Head Coach Doug Marrone
Monday, November 3rd, 2014
Q: When do you expect Marcell Dareus to be back?
A: He practiced.
Q: What are the statuses of Mike Williams and Cyril Richardson?
A: They have personal situations. There’s been a death in both families so they’re taking care of that.
Q: Will they come back Wednesday?
A: Cyril, I think will be a little bit longer. Mike will be back.
Q: Did you accomplish what you wanted to accomplish over these past few days?
A: I think we’ll see. We did some things and worked on a couple things, things that we need to improve on. We’ll see when we go out there and play. That’s really the big test. We got a lot of work done and we’re looking forward to the next quarter.
Q: What can you tell us about Fred Jackson?
A: He’s still in the process of getting better. We’ll know more as the week goes on.
Q: Are you going to have a special interest in what you do with Jordan Gay on game day as the weather gets cold?
A: I think, with the weather and everything, it’s usually one direction. That’s always the discussion that we bring up every week. We try to put our team in the best position and give them the best opportunity to win. If we think that Jordan can kick off and not give them a lot of opportunities to return then we’ll go with him. If we didn’t think that he was able to do that, then obviously we can take the roster spot and put it somewhere else.
Q: Can you pinpoint a couple things that you are pleased with on special teams?
A: We’ve played solid. We’ve had solid teams play. We’ve had a couple of different guys step. We had some injuries to two guys. Marcus Easley, who was a core player for us that really led the league in tackles to some extent. Ty Powell was injured for a while. He’s been a really good special teams player for us. Other guys stepped up and played well. From a standpoint of overall, collectively I think we’ve done a good job. The one thing that even Coach Crossman will point out and we pointed out today is the penalties. That’s something that we have to stop on special teams.
Q: What do you make of the AFC standings?
A: I’m probably not a good person to talk about that to. Like I told the team, our focus and our preparation are on this next quarter. We’re just looking at Kansas City. I think that to spend time looking at what’s going on around you right now is really wasted energy. We need to spend a lot of time on ourselves in making sure that we’re prepared and ready to go out there and start this quarter against a good Kansas City team.
Q: What games did you watch yesterday?
A: I didn’t watch any.
Q: Both Kansas City and Miami are playing very well and you face them within ten days of each other. Can you talk about the challenge of that?
A: I think that we’d like to be in that discussion. That’s what we’re working for; to be a team that can get on somewhat of a role. Talking about it doesn’t get anything done. Going out there and practicing, I thought we did a good job today. I really did. We didn’t look sluggish from the time off. I thought the players were really prepared. They came back and we had a good practice. I’m excited about that. I think that’s important. It’s important to make sure that they understand that there will be a lot of questions about things that are going on around us. I told the players today in the team meeting, ‘Don’t waste your time or energy looking at what’s going on around you. Look at what’s going on right here and how we can better that.’
Q: What do you make of how your defense has performed?
A: Good. Obviously, there are things that we want to be able to improve upon. I think there are some things that we’ve done well. I look at it as a team situation with all three phrases and what we have to do to play to win. As long as we can keep improving, which we can throughout the year, that’s what we need to keep working on.
Q: Is the red zone one of the areas you wanted to look at improving over the bye?
A: Yeah, red zone touchdown percentage is definitely one thing. Third down for us offensively, first down offensively. I think it’s normal. I think any of you guys can go and look up the stats and see the things that you’re struggling in or not doing a good job of. It changes week-to-week by opponent and how you want to attack them. For us, we ‘ve just got to keep improving and get better play all-around in all three phases. Then you’ll see those numbers start to change. It’s interesting when you pull those numbers; numbers in games you win and numbers in games you lose. It’s drastic how much those numbers change. We’ve got to play at a much more consistent level and that’s another thing that we talked about today after practice. Being consistent with preparation mentally is just as important, or more important, than what we do physically.
Q: How important has the defensive performance been to assist the offense?
