Buffalo Bills Head Coach Rex Ryan

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Opening Statement:

First off not a whole lot to talk about through the practice because we were in walkthrough mode yesterday. I will say this we did a great job against Brandon Marshall in the walkthrough period. I don’t know if that will be different when we actually kick it off for real but we will see we actually had someone out there covering him. I think because there is nothing to talk about, you can only print what I say, I think I would like to focus on Clemson—for some reason it just popped in my head about Clemson. I think they are the number one team in the country if you are a parent out there and you got one of the best kids in the country and we want the complete package. Academics, not so much with my kid, but academics you know he has got to be a great player all that stuff. You want to be coached by the best coaching staff in college football. You want to have success in the classroom as well as the playing field.  Take your kid to Clemson. I think that goes without saying. They have got a Heisman candidate at quarterback who is a true sophomore, they have a lot of great freshman playing. Number one team in the country, they have arguably the best holder in the country. So a lot of great things, a lot of positive things with Clemson.  Alright with that pretty much done.

Q: Why do you think Chad Kelly got thrown out of Clemson?

A: I don’t know. Have to bring that up. Chad [Kelly] is a good kid, doing a great job at Ole Miss. Thank you. Alright ready to roll, thank you very much. I don’t know what else to say.

Q: Whose helmet is that? Is it your son’s?

A: No that thing. That is a man size right there my kid has got the little peanut head. But no somebody just gave me that thing.  But it is funny when we go on so much made about the captain thing. You guys know how I do the captains, as mentioned Chris Hogan will be there because, I get it right now, New Jersey. [Richie] Incognito has been the captain so many times that forget that he is not going, I don’t care that he was born in New Jersey, he is no longer the captain he ruins the captains pictures anyway. But little shocked to be honest with you that so much is made of IK [Enemkapli] being the guy, I don’t get everything. But I am not going to change how we do things. This is something that I have always done and that will never change.

Q: Do you think the other team ever cares about that?

A: No. I think it would be…if this was something that was done where like you are trying to show up a team or something like that I get it. But I never do that. I have never done that. I just play that…I have always done you know guy goes to that he gets to see some of his guys he played with before, all that type of stuff. I always think that is kind of a neat deal. And like I said before I have never been a guy who just has the same guys be the captains all the time. I have never done that. But this was never a thing of disrespect. It is hard for me to understand it.

Q: Do you think some of them should be thankful the incident got Fitzpatrick the better quarterback in the lineup?

A: Oh my goodness. I am not going to talk about that one. He is doing a great job. Quarterback is doing a great job for them. You know I have gone against him for years. When he was at Cincinnati, when he was here in Buffalo, all those types of things. That is a competitive dude now. You guys know smart, competitive, ticks you off because he gets rid of the ball so fast. You can’t get to him, but he creates with his legs. He runs for first downs, he does all those types of things. I know that is how he got hurt, but he is having a great year. And he has got a ton of weapons to throw to. When you look at that team right now, one of my biggest concerns is they are the number one in the league in red zone. They got a 6-7 tight end, you got two monsters at wide out. I know I will get slammed for that used the term monster to describe Brandon Marshall. But you try to cover him and tell me he is not a monster and then Eric Decker. You got two big dudes out there and they are mismatches, even if you have them covered they are mismatches. And by the way you got a big horse in the back field in Chris Ivory. It is a huge challenge no question about that. Especially in the red zone.

Q: Do you think you have a greater advantage knowing their personnel than them knowing your system?

A: I don’t know. You are right about me knowing these players. I have gone against Brandon Marshall a ton of times too. I definitely know the players and all that. That is a true statement. Having gone against Chan [Gailey] and all that before. Greg Roman has gone against Todd Bowles’ defense before. You are familiar with what they do, but you still have to go play. Their talent that is the thing you are concerned more than anything is the talent they have.

Q: Is LeSean expected to practice today?

A: Again we are walking through. So I guess he is, should we just put limited down. I don’t know what to say. He can…we all can go out there and stand around. He is going…he will be limited.

Q: Your expectations for him to play?

A: I am real…I believe he will. I believe he will play. How significant his role will be I am not real sure right now. Obviously we feel good about who we have behind him with Karlos [Williams] and things. But if he can’t, if he is not up to a 100%, obviously you want him to play this is a huge game for us and if he is healthy he is going to be out there.

Q: Isn’t that great you get three days rest in this situation? Aren’t Thursday games a treat for you?

A: They are a big treat. You know as we talked about part of the reason why we gave them the time off was because knowing you had the back-to-back deal. You come off your bye you have a game and then five days later you are playing it. For us we actually did, we did have time, it might have worked out better this way than some other ways, maybe the league can look at that too. Because I think we are fairly healthy and I think we are fresher than maybe we would have been had we been Sunday game, Sunday game then a Thursday game. So you know we feel pretty good.

Q: It can’t just be another game to you?

A: No, it is a special game because you are going against a team…we are both going for the same thing. This is a divisional game, but its more, you are competing now against the Jets for what you want, at the end you want to get to the playoffs. Well this team is right there. If the playoffs started today they would be in, they would be the fifth seed I believe. You have got an opportunity there. We are both gunning for the same thing. That is what makes it special. The fact that, you know I get it I used to coach there and all that stuff I get all that stuff. To me it hasn’t, and I know you guys don’t believe me but it has not entered my mind yet about all those other things. I am not going to say it is not a special game because it is. Based on the fact that this is an opponent that we are going for the same thing. We want to do everything in our power to win this game. But it has not for any other reason, personal reasons or anything else. It is all personal to us we want to win this game for, to better our chances of making the playoffs. That is all we want.

