Buffalo Bills Head Coach Sean McDermott
Thursday, August 3, 2017
Opening Statement: Update on the injury-end of things here: Charles Clay will be held out today with a veteran day off – really as you’ve seen us do before with Charles’ schedule, keeping him and being proactive on his situation there. Philly Brown will be out with an illness. Micah Hyde you saw with the catch yesterday – the interception – came down on his hip a little bit, we’re going to hold him out. Cordy Glenn with a little bit of foot soreness, we’re also going to hold Cordy out as well. Then, from a logistics standpoint, we’re going to practice on the side field today – most of the day only because we need to give that field one a rest. So will be in the red zone a little bit on that field, most of the practice will be on field two. With that I’ll take your questions.
Q: Is it just foot fatigue for Cordy Glenn – it seems like he’s been really limited since coming back?
A: He’s practiced, he’s done a good job, Joe. At this point what we believe it to be, just general foot soreness, so we’ll see.
Q: What further details are there on Charles [Clay]’s days, is it cartilage related, or anything you know on that?
A:Just something he’s been dealing with for quite some time. Again, just proactive, nothing new – just again us being proactive trying to stay ahead of it.
Q: Was that a plan for this to be a day off, or are you kind of doing it based on how he reacts?
A: Yes, planned.
Q: Any concern with Micah [Hyde]?
A: Generally speaking, I’m always concerned with guys that are hurt, held out of practice. At this point, we’re going to continue to evaluate. Generally speaking, no at this point, just want to give him some time here – he hit the ground pretty hard there – but generally speaking, no.
Q: Is Cordy’s [Glenn] related to what kept him out in the spring?
A: It is, yes it is; Again, he’s done a good job at this point, he’s been moving well, so we’re just going to continue to evaluate.
Q: Is that concerning that it’s lasted this long – now you’re six weeks removed from the spring, it’s still sort of there?
A: Yes, I am concerned about it; It is concerning, because it’s gone on so long. We’ll see where it goes really.
Q: What’s the plan at left tackle today with him [Cordy Glenn] out?
A: You’ll see Seantrel [Henderson] in there like you’ve seen before, we’ll just take it from there. We’ve got some other guys that roll in there as well, but you’ll see Seantrel in there most of the day.
Q: Have you considered moving Ryan Groy around at all? He’s mainly played center with the second team this camp.
A: Ryan’s done a good job, we know he’s got some background at guard and obviously center. We know there’s some flexibility there. Right now, he’s with a new system really, he’s mastering that new system, working on that. Eric [Wood] was out the other day as a veteran day off. At this point, no.
Q: What was the thought process on bringing in Taiwan Jones?
A: Veteran player; Kelly Skipper, our running backs coach, has been around Taiwan before, so had a little bit of experience there in knowing Taiwan. Obviously the running back experience – primarily really, it’s based on special teams, bringing more speed into our special teams units and knowing how important that is; I feel good about that.
Q: What have you seen so far from Brandon Tate and Rashad Ross?
A: Both the individuals you just mentioned have done a good job. Brandon’s been out a little bit with the injury there, it’s good to get him going again; He’s done a great job in getting healthy again. I like what he brings to the table in the return game and then he gives us line of scrimmage value as well as a receiver. With Rashad it’s the same thing; you look at his ability in the return game and the speed element, and the vertical game with the receiver part of it. Both are working extremely hard and adding good competition right now.
Q: How will the Taiwan [Jones] signing affect the reps for Cedric O’Neal and some of the other running backs back there?
A: It is adding another number at the position, so we’ve got to balance that. Really, the primary motive behind this is special teams based at this point.
Q: With Micah [Hyde] out today, we’ve seen a lot of safeties rotate into the second team – Yesterday we saw Shamiel Gary go in for him – can we expect to see Shamiel take the majority of the first team reps today or are you going to rotate more guys in there?
A: It’ll be primarily Shamiel, he’s done a nice job, he’s earned that at this point for us to get a good look at him running with the ones. There could be another guy or two in there, so I don’t want to act like there’s not. But it’ll mostly be Shamiel.
Q: Why did you feel like it was something that you needed to do to have the guys before meetings every once in a while stand up, tell their story, talk about themselves? You talked to a few of the guys about it yesterday. It’s really seemingly having an impact.