A: I think you can say things like that. I think for me, getting up here and being the head coach of the team, it’s the same. You still have to score points to win, so you’ve scored enough points to win five games. The offense has done their part in that. Are there things to get better at? Absolutely. If you walked around our team, they would think of it more as a team rather than one phase is playing really well and the other phase isn’t playing well enough to win. Our goal as coaches is to get all three phrases to play well enough to win and play in sync, which we haven’t done.
Q: How did Marquise Goodwin and Ty Powell look out on the practice field?
A: They looked good out there.
Q: Were you able to get a head start on Miami over the bye week?
A: Even if I did, I probably wouldn’t mention it now because our focus is on Kansas City. It’s a divisional opponent playing on Thursday so I think it actually helps a lot for both teams, not just ourselves.
Q: How important is this quarter?
A: I’m not going to deny it. Every time we go out there is an opportunity to change where you are. I’m going to say it again. When you start looking at all the other stuff and are not focused in on the task at hands, our goal is very simple. We’ve got to go out and beat a very good Kansas City team. Really that’s it. Other than that there’s nothing else we can do or control or anything. We’ve got to work ourselves and put ourselves in position to be where we want to be at the end of the year. That goes week-by-week.
Q: Is there a chance Fred Jackson gets his pads on this week?
A: That’s up to the doctors.
Q: Do you expect to fill your open roster spot externally or internally?
A: I think it’ll be filled externally.
Q: By Wednesday?
A: I think so.
RB Boobie Dixon
Monday, November 3rd, 2014
Q: What do you think this playoff race is going to be like down the stretch?
A: It’s going to be crucial. It’s crunch time. I’ve been in it before so I know how it feels. I’m just excited it’s that time of year. This is what you practice for. This is what you train in the offseason for. It’s about to be fun.
Q: You have two games in five days. These are two games that may determine how the rest of the season goes. How good do you feel that you’re going to go into this?
A: I’m feeling great. You just embrace the challenge. This is a game we all love and grew up playing as game. Two games in ten days. You just embrace the challenge. It’s going to be fun. We’re playing football. This is what we love to do, so let’s strap it up and play.
Q: Do you find it to be the case that when you win it makes the next game even more important?
A: Yeah, definitely. When you’ve got a winning record, teams are looking to earn their stripes against you. They’re looking to put forth their best effort so that they can feel some type of way about themselves. Like you said, when you win that one game you know the next one has more emphasis on it. It gets bigger and bigger.
RB Fred Jackson
Monday, November 3rd, 2014
Q: How are you feeling?
A: I’m progressing. I met with the doctors today. They won’t give me a time (table). They just tell me to keep working until I feel good, but everything is going well. They’re doing a great job with me to get me back as soon as possible.
Q: Is there any chance you’ll put on the pads on Wednesday?
A: There’s always a chance. We’ll see what the doctors say. I’ll meet again with them tomorrow. They wanted to see how things went today and things went well today. I was able to move around a little bit. I’ll meet with them again in the morning and I think we’ll decide then.
Q: Is the biggest test seeing how it reacts after a big day of work?
A: Yeah. I’ll definitely have to see how I feel in the morning. I think that’s going to be the best way to determine what happens. Like I said, they’re doing a great job. I’ll be continuing to listen o what they tell me. When they give me the green light, I’ll definitely try to hit the ground running.
RB C.J. Spiller
Monday, November 3rd, 2014
Q: How are you feeling?
A: Pretty good. Just taking it one day at a time, letting it heal to be ready for when the playoffs come.
Q: What was your first thought or reactions after you had the injury?
A: It sucks. You’re a competitor. You want to be out there. You want to be out there to help your team win. This is the most I’ve ever missed in my playing career since I’ve been playing this game for 21 years. It really sucks, but I’ve still got a positive outlook on it. I’m doing everything I can to make sure all of the guys are prepared on Sunday. I’m still watching film, looking over the game plans and stuff like that, so I can stay intact with stuff so it won’t be foreign when I come back.
Q: How much of a chance do you think you have to return this year?
A: I don’t want to put a percentage on it. I’m just taking it one day at a time. Right now, everything is looking good, feeling good. Rehab is going really well. I don’t want to chances on it. If I’m good to go, I’m good to go.
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