They’re getting after the quarterback with sacks and things like that, anytime you can create negative plays like that it puts you in a bind as an offensive unit. That’s something we have to stay out of and don’t let them get all those sacks; ball security is going to be big for us this weekend.

WR Stevie Johnson

October 30, 2013

Q: How does your hip feel today?

A: Getting better every day. Day-to-day getting better so I’ll be ready for Sunday.

Q: You sound pretty determined about that?

A: Yeah, I already missed one game, can’t miss another one. I hopefully don’t miss another one in the future. Getting work right now with (our trainers), he’s getting me right, I’ll be out there to see how it is tomorrow, and I’m pretty sure I’ll be out there on Sunday.

Q: Talk about the challenge of this Kansas City Defense.

A: We have to win. That’s all it is. We have to win and have to win fast. We watched film from last week, and I don’t like seeing our quarterback get hit like that so I feel like I have to put pressure on myself to get open a little faster and do more film work with this defense. Knowing the linebackers and d-line they have. They pretty much play man to man so we have an opportunity to win, but we have to win fast because I don’t want to see our quarterback get hit like that.

RB C.J. Spiller

October 30, 2013

Q: How did the Sunday off treat your foot, getting back on the field today?

A: Just gave it extra rest, pretty much all it was. Just another day just not to take some pounding on it. Feels better.

Q: Do you think it accelerated your healing process to avoid all the contact that goes on, on game day?

A: Who knows, because I have been playing on it, it’s only that one game that I missed. It would be hard for me to sit here and say it accelerated the healing process because even on Sunday when I went out there it felt good. Who’s to say what it did, I just know it feels better today.

Q: Wednesdays have typically been off days for you, it was a participation day although it be limited, should we read into that?

A: I think Fred was down, I felt I need to go. I didn’t want to leave Tashard Choice and Ronnie Wingo to go out there by themselves, I am a team player so I sucked it up today. There is definitely reading between the lines saying “oh he’s back” because I am definitely not back to normal yet.

QB Jeff Tuel

October 30, 2013

Q: Are you excited about the possible prospect of starting?

A: Yeah, absolutely. I am just taking it one day at a time, trying to get better. Whatever happens, I’ll be ready if my number is called.

Q: How ready do you feel after getting limited duty, playing in Cleveland, and then sitting?

A: I feel ready. I’ve been getting reps in practice, even number two reps. I learned a lot from Cleveland and I feel like I’ve been getting better. If I get a chance, I’ll be excited.

Q: What were you told about the situation here this week?

A: Coach Marrone walked in the room and said it could be anybody, we don’t know. I know as much as you guys do.

 

Q: Do you feel more prepared in this role, due to the fact there where you have mentally gone through that process of maybe playing this week, maybe not?

A: I’ve been going through the process since training camp with going down and EJ’s little ding, and stuff like that so I have honestly been thrown into situations even if it wasn’t in a game since I’ve got here. I’m not going to change anything; I am going to prepare the same. Like I have been saying since day one, if I was the number four quarterback, I am going to prepare like I am number one. I have nothing to change, just going to continue to work hard.

Q: Jeff, how have you dealt with the peaks and valleys of getting a chance to play, and how have you adjusted and come to grips with what’s gone on over the past few weeks?

A: One of my coaches in college said it best, he said ‘It’s never as good as it seems and it’s never as bad as it seems.’ And I think if you take that approach, I feel like you won’t have the mountains and the valleys. You just stay right here. That’s what I’ve been trying to do. If I was named the starter week one, I wasn’t going to jump up and down for joy, you just have to be cool. Like I said, Cleveland didn’t go to well, I’m not going to get in the dumps. I just try to stay level headed.

Q: Earlier you said you learned a lot from Cleveland, can you elaborate on that?

A: Really just going out there and being under the lights and taking my first official NFL snap. I had a lot of adrenaline flowing and had a lot of nerves. I know how to handle it and prepare for it and do all these things. I just learned a lot about myself and the system of the operating game, and not doing too much and such.

Q: What about the prospect of facing this defense and how much pressure they bring?

A: Obviously they lead the league in sacks so they’re doing something right. They look really good on tape. We are going to have a great week of practice and just be prepared for that. I have to take care of myself, we are down in quarterbacks so I have to do whatever I can do to get down and do the necessary things. We are not going to prepare any different because a team is undefeated or leading the league in sacks. We are just going to do our thing and continue to get better.

Q: Did you get a majority of snaps in practice today?

A: I don’t know. I wasn’t really counting reps, we both got reps.

Q: Was Thad at practice?

A: No, Thad was not out there.

DB Aaron Williams

October 30, 2013

Q: Are they using play makers any differently?

A: No, they are still using Jamaal Charles and the running back who is fast, has a lot of agility, can make people miss. You have Dwayne Bowe, who’s a big receiver, can make all the catches, has real good route run. They’ve had a few here and there but other than that, it’s the same guys.

Q: How do you approach a player like Charles, just hope to contain him and limit him?

A: Yeah. He wants to get outside and use his speed. He’s not much of a juke guy, he will pick a spot and burst out of there. You have to make sure you keep the outside contained and everything else will come into place.

Q: Do you think they are as good as their 8-0 record?

A: It really doesn’t matter. They earned their way to get 8-0. People have their opinions but at the same time, the record shows. It’s real hard to be 8-0 in the league so you have to give them respect. I am not going to doubt what people think, I’m not going to doubt how their scheme is, or how they got to 8-0. I just know they’re 8-0 and coming to our house and we have to protect it.

C Eric Wood

October 30, 2013

Q: Does not having a quarterback continue to rule out that you guys continue to play, here you go again now, you don’t know who’s going to play?

A: Yeah, it’s unfortunate the situation with injuries we have been in this year. I think we have done a good job at playing pretty consistent ball week to week with whoever is back there, I don’t know how many teams could do that. Credit the guys in the quarterback room for coming up each week prepared. We don’t have to do a lot of adjusting week to week. No matter who the quarterback is they all do a good job at knowing the offense and do a good job executing it.

Q: Matt Flynn was talking about how it is a simple offense, do you find that to be the case?

A: Yeah, we do a good job of week to week having a solid package in and not our whole play book, and that allows us to play fast. Although its complex, the terminology isn’t kind of what it used to be with maybe what we had in the past.

Q: Where do you think you guys are as a unit at this stage?

A: It’s kind of played up and down at times. We have to be more consistent. As an offense, we are trying to get adjusted to a new scheme, we’ll take the blame for all the hits, but I can assure you, they’re not all our fault. It’s tough without knowing the offense. We read the stuff, and we’ll take it, we’re not going to sit here and say we play perfect ball but all the hits and some of the negative yardage plays, they’re not all our fault. As a unit we have to play better and we understand that, especially with injuries at running back and quarterback. We have to step our play up this last half of the season.

 

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Tagged with: Buffalo Bills, Matt Flynn, Thad Lewis