Q: On losing his swagger in New York

A: I lost my swagger when I was losing a lot of games I guess. That’s that tendency to … create one of those deals, but I never lost who I was. You know, privately or anything else that’s not the case. I never lost my competitiveness or anything like that. I got beat down a little bit when you’re not having the success that you would like to have. But I’m the same person from 20 years ago that I am now I think.

Q: Will Seantrel Henderson practice today?

A: I hope so. He’s … his medical issue but hopefully he’ll be able to.

Q: Since you acknowledge that it’s special for your players to play their former teams, is it special for you?

A: It’s a double standard I don’t know what to tell you. Doesn’t mean anything for a coach. Means a lot for the players though. I don’t know how to answer it …

Q: Will it be weird for you walking back into that stadium?

A: I promise I will give an honest answer after the game. Because right now, I haven’t thought about it. I mean when I tell you what I’m telling you, it’s the truth. We’re just trying to prepare for the game in a short week. Would it have been different if it was a longer week? Maybe.  But at no point was I like, “I had this one circled.” Everybody knows me; I circle the Patriots. That’s what I do.

Q: What do you think about the Monday night game against the Patriots?

A: Oh baby, that one is going to be tough. You know, that quarterback never gets worse. Like what is wrong with him. You know what I mean; when you get older you’re supposed to get worse. This dudes getting better. Like it’s sick. It’s not right. I’m waiting for the wheels to fall off.

Q: Will you be at the Carrier Dome to see your son play?

A: That’s just a fact jack, yep. Yeah, no question about that one. I’m hoping he gets a little P.T., maybe a ball or two thrown at him. I think he leads the team in receptions; he’s got two this year. Maybe not. But he is on the depth chart. They actually gave a catch to the defensive player. Because you know they have the dual numbers, #85’s on offense, defense, I said hopefully you got credited for a couple of his tackles. But so I think when you look in there he might only have one catch, but he actually has two.

Q: How difficult has it been dealing with these injuries?

A: Well it’s been a frustration throughout the year. We haven’t … LeSean (McCoy) hasn’t been completely healthy almost the entire season battling that hamstring. Then he had another hamstring … that’s frustrating because we all know the talent that he is. I mean this guys as good a back as there is in the league. I mean he is tremendous. Receiver, runner, all that. He’s tough too. He picks up blitzes and all that. He’s a fighter. He really is the entire package, just a great young man too. And then with Karlos (Williams) obviously we all know the five games in a row with a touchdown. I think it’s only been done one other time by a rookie. But then he had the concussion thing that set him back so, you’re right, it’s been frustrating. Because we think we know what it looks like coming out of training camp. You have a great sense of man, we could really be special. It’s unfortunate we lose Percy (Harvin), because when you combine him with Sammy Watkins, with Robert Woods, (Chris) Hogan, that group wow. But unfortunately we lost him for the year. And injuries are part of it, I get it. But the way we had it staggered like … I don’t know what we did to deserve it but, the good news is we’re coming out of it. So that’s been a real positive for us.

Q: When you watch Fitzpatrick, what are you most impressed with?

A: I like his competitiveness. I think more than anything he’s a tough guy, competitive, and hey, are there better throwers than him in the league with stronger arms? Yeah. But you know, he’s just competitive. And when you go against him you’re going to get his best shot each time out. I don’t care if he was a backup at Cincinnati, if he was here, wherever he’s been that’s been his M.O. to me. Right now, the thing that’s disappointing to me is that beard. I mean you look at him like, “Really kid?” So he’s not a real handsome kid. But no, I love his competitiveness and he’s accurate, scrambles … he moves well enough. There’s guys with a lot better running skills but he does what … he’s going to compete to everything he has and that’s the thing you really admire about him.

Q: What do you think about his thumb; do you think it will affect him?

A: Well hopefully…he looked pretty good last week, but hopefully it will bother him this week.

Q: Have you ever seen him playing any better then he’s playing now?

A: I don’t know, he had a streak there. When he was the quarterback here. He was putting up…I think he put up close to 500 yards or whatever, just a monster day against the Ravens once. I think they beat the Ravens that game. That’s probably the best I’ve ever seen him but he looks pretty darn good now.

Q: Do you remember coming in here, they were 5-1 and really shut them down. Do you remember anything about that game?

A: I remember the losses more than I do the wins. Not really, I don’t remember much about it.

Q: On the Bills blowing out the Jets the last three meetings.

A: No, I mean the Jets are going to be … I mean you look at them; each year is a different team. What they’ve added from a personnel standpoint to already a talented team. But when you’ve added Darrelle Revis you get Revis back, you get Cromartie back, you get that secondary back and add some new pieces there. That was a huge help. That’s really what was missing I think on defense. And then offensively you add Brandon Marshall alone upgrades the heck out of your offense. But also you get the quarterback in there. You bring in a kid that I think is playing at a Pro Bowl level as a guard. That’s a big difference, a big upgrade. So when I see this team you’re like … this is a very formidable team.

Q: Calvin Pryor just tweeted you will do anything for attention. What is your response to that?

A: He’s right. Because what else am I going to do, just stand up here? I got attention, but I got it at the right spot. He’s mad because Clemson put it on Louisville again this year. I don’t know what to tell you.

Q: Is Revis still Revis? Is he a guy that you still have to avoid?

A: No question. If you have your others, you’re probably not going to throw it at Darrelle Revis. Let you get off a press against him and we’ll see if that’s still the same guy. This guys a tremendous player. If anything, if he’s fallen at all, he’s coming from the very top of the mountain. So how far down he is, I don’t know. But if he’s coming down at all, he’s coming down from the very top. So, he’s obviously a great player. Somebody said he was ranked number one by somebody a lot smarter than me that ranks those guys. I think (Ronald) Darby was ranked number three by the way. Not bad for a rookie. Bust pick in the second round.

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