A: That’s a great question. We just feel strongly that this is important. Part of the reason we came here was to build this football team and when you build any type of team, as far as we’re concerned, you need to know your teammates. What better way to know your teammate than for individuals to share their personal stories and what inspires them and who they play for. It’s really the first time I’ve done it. I’ve experimented with something similar in my background as a defensive coordinator. It’s really powerful to watch guys share, open up, in a vulnerable position. It’s powerful and we’re building this football team and the love that we need to have amongst our people. When you know someone, you play a little bit harder for the guy next to you and that’s just kind of the organic part of it. It’s been powerful and it’s run the gamut of emotions and it’s been fun. I use the word fun in quotes, but it’s been good.
Q: Is it something that you haven’t seen done anywhere else?
A: I haven’t. Maybe it is. I don’t want to act like we’re doing something that nobody else is doing but it’s very intimate in nature and private in that way, as you can imagine. You watch the look on the players faces and the staff’s faces that are in there and it’s a pretty dialed-in moment of the meeting. We had another one share this morning and I love it.
Q: We haven’t really seen a lot of [Stephen] Hauschka except up close watching him work. Danny [Crossman] had him early in his career and he’s got some familiarity with him. What is it about….he’s just got such a free and easy motion. The ball just seems to jump off his foot. What attracted you aside from obviously the ability there to him?
A: Again, the individual that we were bringing in as our kicker. Danny [Crossman]’s background with Stephen [Hauschka] certainly helped. His success over the years – his numbers speaks for themselves. I’m a big believer in the mental part of the game and Stephen and Colton [Schmidt] have done a phenomenal job in balancing that. We feel like the relationship between those two and Reid [Ferguson], that’s an important dynamic with those three and the trust that’s built over the time that they’ve been together. I count on Stephen a lot and Colton for just some leadership type communication and they’ve done a great job of that so it’s been fun to watch. [Stephen]’s in a good place I believe, mentally. He’s tracking the ball well so he’s done a nice job.
Q: We’ve seen with Preston Brown that he is working with first-team and Reggie [Ragland] is staying pretty stuck with the second. Is it deciding itself or how do you view that as it continues?
A: Preston [Brown] has done a nice job. I believe he’s still getting comfortable in this system – it’s still new. You see him working after practice, which I love. He’s working on his craft, he’s a true pro and he has great command of the defense. He’s our signal caller. That said, I do like the work that Reggie [Ragland] is putting in also. It’s way too early at this point in time to declare a starter or say that it’s working itself out. I do like what both players have done to this point in camp.
Q: Preston [Brown] said he’s changed his diet and getting away from candy and all that. Is that something that you guys encouraged with him?
A: I could probably stand to do the same thing. Our staff, the strength and conditioning staff, the training staff, we try and not leave a stone unturned so they do a great job in helping the players and putting them in a position to be successful on the field.
Q: We spoke earlier in this week about the scrimmage tomorrow night. Didn’t know what options or are you looking through the options as far as weather repeats or an indoor practice. I guess is there any update on that.
A: With respect to..
Q: Tomorrow night’s practice in the stadium.
A: We’re looking forward to getting home, in terms of being back in our stadium, getting in front of our fans, changing the venue just a little bit. I think it will be a very interactive, fun night for players and fans alike. It will be good for us to get back home, throw some music on the loud speaker and it should be a great night. I know we are going to continue to monitor things with the weather. I’m praying that we get a great night underneath our belt, both on the field and off the field tomorrow.
Q: As far as live action?
A: It’s live action. We’re going to heat things up a little bit. It’s been mostly thud here, we’ll probably throw in a live period or two in there.
Q: Can you speak to Zay Jones and just where he’s at so far?
A: Zay [Jones] has done a good job and he’s working like rookies work. He’s trying to balance the volume of the system at this point and the thing you appreciate about him is coming out, he’s like…it’s sink or swim time for some of them because of the volume and this is where they’ve got to hang on and stick with it and he’s done a good job of that.
Filed under: Buffalo Bills
Tagged with: Buffalo Bills, Sean McDermott
Sorry, comments are closed on this post.